Page 126 of Cross the Line
Fuck.
“Eli!” His name rips out of me as I drag myself across the ice. Dad and The Sire are there in a flash, hauling him up and checking the girls—the girls he screened from my shot. The shot that hit him.
Fuck.
“Get out of my way,” I bark, yanking a grumbling Isla aside. “Move, Kailey!”
“Jesus, take a chill pill, asshole,” she spits as The Sire pulls her clear.
“Where did it get you?” In a crazed rush, I check Eli over. Both hands hold his face while I inspect every inch of skin on show. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, Sweetheart.”
Eli grips my wrists, pressing his face to mine with a wry grin. “That was a great shot,” he chuckles with a crinkle to his nose that’s as infuriating as it is adorable.
Still— “For God’s sake, this is not the time to be spunky.”
“When did you become the religious one?”
I’m sick to my stomach, heart bruising my lungs, and he still gets a laugh threatening my mouth.
“Come on, JJ, give me those dimples I love,” he murmurs, squeezing his grip on my wrists. “Give it to me, Sunshine.”
Give it to me.
My pulse trips and stutters at his words. Loaded with unintended euphemism.
It’s impossible not to give him what he wants.
Laughter bubbles from my gut, rumbling up my chest, and he mixes it with his own deep chortle.
When did he become the disarming one?
CHAPTER 33
JAYDEN
“Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!” Finley’s screech pierces the air as the SUV skids with the hard slam of the brakes.
The three of us lurch forward, eyes locked on the stone wall ahead.
Eli moves first, bracing between the Defender’s seats to check on her. She’s statue-still, hands in a white-knuckled chokehold on the wheel.
“Oh, shoot,” she trembles when he pries her fingers free and kills the engine. “I’m sorry.”
“Can we listen to reason now?” Eli groans, cocking a stare at me.
He’s far too chilled considering we almost collided headfirst into the cabin’s foundation. Meanwhile, my guts are strangling my windpipe.
“Maybe stick shift wasn’t a good idea, after all…” I glance sideways. Finley’s frozen, hands hovering over the wheel, eyes glassy.
“I don’t think the transmission is the issue here, JJ. I think that?—”
“I suck.” Normally, I’d make a dirty joke. Not now. My heart’s click-clacking between my tonsils like a Newton’s cradle. She pants through a thin whine. “What if I can never get the hang of driving and?—”
“You will, Fin,” Eli cuts in, large hand sliding from her shoulder to her neck, kneading tension. “We’ll revisit driving when we return to LA.”
“It’s all about confidence,” I offer.
Eli gives me a soft, chiding smirk while he tells her, “Something you’ll build up with time.”
