Twenty-One #2
It took a beat or two for Rowena’s eyes to adjust. She undid her seatbelt and leaned forward to stare out the windscreen at the almost apocalyptic scene. It was so barren out here she half expected to see a tumbleweed roll across in front of the screen.
‘It’s been twenty-five years since I’ve been to a drive-in,’ she murmured.
‘Can’t see a movie for love or money,’ Lachlan said. ‘But you can see a shitload of stars.’
That she could. With her night vision kicking in, Rowena could see a million shimmering points of light. But they could have easily seen them at Blairgowrie too, so she wasn’t sure why he’d brought her to a dilapidated drive-in.
Rowena turned her head to find him watching her intently. He didn’t seem to care that she’d caught him staring, he just held her gaze unwaveringly. It made her hyper-aware of how close they were in the cab of his ute.
And how well he was wearing that t-shirt.
Not to mention the way his warmed cologne spritzed the air like a dollop of Reggie’s Christmas marmalade. Spiking it with sugar and spice, different but just as appealing as his earlier more earthy male pheromones.
Her breath hitched as their gazes held, a hot leap in her blood echoing through every pulse point.
‘We could have seen them out at Blairgowrie,’ she said, her voice a weird kind of vibrato, her vocal cords as affected by the scent of him as the rest of her body.
He shrugged but he didn’t look away, didn’t break their eye contact. ‘Thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. Stargazing at the town’s premier tourist destination.’
Rowena gave a husky laugh. ‘A run-down drive-in is the premier tourist destination?’
‘Well … I’m sure the local chamber of commerce disagrees but I think it’s totally underrated. A bit of spit and polish, some weed killer, and it’d make an awesome outdoor venue.’
‘Or a great post-apocalyptic film set.’
He grinned. ‘Now you’re thinking.’
She smiled because he was sexy when he grinned, but her smile didn’t last long. Rowena was fairly certain he hadn’t brought her out here to explore a local tourist trail.
So, why? Did he have something he wanted to talk to her about?
‘What’s the real reason you brought me here instead of heading back to the farm?’
He shrugged. ‘I got the feeling you weren’t ready to head back yet.’
Well, that was true. But the fact he knew it was as unsettling as the rest of the feelings that tumbled around inside her tonight, mixing and churning.
Worried he’d be able to read her turmoil, Rowena broke eye contact, returning her attention to the windscreen, barely registering the run-down surroundings now. She should get out of the car. It would be a lot easier to stargaze sitting beneath them than from inside the cab.
Her hand slid to the door handle but faltered when his fingers touched her shoulder.
‘And I wasn’t ready to head back either.’
A wave of goosebumps skittering across her flesh was followed by a wave of longing so intense Rowena felt it deep in the muscles of her pelvic floor. She glanced at his fingers as they gently caressed her skin. She’d worn a tank top tonight, leaving her arms bare, and he was taking full advantage.
His touch was feather light but she felt it everywhere. In the ruche of her nipples, the tempo of her breathing, the exquisite ache between her legs. Like Shirley had done earlier, Rowena shuddered as his fingers trailed down her arm.
Their eyes met. ‘You ever made out at a drive-in?’ he asked, his voice so low it was almost a growl.
‘Nope.’
‘You wanna?’
After, Rowena couldn’t recall if she answered him or allowed her lunge to do the talking but, in a flash, she was clambering over the centre console, reaching for him, ignoring her banged knee on the gear stick and the logistics of the situation.
She just had to be on him.
If he was surprised by her fervour, he didn’t show it, just met her mouth with equal passion as she finally slid her thigh over the top of his, squeezing between him and the steering wheel to straddle his lap.
His lips were hot and hard and she moaned as his sugar and spice filled her senses, and the kiss went from scorching to incendiary in seconds. A hand gripped her arse, holding her close, his hips rising to meet hers as she ground against him.
Suddenly, the seat fell backwards and she was sprawled on top of him, blissfully horizontal. Or as horizontal as they were going to get in a dual cab.
But, oh dear god, it was better. So much better.
Lachlan speared his fingers into her hair and groaned. ‘Ro.’
Her name was a ragged puff of warm air against her lips before he plundered her mouth, his tongue tangling with hers. And she loved it. Loved that he sounded as helpless and desperate and affected as she was. As out of control. Because Rowena was out of her skin with wanting him.
Not in possession of her own body.
Desire, thick and rich and reckless, had taken over and she was helpless to do anything other than obey.
His pheromones and her hormones had swirled together in the intimate confines of the cab to form a lethal mix that had jettisoned its load into her system.
Every nerve ending she owned was sparking as blood rushed in one direction.
That throbbing point between her legs.
The point where the bulge in his jeans met the seam in hers, causing the most excruciating friction. Rowena was faint with it as his big hands caged her hips, holding her tight to him as they ground up a veritable firestorm.
If she’d been in her right mind, Rowena might have thought twice about dry humping a hot farmer in the front seat of a car at an abandoned, derelict, country drive-in.
But, clearly, she was far from her right mind.
‘Jesus,’ Lachlan muttered, his lips momentarily leaving hers. ‘If we keep this up things are going to get messy.’
Rowena supposed that was meant to be some kind of warning but, as far as she was concerned, it was a giant freaking turn-on. She was pushing this hunk of big, strong, capable manly man to the limits of his sexual endurance.
That was dizzying.
Her lips curved into a smile against his as she ground a little harder. ‘Challenge accepted.’
She kissed him, the rumble of his guttural groan and the possessive way his hand cupped her nape barrelling her closer, too. Things were swelling and rippling and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, reaching for the sensation, trying to grab a firm hold.
Reaching, reaching, reaching.
But, as ever, it fluttered elusively just out of grasp, like the fireflies she used to chase as a kid.
Goddamn it.
Wrenching her mouth from his, Rowena gave a cry of frustration as she buried her face in his neck, twisting the fingers of one hand in his hair, gripping the headrest with the other as she rubbed frantically against him.
‘Ro?’ Lachlan’s breath chugged in and out, as harsh as her own. ‘What do you need?’
‘I just—’ Except she didn’t know what she just. She didn’t think it was possible to grind any harder without breaking something and there were sparks, they just weren’t flaring and ready to catch like they had been.
They were banking.
‘Can you—’
‘What?’ His voice was a rough pant in her ear. ‘Tell me what you need.’
Good question. If only she knew the answer. A miracle? A spell? A magic freaking wand? Rowena pummelled her fist against the headrest, infuriated at her malfunctioning body.
‘Let me help,’ he muttered, the hands clamped to her arse sliding around to her waistband, fumbling with the button.
But it was too late, the fireflies were so far in the distance now she could barely see them, and she pushed herself away from him, too annoyed and exasperated to even think of faking it this time.
He frowned, his eyes searching her face. ‘Ro?’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, shaking her head as confusion and concern warred across his features. Suddenly ashamed of her malfunctioning body, she clambered off him as inelegantly as she’d clambered on. ‘I can’t.’
Absently she noted the fogged windscreen as she landed back—somewhat more dishevelled now—on her side of the car.
Grabbing the handle by the side of her seat, Rowena lowered herself down as well.
And there they both lay, the sound of their heavy breathing the soundtrack to her humiliation as they contemplated the ceiling.
‘Okay,’ he said eventually, ‘you want to tell me what just happened?’