Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
“No, no, no,” I said, running after Nova as he barked up a storm, but it was too late. Not just to avoid scaring the birds hovering in the tree branches above my car, who released more poop bombs as they fled. Most of the splatted, bird-shit damage had already been done.
While Graham, Nova, and I had been strolling the boardwalk, eating a lazy late lunch and playing in the waves, the birds had been doing their business. All over my car. Formerly a rusty red, it was now coated with speckled, gross clumps of white and brown.
I hit the button on my key to unlock my vehicle, slowing my stride as I took in the mess. “I’ve referred to my car as crappy before, but I’ve never meant it so literally.”
Graham sidestepped, rushing in front of me to pull open the driver’s side door, chauffer for the dirtiest, rattliest junk bucket around. Before I could commend him for his gentlemanly manners, Nova jumped inside—yeah, we had a ways to go on etiquette and manners with that one.
Watching him track sandy pawprints over my seat and console to settle into his place in the back reminded me that we were all plenty dirty. Might as well let the interior match the hood.
After a quick, halfhearted swipe at the paw prints, I climbed on inside. My muscles were pleasantly sore, the sort of burn that came after a long, hard day of playing in the sun. Graham lowered himself into the passenger seat with the squeal of rusty hinges, and I fought back a yawn. Even Nova stretched out and dropped her chin on her fuzzy blanket. Poor little tired puppy. Exhaustion was definitely tugging at all of us.
My windshield wipers whirred to life as I hit the lever, the fresher poo smearing in with the crustier clumps and now I couldn’t see a damn thing. Pushing the button that sprayed out cleaning fluid merely caused a whirring sound, no liquid spraying out to help. “Looks like my nozzles are clogged or my fluid needs refilled.”
“D’you reckon?” he asked sarcastically, eyeing the windshield.
Two drab, grotesque rainbows formed, and I crinkled my nose. “Gross. I guess I’ll be doing my best impression of Nova and sticking my head out the window while we make our way to the nearest car wash.”
“Would it make you feel better if I did the same?” Graham asked, and I glanced across the car interior at him.
“Yes, honestly. But you should probably keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. I’m willing to risk the onslaught of bugs and debris but would feel bad making you do the same. Plus, steering might end up being a two-person job.”
Nova nudged my shoulder with his wet nose, and I contorted my arm to pat the top of his head.
“A two-person and one helpful doggie job, that is.”
The entire scene undoubtedly looked as ridiculous as it felt. With my head poked out the side of my car, my feet barely touched the pedals. A block of that, and I decided to drop down, little ol’ granny-style. I slid down, hunched over the wheel, and peered through the slice of clear windshield above the knuckle-grooves.
Nova appeared in my side mirror, tongue lolled, ears and jowls rippling in the wind. He was growing so quickly, getting taller, longer, and heavier every day. And evidently, his tiredness could be cured with a drive.
If only I could say the same; my neck was killing me.
At long last, I spotted the neon sign for the drive-through carwash. It was one of those quickie, attached to a gas station versions, but beggars with bird shit on their window didn’t get to be choosers.
“Oh, Nova,” I said as I selected the options with the metallic keypad, “this is your first time. I bet you’re going to get so excited watching all the machinery.”
He rushed to the other side of the car, knocking his head against the closed window.
Chuckling with Graham over what a goofball he was, I rolled down the glass panel that now had a tongue and drool mark. “Take in one last gulp of fresh air, because in a minute, it’s windows up.”
The countdown started, and I distracted Nova, pointing in the direction we were going. Then I rolled up her window, as well as tugging on all the switches to ensure the car was secured. Slowly, I drove in until the machine told me to stop.
Suds began to splatter the window, and nostalgia set in. “My dad used to have this thing about washing his car every single Sunday. He knew how much I loved it, so he always took me along. Yes, the multicolored suds and roller-slap thing are cool?—”
On cue, it came rolling up. Those bird droppings were about to be toast.
“—but it was the time with Dad that I liked the most. He was always so busy working. He missed all of the school plays, my dance recitals, and a lot of my milestones. But Sundays were ours. Carwashes and brunch, just me and him.”
“That sounds nice,” Graham said, reaching over the console and taking my hand. “I couldn’t help but notice there was a lot of past tense in there.”
“He passed away right before I was going to start college. Heart attack. I know his job didn’t cause it, but the stress… well, it certainly didn’t help matters. I decided to take a gap semester to help my mom. That turned to two and then three… I got the job at the bar and found I really liked it. Mixing drinks, chatting with people, the fact that everything’s different every day. The stresses are minimal, too. Sometimes people think that makes me uneducated, or a slacker, but I’ve seen what happens if a job overtakes someone’s life and runs them into the ground.”
I guess a small part of me spilled that last part because I didn’t want Graham to see me that way. “I also have my Etsy shop.”
