Page 26 of The Oscar Escape
His heart leaped into his throat, and his pulse kicked up. “What did you say, Aria?” he whispered as her words drifted away in the autumn breeze.
He shifted her body in his arms and brushed the hair from her face as she curled into him. Her chest rose and fell.
She was out like a light.
“Is that what you need, Aria? A sweet escape?” He watched her sleep. With her hand wrapped around his mother’s ring, she sighed peacefully.
A blip of a police cruiser’s siren brought him back to reality. And then it hit him. He’d assaulted a member of a wildly popular boy band. He’d again broken the law when he’d set off the fire alarm, and he’d fled the scene with a pop princess draped over his shoulder—all while being filmed by the paparazzi and club-goers wielding cameras and smartphones. He doubted Boston’s men in blue would understand he’d broken the law—well, laws—to help his friend. He scanned the empty street. They had to get the hell out of there before the cops came for him.
Taking care not to wake her, he held her in one arm and opened the car door with the other.
He surveyed the cab and groaned. He’d forgotten the interior of his vehicle mirrored the inside of a dumpster. He batted the empty to-go bags off the seat and eased her into the truck. With a click, he closed the door and stared at her through the window.
“What am I going to do with you?” He ran his hands through his mess of dark hair. He couldn’t nail down the whirlwind of emotions churning through his body. Like when he was a little boy and again like when they were in college, he recognized the gnawing feeling telling him something wasn’t right with a person he loved. He stared at the night sky, inhaled the chilled air, and prayed that it could numb his pain.
It didn’t. It never could.
He rubbed his bare arms, then returned his gaze to Aria. Before he could stop himself, he removed his cell from his pocket, opened his contacts, and tapped the call button. It rang once, then went to voicemail. He focused on Aria as he shifted his weight. “Hey,” he began after the beep, “I apologize for calling so late. But I could use your help. I’m hoping you can pull a few strings for me. Call or text me when you get this.” He hit the red end-call icon and exhaled a heavy breath.
What the hell was he doing?
The events of the last hour hit like a one-two punch. He hauled his exhausted body into the truck. He buckled Aria’s seat belt, then his own, and started the vehicle. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw nothing but pavement. His encounter with the gray-haired power players, which occurred less than an hour prior, felt distant, as if it had happened weeks ago.
He tossed his cell onto the dash, exhaled a few shaky breaths, and forced his hammering heart to slow down. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Everything you’ve done is for her.” He peered at his sleeping companion. It was just the two of them now. He touched her hand clasped around his mother’s ring and gently loosened her grip. He studied the piece of jewelry he always kept close to his heart. “What would you want me to do, Mom?” he asked, then tucked the bit of silver and gold back in Aria’s hand.
Aria yawned and nuzzled into him. “Don’t be mad at me, Ozzy Bear,” she mumbled. “You know you still love me. We’re good. We escaped like a couple of bandits.”
There was that word again. Escape.
He stroked her cheek, listening as her breathing slowed and her body relaxed. His cell phone pinged an incoming text. He picked it up and stared at the screen.
They were a go.
He swallowed hard, silenced his phone, and dropped it into the cupholder on the console. What he was about to do would either be the smartest decision he’d ever made or the worst judgment call of his life. He shifted the truck into drive, but before taking his foot off the brake, he squeezed her hand. “You’re right, Aria. We’re good because, whether you like it or not, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re safe.” He let up on the brake and eased onto the gas. Heading for the highway, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Here goes everything.” He glanced at the woman with her head on his shoulder. “Aria,” he whispered.
“Hmm,” she breathed on a sleepy sigh.
He wrapped his arm around her and held her close. “It’s time for us to escape.”
Chapter6
ARIA
Aria melted into the warmth of a muscular embrace. This wasn’t how she typically woke up. Justin wasn’t a cuddler. And that suited her just fine. She didn’t need to meet the day cocooned in raw masculinity. Honestly, who had time for that? Still, with her back pressed to his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around her, this morning, she was all about Team Cuddle Bug.
She shifted beneath the covers and quickly realized this wasn’t only spooning.
An addition to the cozy cocoon pressed against her ass.
Good morning!
She hummed her pleasure and arched her back like a satisfied cat. Moving her hips in a slow sway, she dusted her ass against Justin’s cock. And my God, the man was rock-hard. She stilled. Was he always this big? She ignored the thought and resumed her horizontal sashay. The motion triggered a delicious tingle between her thighs as she grew wetter by the second. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d languished in bed like a lady of leisure. And she could barely recall the last time she and Justin had made love. She closed her eyes, focused on his breath, and indulged in the warmth of his body and the coolness of the buttery-soft sheets. Fuzzy images surfaced in her mind. She’d had the wackiest dreams. Chock-full of blinking bright lights, thumping bass, and piercing pops of sound, snippets came to her in a series of kaleidoscope flashes. She saw Dom, Malik, Justin, some guys from Hawaii, which was strange, to say the least, and then . . . Oscar.
Oscar.
The man had appeared in her dreams with an increased frequency since her concert stop a couple of weeks ago in New Jersey. Still, it wasn’t odd for her to dream about him. Her best friends often made cameos in her unconscious mind, but none more than the brooding artist of their group. Yeah, that was it. He was her friend. There was nothing strange about seeing him in her dreams.
End of story. Cut to black.Fin.Finito.
