“We’re in Columbus, Ohio. And the bet is, if you’re waking up like a normal human being by the end of this trip, you have to let me take you on a date when we get back to Pittsburgh.”
“A date? Seriously? That’s what you want? Isn’t this whole insane road trip you proposed and forced me on one big date? That seems like weak sauce to me.”
A wicked grin takes over his face. “First of all, I didn’t make you do anything. I merely suggested that you come with me, or we could tell your brother and your friends about your panic attack.”
“In some cultures, that’s considered blackmail.”
“I can see how you would think that, but really, I had your best interests at heart. What if you had one and I wasn’t around? What if you were all alone? Who would ask you about all the things you see? Who would make sure you keep on breathing? You’re too pretty not to breathe.”
I do my best to smother a smile because there have been very few people who can keep up with me and the ones who can are almost all related to me or might as well be. I forgot how much fun it is to banter with someone on my level.
“I would have managed. And what about the bet? Are yousure you want to go with a date? I’ll give you a pass if you want to change your mind.”
“Juliette, I can promise you that no date with me would ever be weak sauce. And this road trip isn’t a date. It’s fun.”
“And a date with you wouldn’t be fun?”
His eyes darken and do a slow sweep down my body and back up again. “Oh, it would be fun alright. And…other things.”
The way his voice drops an octave at theother thingshas my entire body heating. Suddenly there isn’t nearly enough air in this car. Releasing my seatbelt, I shove open the car door and jump out into a large parking lot, taking a deep breath of frigid winter air.
Asher climbs out on the other side, chuckling at my obvious discomfort in a way that makes me want to throttle him and also heightens all my senses. That must be why it’s at that moment I notice the car.
“Hey, did you get a new car?”
He looks at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
“This is a blue Range Rover. Your car used to be black.” What I don’t say is I’ll never forget the black car he was driving the night of the kiss we are no longer discussing. The kiss that makes my cheeks heat every time I think about it.
As always, Asher seems to know exactly what’s going through my mind because he smirks as he rounds the car to stand next to me. “This is a rental. Usually, I drive my own car to Boulder, but I wanted to be able to fly home with you if you wanted company. Getting my car back to Pittsburgh is a pain in the ass, so I rented one I can return in Boulder.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I’ve been flying by myself for years.” What I don’t mention is how much I hate flying, especially by myself. How much I loathe having myschedule entirely at the mercy of flight delays and cancellations, and how hard it is for me to relax since I’m not the one flying the plane, especially when I don’t have anything to distract me.
Asher bends down to zip up my jacket for me. “Yeah, but why should you have to?” Then he tugs a black beanie with the Renegades’ logo on it onto my head and kisses my cheek. Tossing an arm around my shoulders, he steers me through the parking lot.
The casual way he says that surprises me, but I guess at this point it shouldn’t. I don’t understand how he can see me so clearly where people I have known my entire life can’t, but I also can’t lie and say there’s not a part of me that likes it.
As we get to the end of the parking lot, it occurs to me that I never even asked Asher where we were making our first stop. It’s a new experience for me, giving up this kind of control over my day to another person, but at least for today, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Looking up, I see a big sign that says Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
I glance over at Asher walking next to me, his arm still slung over my shoulders. “A botanical garden? That’s a surprising choice.”
“Is it? It’s too cold for all the outside stuff, but inside the conservatory they have different biomes, so we get to see all these different ecosystems, all in one place. We can go to a rainforest, a desert, and the Himalayan mountains, all without leaving Ohio. It’s fucking cool is what it is.”
It does sound cool, but I’ll be damned if I tell him that. “You sound like my mom talking about her plants.”
“She gardens?”
“She’s an interior designer, but every spring she does the gardens at our lake house in Maryland. She’s deadly serious about it, and every year the whole thing gets bigger. My dad offers to hire a gardener at least once a summer,but she refuses. I think I’ve heard her mention this place. She lives for a botanical garden.”
Asher reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. “Go stand by the sign.”
“What?”
“The sign. I’ll take your picture and you can send it to your mom. If she’s anything like my mom, she’ll want to hear from you at least once a day to make sure you’re still alive.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. But I could just text her without a picture.”
“Come on, Juliette, live a little. Let’s start documenting our trip. We can do a shared album that we can both add pictures to.”
