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“Promise you’ll stop on the way back?” Sawyer clutched Carmen against his chest with both arms. “I’ll give you a free oil change. And an orgasm.”
Carmen’s vision blurred, and she clung to him, unable to do anything but bob her head against him. “I’ll try. I don’t know what is going to happen, Sawyer.”
He held her so tightly she could hear the scratch of her hair against his shirt.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” he whispered and pressed a kiss to her temple. His words broke her. Tears escaped from the corners of her clenched lids and dripped over her cheeks. Carmen turned her face into his shirt but could not hide her tears. Her sniffling was too loud.
“No, please don’t.” Sawyer slipped a hand behind her head and cradled the curve of her skull in his palm. “If you cry, then I’ll cry, and then my nose will be red, my eyes will get puffy, and Dad will make fun of me.” His voice cracked and broke. He sniffed, loudly.
“Oh my goodness, shut up.” Carmen choked on a wet, pathetic laugh and stepped back, pulling his face down to hers to stop the flow of words. Salt flavoured their lips, and the kiss flared, fueled by the desperation of the goodbye looming ahead. Sawyer’s hands slid down to cradle Carmen’s hips. Sparks burst inside her and swelled to burn blazing trails through her veins.
“Where’s Dan?” Her breathing was ragged. Sawyer pulled back and gave her a horrified look.
“Pardon me?”
Carmen rolled her eyes and pressed her body tighter against his. Sawyer needed no further urging. Pain sang through her lips as his mouth crushed down on hers. Driven to a frenzy, they clawed at the clothing separating them.
Carmen held tight to the sensations. The memories would be her solace when she was apart from him. A lump of hot coal to fan and nourish until she was with him again. Sawyer pushed her backward across the hood of her car until she sprawled before him.
She’d put on the denim skirt when she got dressed that morning, the one she had worn hiking, the one that still made goosebumps rise on her skin when she looked at it. Carmen had studied her reflection in the mirror before pulling off her underwear and tucking it into her purse. The stare Sawyer gave her when she had walked out of the bathroom had turned her knees weak. His blue eyes had grown dark and heavy-lidded, following her as she gathered belongings, drank her coffee across from him at the island.
Sure enough, presented at last with the chance, Sawyer’s hands dipped lower. They tickled the bottom of her ass cheeks. Carmen shivered and spread her thighs apart in welcome. When his fingers met damp, bare skin, he released a moan. He ran a finger along the seam of her body, then dipped inside. Carmen’s hips jerked, seeking more. Sawyer shoved the scant material of her skirt up with a growl.
His mouth moved down her shoulder, nipping at exposed skin until a shiver rushed over through her. Sending out a silent prayer Dan wouldn’t choose this morning to come to work, Carmen allowed her knees to fall open, twisting her hands into the thickness of Sawyer’s hair as he dropped down in front of her.
****
“STAY ONE MORE DAY?” Sawyer’s heavy breathing ruffled through the damp hairs at Carmen’s temple. She lay in an awkward sprawl, half across the front of her car, her cheek pressed to the peeling paint. “Because this would be so much easier after another day?” she mumbled, struggling to stand up with Sawyer’s bulk still on top of her.
The force of his exhalation flattened her back against the hood. “No. I guess not.”
“Before you know it, I’ll show up again, and then a year will pass, and you’ll be begging your dad to leave me on the side of the road where he found me.” She smiled sadly, stroking her fingers down the plane of his cheek. All she could do was hope against hope that after a year she would be at his side. The future seemed as slippery as a lake caught trout at the moment.
“Never.” His lips pressed against her hair. “If I’m lucky enough to get you back, I am never letting go again.”
She shifted, fighting the tears brimming once again. Breathing was becoming difficult, yet Carmen never wanted to move. Did she believe in a required amount of time for people to fall in love? She had always been a realist. She made lists and checked facts, and above all, she planned. There had been no plan for this. The uncertainty made Carmen’s heart pound and her throat go dry.
Sawyer moved, straightening up with a deep sigh. They both sensed it was time. She sat up and tugged her clothes into place.
****
CARMEN PULLED OUT OF the lot and watched the Stevenson’s Garage sign shrink in her rear-view mirror. Her vision blurred, but she fought the tears, unwilling to allow them to mar her last image of Sawyer. He stood outside the bay doors with his arms wrapped around his chest as he watched her drive away. As she rounded the corner, Carmen saw him dash a hand across his face. It took every ounce of strength she possessed to press her foot down on the gas and not slam on the brakes.
White-knuckled, she guided the car down the tree-lined main street. With a twinge of guilt, she realized she had not said goodbye to Charlotte. She forced herself to focus on each lungful of breath she drew. Out through the mouth, Carmen. In through the nose and out through the mouth.
Carmen idled to a halt at the last stop sign before the highway, listening to the familiar sputter and growl of the engine as she glanced around. An elementary school sat back in a shroud of trees to her left, playground equipment colourful as a rainbow in the damp morning air. Its fences were cheerfully adorned with plaques of childish art. On the other side of the road was a recreation centre with an outdoor swimming pool jewel-bright at the building’s edge. Carmen squinted to read a sign on the entrance gate.
Wanted: Full-time Swimming Instructor
Below the headings were an email and phone number with an extension. Carmen stared for a long moment, oblivious to the honking of the car behind her. Her heart in her throat, she fumbled through her purse to find a pen. She wrote down the information with trembling fingers and then picked up her phone. Maybe . . .