“What?”
“Say things they don’t mean.”
Aaron’s thick lashes swept his cheekbones as he closed his eyes as if in pain. Close to him like this, all the markers of a bad boy—the tattoos, the heavy silver jewelry, and the slight menace in his continence—seemed so insignificant. He looked romantic, leaning toward me in the dim yellow glow from the front seat overhead lights, his Byronic features etched in pure gold and liquid shadow. I wanted to trace the line of his nose with my fingertip and test the texture of his plush lower lip with my teeth.
Then his eyes opened, and all that softness was erased by the heated intent of that stare.
He moved closer so quickly I flinched, but he wasn’t perturbed by it. If anything, his brows knotted with further resolve, and he slowly but deliberately crawled into the back seat so he was facing me on his knees. When he took my face between his big, rough hands, I found I could barely breathe through the tension that seemed to smoke between us.
I trembled, but he stilled me within the frame of his palms and rounded his spine to bring his eyes directly in line with mine.
“I’m a stranger. You’re a stranger. We part ways in a minute, and I’ll just be a crazy memory for you. You’ll be that girl with the blue hair stuck in my mind like a question mark I’ll always wish I’d answered. But no matter what happens, I want this night to change somethin’ for ya.”
“My predilection for scumbags?” I joked weakly.
Aaron wasn’t moved. “I want you to get that you’re worth somethin’. First moment I saw you, I lost my fuckin’ breath to the sight’a you. Not ’cause you’re damn pretty, Blue, but ’cause a man like me knows pretty girls. Nah, the sight’a you knockedthe air straight from my chest ’cause a pretty girl with a sweet smile was mannin’ a gas station in the middle’a the night on a dangerous stretch’a highway, and I thought, this girl doesn’t have anyone in her life to tell her not to risk herself like this. She’s fightin’ and clawin’ for everythin’ she’s got, and what she’s got is no one. And, Blue baby, that sucker punched me. A girl like you should have a whole army’a family at your back keepin’ ya safe and makin’ ya promises theyalwaysintend to fuckin’ keep.”
That hollowness in my chest was suddenly filled with warmth, with a sloshing, overwhelming fullness that threatened to drown me. The wet of it leaked out the corners of my eyes and trailed down my cheeks. Aaron caught the dampness on his thumbs.
“Gonna hug you now, that’s alright with you,” Aaron said, a question buried in his confident tone.
Warning bells should have been ringing, alone with a stranger on the side of an empty highway in the middle of the night in a sketchy-ass van, but they weren’t. Instead, I felt a connection, tentative but tangible, building between us.
So I hugged him.
I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my chest into his. He caught me with a little chuckle but held me with a tenderness that felt somber, almost sacred. I knew he mostly felt sad for me, but I didn’t really care. I hadn’t even had someone to pity me in so long, and even that was nice.
“You gonna tell me your name now?” he asked into my hair.
One of his big hands cupped the entire back of my skull, making me feel almost nauseated with pleasure.
“No.” I pulled away and pretended to preoccupy myself with Otto’s mangey jacket. “Blue sounds nice enough in your mouth.”
“Tastes good too. You wanna kiss it off my lips?”
I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt, but keeping the wild giggle at bay in my throat was a struggle. Aaron gave me that crookedgrin, eyes dancing like he knew he was full of shit, but he didn’t give a fuck because it was fun.
Hewas fun.
Somehow, after being held at gunpoint, I was enjoying myself.
Our moment was shattered by the telltale rumble of thunder climbing up the mountain road.
The distant murmur of motorcycles.
“Friends of yours?” I asked on a breath as adrenaline sluiced through me again.
Aaron cocked his head as if he could discern the exact notes of the cacophony. “Better not risk it. C’mon. I was headed to Whistler on business. I’ll get shit settled there, and it’ll give those bastards time to get arrested or get gone.”
“And then?” I couldn’t help but ask as I followed him back into the front seat.
I didn’t have to look at him as I buckled my seat belt to know he was smiling that impish, sexy grin.
“And then, I take you out.”
“I don’t date bikers.”
“Who said anythin’ about datin’?” he countered with a roguish grin.
