Chapter Thirteen
Tiffany climbed out of the truck and stretched her cramped legs.
The door to Dakota’s room flew open. He beamed at them as he trotted up to the truck. “Hey, guys. How was the Grand Canyon?”
Tiffany nearly looked behind her to see who he was talking to. It was the first time Tiffany had seen him smile since Lola dropped him off. His big goofy smile took her back to that sweet kid years ago.
“Great.”
“Impressive.”
Their responses crashed into each other. Tiffany risked a quick peek at Thomas.
His jaw clenched tight enough to endanger his teeth.
“Whoa.” Dakota threw out his hands as if to ward them off. “Did you guys like have a fight or something?”
“No,” they both said at once.
“We’re just tired.” Thomas stared at Dakota with a slight frown. “It was hot.”
Dakota seemed to have had a personality transplant. “So, like, do you guys want to do something tonight?” Swinging his head from one to the other, Dakota bounced on his toes like a toddler.
No, she didn’t want to do anything. She wanted to disappear into her room and wash some of the dust off and with it, any lingering thoughts about Thomas. Then she would carefully copy all the information from her pamphlets into her book, move the numbers around, and things would make sense again. But Dakota just about wagged his invisible tail and she didn’t want to squash his enthusiasm. He could be reaching out to her.
“Like what?” A small frown wrinkled the skin between Thomas’s eyes.
What the hell, she could cut the kid some slack. He’d probably spent the day going out of his mind with boredom.
“Maybe we could, like, go and get a burger or something?” Dakota squirmed in his sneakers. “I was reading there’s an old drive-in on the edge of town. We could grab some burgers and go and check it out. The lady at the front desk said they would be open. Come on.” He grinned. “It’ll be fun. I’ve never been to a drive-in movie. It’s like a relic from a past age. I could post it on Instagram.”
“You didn’t want to see the Grand Canyon, but now you want to go and see a movie at a drive-in?” Thomas raised an eyebrow.
“Sure.” Nodding and shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Dakota’s energy almost burst out of the seams.
Thomas shook his head and turned to her. “You game?”
“Sure.” Stupid. “Give me about thirty minutes.” She looked at the fine layer of dust on her legs. “Make that an hour.”
“But—” Dakota screwed up his face.
“You got it,” Thomas said.
* * *
Movies were one of Thomas’s greatest loves. This, however, was sheer hell. He’d backed the truck into place so they could open the tailgate and stretch out. All of them propped against the back of the seats with him wedged between Tiffany and Dakota. Another thing he hadn’t really thought through clearly. Because now Dakota had retreated into a zoned-out silence and Tiffany slept. How could anyone, especially a woman, sleep through Chris Hemsworth saving the world? The sleeping wasn’t so much the problem as where she was sleeping. On him. Dakota had his Beats on and his own movie soundtrack going in his head.
Tiffany had lasted all of fifteen minutes before she slumped against his side. So, what did he do? He rested his arms on the back of the seat to give them all more space. Another stupid move, because now she cuddled into him like a sleepy kitten. A kitten? He wished. There was nothing cute about the way she pressed into his side.
Her breath huffed warm and moist against the skin of his neck and her hand lay across his abs, resting on his belt buckle. She smelled like warm vanilla and a bit flowery, and he got a whiff of her every time he breathed. Keeping his arm on the back of the seat was a battle because his arm kept wanting to curl around her and press her closer.
Dakota laughed out loud and Thomas tore his attention away from Tiffany.
The kid’s stare was stuck on the screen while his head bopped up and down to his Beats. Something with that kid was so off tonight he could feel it crawling over his skin like bugs. Dakota’s eyes glittered and he was way too talkative. Yet another thing he didn’t have time to sort.
He needed to get his survey results and get back to Willow Park. It was taking him far too long to find Luke. Time he hadn’t banked on. He also hadn’t planned on his little party of three and their road trip. The plan had been to spend some time at home before leaving for Zambia. This jaunt cut into his family time, but his mother would understand. She’d kick his ass if he even thought about leaving Tiffany and Dakota. He’d kick his own ass, come to that.
Still, he needed to get home. His older brother Richard was expecting another baby any day now and he’d been in Zambia for the birth of his first child. He was determined to be there to welcome the newest member of the family into the world. He liked the excitement and the constantly changing environment of his job, but the downside was the loss of connection to the people that mattered most to him. He hadn’t had a serious relationship, well, ever. Not since he’d decided at fourteen that Dominique Frazer was the love of his life. She’d, unfortunately, decided his other brother, Josh, was the love of hers.
Sure, he’d had relationships, but they were always temporary. His lifestyle gave him a good out whenever he needed it. He didn’t screw around. When he was with a girl, he was with that girl, but he never promised or intended to stay forever.
Tiffany shifted against him.
He drew in a careful breath. His libido strummed through his blood on a low-level hum of appreciation. It helped to be sandwiched beside a moody teen on the other side.
“Whoa.” Dakota’s yell made him jump. “Did you see that?”
Thomas nodded. He hadn’t seen a damn thing.
Tiffany stirred and raised her head. “Sorry.” She stiffened as she pulled away from him. The warmth faded from his side as she pushed herself into a sitting position. “I think I drooled on your shirt.”
“No worries.” Jesus, he must be losing his mind, because he even thought that was kind of cute.
She pushed at her hair to get it out of her face. It streamed down her back in a long, silken fall of inkiness.
He gritted his teeth until they ached. He had no business thinking about wrapping her hair around his fist. And where things would go from there.
They sat through the rest of the movie in silence. When it was done, he drove them back to the motel. As Tiffany disappeared into her room, he let out a deep breath. Her friend, Chuck, had better produce that radiator, and fast.
Tiffany already had too many men in her life.