Page 36 of Hiss and Make Up
He couldn’t read her face at all. Sierra, her every feature typically a megaphone of raw emotion, was blank.
“They’re here.”
“What?” he said.
She nodded her head to point behind him. When he turned, Marc spotted an old green sedan driving toward them from the next entrance gate.
Worst timing ever.
Or the best.
He turned back to say something, although he wasn’t sure what. Something. He had to say something, right? But Sierra was already sliding off the hood. She bent over into the open window to thank her friend. Marc took a long look at the back of her jeans before she turned and caught him staring at her.
“This is Marc.” She raised an eyebrow to let him know he’d been busted before she opened the door and sat in the passenger’s seat. “You getting in or what?”
He was still shaken from that kiss and the image of her in the window. He opened the back seat and sat beside a grinning, dark-haired girl with the biggest green eyes he’d ever seen. She flashed a tight, closed-mouthed smile at him while she held a tiny black cat in her lap and petted its head.
“You must be Luna.”
She gave him one quick nod but didn’t say anything. When Sierra twisted around to wave at her, the girl brightened for a second then turned back to Marc. She tilted her head to study him for a second before returning her attention to the window, all while petting the cat.
“Thanks for giving us a ride,” he said to the woman behind the wheel.
Liz turned and propped a large arm against the side of the passenger seat. An intricate phoenix tattoo glared back at him.
“Marc, huh? You normally forget to fill up your tank?”
Marc caught himself before he snapped a reply. “I did not forget to put gas in my car. My fuel line leaked.”
Liz stared blankly at him. “Fuel lines don’t leak an entire tank of gas out of the blue.”
“They do if someone cut it,” Sierra said.
“Wait up,” Marc sputtered. “I didn’t say anyone cut it.”
Sierra shrugged and faced the front window. “Makes sense.”
“What do you mean someone cut the fuel line?” Liz’s eyes flamed, and she turned to Sierra, narrowing her eyes at her friend before snapping her head back to Marc. “What kind of mess are you getting her in? Because she can get in plenty enough on her own.”
He could feel the tension radiating through Sierra’s seat as Liz put the car in gear. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just what Liz had said. He just didn’t know what. He sneaked a glance at Luna, hoping for some clue, but she was still facing the window and petting that cat.
Marc tried to think of something else to say, something to break the tension in the car. But all he could think about was that kiss a few minutes ago and how he couldn’t stop thinking about kissing her again.
8
Sierra fumed and tapped her foot on the floor of the car, while Liz breezed through lights. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long to reach the Nature Station and Sierra’s car. She still had to drive back to Breaux Bridge to drop Marc off, but after that Sierra would be done with him. For the night at least.
Good riddance.
He’d kissed her. Again.
She hadn’t stopped him, and that was her own fault. But for that one brief second, she’d wanted him to kiss her. She’d wanted to believe in first kisses and second chances and in Marc Dugas. And that scared the hell out of her.
“Did I miss something?” Liz asked, glancing at Sierra. “Or are you two always like this?”
“Like what?” Marc asked from the back seat.
“Ask him. He seems to like making decisions for other people. Might like answering for them too.”