“Yeah?” Graham swept his thumb over my knuckles, and my stomach went to swirling like the multicolored suds.
A stream of liquid hit me, and I glanced down at the green and purple foam, not understanding how. Or why it was continuing to spray sudsy water all over me, until Nova barked and turned his muzzle to me, face also coated.
He must’ve hit the button for the window, too, because it was also halfway down, allowing power-washing jets to blast us into oblivion. Child-or-dog-lock or not, it’d provided enough of a gap to send water everywhere. A shriek came out as I tried to roll up the window, using the buttons on the driver’s side door, but for some reason it wasn’t working.
I dove over the top of Graham, fumbling for the window controls there, and managed to get the window up and lock all the controls—something that in hindsight, I should’ve done before. Only my window lock button stopped working years ago.
Luckily, they’d put a panel on the passenger door too.
Too much of my weight was on Graham to simply slide back over. I twisted and sat up, panting embarrassingly hard. “Nova Maximus Jones, he was just starting to think we have our crap together.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Graham said. “I never thought that.”
Then I noticed something else that was getting hard. I’d ended up straddling Graham’s lap, and when I peered into his eyes, desire flared. We were both a soapy, wet mess. The moment on the beach would’ve been the typical romantic setting.
But this, well it somehow just fit.
I placed my hand on the side of Graham’s face, dragging my palm up over his scruff and clearing the suds that’d splatted the right side of his face. Up, up, up I went, until my fingers tangled in his hair.
Torturously slowly, Graham glided his fingertips up my spine. My body turned to jelly, and I sank fully onto his lap, lost to the decadent touch.
Only for him to switch up the tempo in a flash. He gripped the nape of my neck in his large hand and tugged my mouth until it was a breath away from his. “Zoie,” he rasped.
I didn’t bother answering with words. I slammed my mouth to his. A heated jolt of electricity shot through my body, and my hips rolled of their own accord.
Graham groaned and plunged his tongue inside my mouth. Using his thumb, he forced my chin upward, taking over the tempo of the kiss and diving deeper. As if he meant to devour me.
For a guy who’d always seemed more on the subdued and restrained side, I hadn’t expected the fire. The frantic groping. How he’d instantly arched his hips and dragged his erection over me, the thin skirt hardly a barrier, and yet too much of one.
I’d suspected I’d have to make the first move. I’d just been waiting to see if he was interested in me the same way I was interested in him.
The instant our lips had met, I was no longer in the driver’s seat, and not only in the literal sense. His moves were unrestrained and confident, and holy shit , he knew how to kiss. Most guys did that all-open attempt to devour you while robbing your ability to breathe.
My oxygen supply was on the short side, but Graham was pouring life into me with each stroke and swipe of his tongue.
At the sound of the buzzer, I jumped, the booming electronic voice instructing me to drive my car forward extra loud. “Seriously,” I groused. “Timing is such a bitch sometimes.”
One last quick peck on his lips and I flung myself back into my soggy, soapy seat. Water seeped through the fabric of my skirt and while it was nice the exterior and windshield were so shiny and clean now, my seat was the kind of wet that’d take days to air out.
The dryers clicked on, and Nova propped his paws on the console and poked his head between the seats, licking my cheek as I struggled to get my gear shifter in place and drive through as instructed.
“Not helping,” I said as we lurched into motion, and I threw out an arm like a soccer mom in brake-heavy traffic so Nova wouldn’t fall forward. Completely unphased, he stepped over my arm to lie down and pin it to the console, craning his head to give Graham the kisses I wanted to give, only slightly less sloppy.
What’s next? Humping his leg? before I even get to?
A guy who worked at the gas station was out back taking his smoke break, and the grin on his face made me think he’d seen at least part of our show—although having all three of us smooshed up front like this was a clown car certainty didn’t help. He tipped his hat to Graham, and I rolled down my window, no mind to the streaks it’d cause.
“Hey, I did plenty of ravishing myself,” I called, not sure why it felt so important to clarify that. Beside me, Graham’s shoulders shook with a mostly silent laugh. Once he caught me looking, his shyer side emerged, and he slinked down in his seat and shook his head. “What? You don’t think it’s worth bragging about?”
“I think…” He leaned across the shifter and pressed a kiss below my ear, eliciting a full-body shiver. “That I’ve never met anyone like you, and that I very much enjoyed my All-American day.”
“But wait there’s more,” I announced in my best infomercial voice. “Now we get to head home and clean ourselves off as quickly as possible before the chemicals ruin our clothes and skin. Don’t let it be said that I don’t know how to have a good time.”
“I would never. But now that you mention it, there’s definitely a sort of burning and stinging situation going on.”
That I didn’t feel like taking credit for. However, it did have me nudging the gas pedal a little faster, rushing us all to somewhere we could clean off, and I really hoped he’d accept my invitation to do that together.