Chapter Seventeen #4
“Tyler…” she began because they really should run, but it was like his touch had hypnotized the sense out of her.
She reached for him, a hand around his neck, the other clasping his solid shoulder.
The warning niggled at her again. The water had risen above her kneecaps, but now her brain was consumed with the nearness of Tyler’s chest, like dimpled marble but giving.
Mesmerized by his damp skin, chilled with gooseflesh, she rubbed her hands along his torso.
Responding, his lips teased hers. His hands roamed down her back and he cupped her ass in both hands, but it was Lulu who pressed against Tyler, thrilling at the power she had to excite him.
Throwing her head back, she let him at her throat.
And her ear, the left one, the one that had a reaction to his breath that sent shock waves down her core.
She pushed him farther into the wall and covered his mouth with hers.
“We can’t,” she panted between kisses. “The storm.”
“We’ll hurry.”
She pressed her pelvis against his and kissed him hard. It took a moment to register that the river water was nipping at her rear. With a shock of panic, she jerked backward. “Oh shit!” she said. “Tyler!”
“Oh shit!” he said, his expression proving he had come to the same conclusion. “Run!” And they gripped hands and made for the edge of the tunnel.
“Wait!” Lulu turned and ran back. “Our clothes,” she explained, snagging the bundle before racing back. Together, they burst through the wall of rain at the end of the tunnel and scrambled barefoot up the muddy embankment.
Lulu looked back at the warm river, remembering the placid sounds of the guitar, the lit candles dripping wax on the rocks, the calm pool like a comfortable womb.
This river was a totally different beast now, foaming and beating against the banks.
They exchanged a glance. How narrowly had they escaped?
! Her heart squeezed with relief that they were out of the worst of it.
But they were not entirely clear of the risk of the rising river yet.
They sloshed through grassy puddles and arrived at the road, which flowed like a parallel river.
Holding hands and squinting against the lashing rain, they looked around with little hope, until the sound of tires pushing water came around the bend.
A pickup truck, lights on and windshield wipers slapping as fast as hummingbird wings, slowed long enough for them to jump inside.
“Gracias,” Lulu panted, climbing into the cab and trying to avoid flooding the floorboards and brushing her soaked skin against the driver.
“Muchisimas gracias. Lo siento. Lo siento.” Tyler apologized for the soaking puddles their butts left on the seats.
The driver, looking none too pleased with the state of the bedraggled hitchhikers but too decent to leave them to the downpour, acknowledged the name of the hotel with a nod. He put the truck in drive and plowed forward through the flooded road. Lulu jostled against Tyler, wet and clammy but happy.
“Let’s see what’s left of our clothes,” she said, picking through the sopping bundle.
Lulu found her T-shirt, but her shorts must have been swept away.
The only other article of clothing left was Tyler’s shorts, his phone still stuffed into his pocket.
“Oh no…” she said, tugging it out of the drenched pocket. “Your phone!”
“Shit,” he said. “Is it working?”
Lulu touched the screen, and it came to life. Without meaning to, she glimpsed the text on the home screen.
Notification from Olivia.
Oh my effing fuck in a fuckbasket.
A flush like a fever descended over her face.
Lulu’s rib cage tightened around her lungs like a vice.
How had she forgotten about this Olivia person?
Heartbeat stuttering, she ticked off the sequence of events resulting from the push and pull of Tyler Demming.
What a sucker I am, she told herself, berating nine out of every ten choices she’d made over the last six days.
Fool me once, Lulu thought, and shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me sixteen times and counting? I am a fucking idiot.
What was it about Tyler The-Fucking-Rocket Demming that obliterated her senses and made her as easy to manipulate as a finger sandwich? She had let herself be the kind of meal he didn’t even need a fork for.
Too flustered to speak, she handed his phone to him. And he didn’t seem even the least bit fazed when he peeked at the screen. Guilelessly, he clicked on the message and read it.
Lulu swallowed hard, her jaw tightening. For the rest of the brief ride, she hoped the wetness brewing in her eyes blended in with her rain-drenched appearance.
When they reached the hotel gate, the driver dumped them off unceremoniously.
Holding it together, Lulu avoided eye contact with Tyler before striding off toward the reception area.
She maintained her cool, smiled at the receptionist, and pretended everything was fine.
Lulu hung onto her wits and tried to concentrate on remembering the room number.
“Lu?” She kept it together when Tyler, standing very near behind her, asked, “Everything okay?”
And nodding, she turned but looked at every conceivable spot except at his face. “Just exhausted,” she mumbled, gripping her room key in her trembling fingers.
In the blessed privacy of the hotel room, she refused to cry as she stripped off her clammy swimsuit and climbed into the hot shower, letting the water run over her skin.
I am a fucking idiot, she thought again as that mantra of negativity pounded against her shoulders like an interminable downpour.
And at last, only then, did she allow herself to release the dam. The shower poured, her tears flowed, and Lulu Gardner watched as her foolish heart slipped down the drain.