Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Roxy jolted awake, sitting straight up in her seat. Shit. She must have fallen asleep. Blinking rapidly, she rubbed at her eyes carefully, yawning broadly.
“Hi there, sleepyhead,” Travis teased from the driver’s seat. He patted her knee, and she realized he must have reached behind them at some point to drag her blanket forward, covering her. He’d also rolled the back windows up.
She let the blanket slide down into her lap as she yawned again, stretching as much as she could in the passenger seat, then looked out the windows around her.
The sky out the windshield in front of them was ominous looking; dark rain clouds rushed toward them from the horizon.
Another hour and they’d be in the middle of that mess.
“Sounds like we’re headed straight into a storm.
We’re too far North to try and go East, unless we take all backroads, which I don’t necessarily want to do.
We just passed into Kansas,” he said. She reached for a bottled water, offering it to him first, but he shook his head.
“No, thank you, I’m fine.” She uncapped it, taking several long pulls.
Her head was aching. “I’m hoping it blows over. ”
It did not. The further North they traveled, the darker and more ominous looking the skyline in front of them became.
And then the rain started, pelting the windshield brutally, and Travis had the windshield wipers turned up to full speed.
Lightning flashed, thunder cracking loudly, too close for comfort.
Roxy sat up straighter in the seat, eyes straining to see through the damn near wall of water that was pelting the vehicle.
Travis’s hands were tight around the steering wheel, the only clue she had that he wasn’t as unaffected by the storm as she thought.
He cursed when the wind buffeted them sideways for a third time.
He had slowed the car drastically in deference to the conditions.
Tuning the radio again and turning the volume up, they listened as the weatherman announced that there was a widespread tornado watch, though luckily none had been sighted yet.
“I’ve got to pull us off the highway, I can’t see ten feet in front of me, let alone trying to drive at highway speeds,” he muttered. “Might be a good time to stop for dinner.”
Pulling up her GPS app, she noted that they were out in the middle of nowhere Kansas. They’d already passed one exit that had food and lodging, and the next one wasn’t for another twenty miles. She relayed the information and he cursed again, scrubbing his hand over his beard and mouth.
“Dammit,” he sighed, then shook his head. “That’ll have to do if there’s no where else to pull off.”
The wind picked up fiercely around them, buffeting them back and forth, and the rain continued to lash at the vehicle harshly.
Twenty tense miles later, he flipped the blinker on and slowed down for the exit, then laughed dryly when they realize the nearest town was another five miles away.
They headed in the direction the GPS indicated, the sky growing steadily darker, the storm around them not lightening in the slightest.
Three miles away from their destination, a faint pop sounded through the vehicle, and then a wobbling rumble started. She turned to look at him with her mouth dropped open, eyes wide. “Oh my god. Is that—”
Travis pulled them off to the side of the road carefully, turning the hazard lights on to flashing, then put the car in park. He shook his head, laughing, then turned to look at her. “A flat tire? Sure is, baby girl.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, twisting in her seat. He just grinned over at her, shrugging those impossibly wide shoulders, then reached out a hand and slid his palm over the back of her neck, squeezing lightly. She shivered at the contact.
He blew out a breath, looking around the darkened sky beyond. “What do you think the chances are of getting a tow way out here?”
She picked up her phone and wrinkled her nose, turning the phone to face him. “There’s no service, Travis. Maybe a car will come by and see us?”
“We can only hope,” he chuckled, then sighed again. “Well, shit.”
“I’m really sorry,” she whispered again.
He squeezed her neck, letting his fingers strum along the curves of her neck, just below her hairline. “It wouldn’t be a cross-country road trip without a little adventure, huh?”
“Oh yes, this is exactly the kind of adventure I’m sure you were hoping for when you so gallantly volunteered to drive me across the country, Travis,” she deadpanned.
He laughed, grinning over at her. God he was so handsome when he smiled like that.
It did wonderful, awful things to her middle.
And her heart. But she wouldn’t think about that right now.
He twisted in his seat, then unbuckled. “I’m going to hop out and see what the damage is, you stay here.”
And then he was ducking out of the driver’s door, slamming it shut as he was immediately pelted with the torrential rain.
She watched through the rain slicked windows as he jogged around to the rear passenger tire, and then he disappeared from view.
She twisted around to try and see him in the passenger side mirror, but the rain was so impenetrable and heavy, and the sky had darkened so much that she couldn’t make out his form.
She squinted at the dark spot that she thought might be Travis, but then she startled with a jump when the driver’s door opened and he slid back into the seat.
His hair was soaked, clinging wetly to his face, neck, and shoulders.
Rain droplets rolled down his bare arms, and his t-shirt and jeans were drenched, clinging to his skin.
She didn’t miss the way that wet t-shirt clung to every ridge and muscle of his shoulders, chest, and abdomen, her mouth going dry.
“Looks like we picked up some sort of metal spike; it’s stuck in there good,” he said, wiping his hands over his face to clear the water that still dripped down his brow, nose, and cheeks. He glanced behind them and his eyes widened. “There’s a car coming. Stay here.”
“Travis—”
But again, he was sliding out of the driver’s door as soon as the car got close, and Roxy sighed in relief as it slowed, pulling up behind them, also putting their hazards on.
She watched again as Travis cautiously stepped up toward the other vehicle, just barely able to see his outline through the downpour.
He came trotting back, and then climbed back in.
The poor guy was soaked clear to the bone now.
The car’s hazards turned off, blinker coming on to guide them back onto the road, and then they watched as the red glow of the taillights faded in front of them.
“They’re going to go down the way and send a tow truck back for us. We can only hope someone close by has the right sized tire, though with the way our luck is going right now, everything is going to be closed for the night.”
“I really am so sorry, Travis—”
He turned to look at her through the semi-darkness of the vehicle, his gaze sliding over her face, to linger on her lips.
She swallowed hard. His eyes slowly rose back to hers, and he rasped, “Roxy, I would drag this damn trip out for weeks if I could, just so I don’t have to say good-bye to you in a few days.
I’ll take every extra second I can get with you. ”