Page 18 of Fighting His Fate
“Oh, so now I can’t look out my window in peace?”
He made a sound like a cat screeching in a fight. “Sorry I asked.”
She set her jaw and turned to face him. “I don’t appreciate you making animal noises to describe my behavior.”
“Jesus, fine. Sorry.” He turned onto a side street, a large field visible in the hazy light of morning.
“And if you must know, I’m unhappy to be cooped up with you in this truck and stuck together until we find a guardian for the twins. I don’t care for you, Mr. Champion. Something I’m quite sure you’re already aware of.”
“Bullshit.”
“Excuse me?”
“I call bullshit. You froze up the second I touched your leg, and now you’re back to calling me Mr. Champion. I just can’t figure out if it’s because you liked it or because you didn’t.”
She gaped. “How dare you?”
He pulled onto the grass, driving across the wide field. “Which is it, Grace?”
She gestured dramatically out the windshield. “There’s a road right over there. Why the fuck are you driving across the grass?” She was aware of the obscenity as it crossed her lips, further hating him for revealing this side of her. “Oh, wait, I know, because you think you own the whole damn world, and you get to do whatever you want, whether it’s driving across the field and screwing it up for other people or touching the inside of my leg or fucking any woman who’ll let you buy her a drink and climb on top of her!”
He smiled smugly. “You didn’t answer the question.”
She shoved his arm. “I hate you! Do you know that?”
He grabbed her arm and held it, the truck coming to an abrupt stop, its motion easing at the last moment as if he suddenly remembered the babies on board. Her heart galloped, excitement pooling in her lap from the contact and the energy flying between them. He faced her, his stare fierce. “I don’t think you hate me at all, princess, and that scares the hell out of you.”
She knew she should pull her arm back, but indecision made her freeze. Every cell in her body longed to lunge at him, to kiss him and see if the current connecting them would crack and zing at his touch. Her lips parted, her breath coming in little pants.
If he kissed her now, she wouldn’t be able to control the need bubbling inside her. His stare roamed her face, caressing her mouth and making her lips tingle with awareness before his gaze shot back to her eyes. “Grace,” he growled.
The sound of her name on his gravelly voice was too much. She leaned closer, needing to see what came next, needing to taste him just once.
And then what?
Her relationship with John would be ruined based on an exhausted lapse in judgment. Her parents would be disappointed in her, embarrassed, and ashamed. She leaned back abruptly, putting her hands up when he continued to advance on her. “Stop.”
He was so close she could feel the heat from his body. Close enough to touch. She cleared her throat, and he straightened. He turned off the ignition, and for a split second she thought he might turn back to her, but he didn’t. They sat in increasingly uncomfortable silence for what felt like hours. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. Her cell phone rang, the classic love song telling her it was John calling. Resentment at his timing had her clenching her jaw. She moved to answer the call but hesitated, her finger hovering in midair. What was she going to tell him? He didn’t even know she’d volunteered to help Champion, much less that she was about to get on a helicopter with the man and had desperately wanted to kiss him just a moment before.
Brett chuckled without humor. “Tell him I said hi.”
She glared at him. Nothing good could come from talking to John at this moment, so she silenced the call.
“Probably a good choice,” said Brett, his eyes roaming over her face. “Wait to talk to the boyfriend until after that pretty flush is out of your cheeks.”
She clenched her jaw at his unexpected attack. “Fuck you, Champion.”
“How did you end up with a minister, anyway? You don’t strike me as the churchgoing type.”
She looked away and shrugged. “I go to church.”
“I’ve got twenty bucks says you started going after you started dating Mr. Wonderful. Am I right?”
That had her fuming. “Shut up. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Does he know you’re with me?”
