Chapter 5
Amelia
It felt strange lying practically naked in bed with a man I didn’t know. I was thankful he was sound asleep, facing the opposite direction.
I lay on my side, facing the wall. I was so close to the edge I feared I might actually fall off the bed, but even that was better than getting closer to him.
The butterflies in my stomach had returned, and a throbbing formed between my legs.
I squeezed my thighs together, hoping to squash the urges that were consuming me—it had been a struggle since he dropped his pants right in front of me, leaving him in nothing but his navy blue boxer briefs.
I wish I hadn’t noticed the way his long, wide shaft had the cotton fabric stretching over it, but I had.
Things with Alex and me had been strained for a while.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been touched by a man.
I understood the way the body and hormones worked, but why did it have to be him? A car thief.
To be fair, I was one too, but I didn’t plan on making it a career.
For once in my life, I was trying to do better for myself.
I wanted out of the life of crime I’d been raised in.
I didn’t have a bad boy fetish anymore. I wanted a white-collar man who wore a suit and went to work in the office every morning, carrying a briefcase and a cup of coffee.
I wanted to live in a house with a white picket fence.
I wanted to drive a minivan for my small army of kids.
And I wanted to spend my days learning new recipes and preparing elaborate meals for my family.
I felt an emptiness consume my stomach, and that’s when I realized that I didn’t actually want those things. I wanted to want those things.
I had some things to figure out, but I was finally out of the tiny town I had been forced to live in, and I was away from the guy who should’ve loved me but always hurt me.
One step at a time. The plan was to get out, and I was out.
I figured I’d just keep moving forward until someplace felt right.
That was, if the cops didn’t find me first.
I don’t know how I managed, but I eventually got warm and fell fast asleep.
It was a deep, dreamless sleep, the kind that grabbed you before you even knew it and held you captive for several hours until your body started to wake up, piece by piece.
I didn’t wake up all at once. I slowly regained feeling in certain areas.
I noticed how comfortable and warm I felt, and I didn’t want to wake up.
I fought to stay under, but my body was waking even if I didn’t want it to.
I felt my stomach tighten, and the ache between my thighs was back.
That’s when I felt something nudge my inner thigh.
My eyes opened, but I froze when I realized what was happening.
In my sleep, I must have rolled away from the edge.
So did Oliver because we were both in the middle of the bed.
He was on his back, and I was on my right side with my left leg draped over his lap.
His right hand was on my thigh while his left arm was under my neck.
My bare chest was against his side, and as much as I hated it, I liked it.
God, this man was pure muscle, and his tattoos?
Sleeves. Chest. Abdomen. I was sure he drove all the women crazy.
I couldn’t pull away. I mean, not as quickly as I wanted to. I knew if I did, he’d wake up, and I needed to get out of bed first. I needed to grab my clothes and dart to the bathroom before he saw me. I needed to gently remove myself from him to keep him from waking.
I felt him twitch against my inner thigh again, and his hand gently squeezed my leg.
His hips moved a fraction of an inch, almost grinding himself against my thigh, but thanks to our positioning, it also caused his hip to grind against my center.
A gasping moan escaped my lips, and I bit down on my inner cheek to silence myself.
For another moment, I just lay there, torn between trying to pull away from him or figuring out how to make him move like that again. My body was fully alert, my heart slamming against my chest, and my lungs tried to betray me, wanting more and more air.
“I know you’re awake.”
His deep voice made my eyes pop back open. I no longer had to move slowly or be quiet to keep from waking him, so I jerked away like I’d been burned and slapped his bare chest.
“You’re such an asshole!”
“Ow, what was that for?” he asked, laughing as he rubbed at his chest.
I was already rolling across the bed, taking the blanket with me and taco-ing myself up in it as I stood, leaving him to grab for the sheet to cover himself from the waist down. “You know what that was for!”
“Don’t act mad now. You sounded like you enjoyed it to me.” He smirked.
“I did not enjoy it!” I could feel the heat in my cheeks.
He rolled his eyes. “You know when you’re asleep, your breathing is deep and even, right? You were awake for a while.”
“Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to make you let me go without waking you so I could get dressed without you seeing me! Not because I wanted you to touch me. God, you’re so annoying.” I turned to grab my clothes.
“Call me whatever you want, but you getting all pissed off right now is just your way of trying to convince yourself that you didn’t enjoy it as much as you did.” He stood from bed, not at all ashamed of the way his manhood was straining against his boxers.
I glanced down at it. “It looks like I’m not the only one who enjoyed it,” I mocked.
He snorted and shrugged. “I’m a red-blooded man, sweetheart.
I’m not ashamed of morning wood when I wake up to an almost naked woman pressing her bare tits to my side.
” He lazily took me in as he rounded the bed.
“And don’t worry about me seeing what you’re hiding under that sheet.
I got the full view last night before you got into bed. ”
My brows knitted together. “What? How?”
“Are you aware of how mirrors work?” He pointed to the mirror that hung over the dresser.
I looked over at it, noticing that I could see exactly where he had been lying. “You promised you wouldn’t look!”
He shrugged and walked past, into the bathroom. “I guess I’m not the only liar around here.” He shut the door between us, and a moment later, I heard him turn on the shower.
I took the opportunity to drop the blanket and grab my clothes. As I got dressed, I wondered what he was implying when he said that he wasn’t the only liar. Was he saying that I was lying about not enjoying having him against me? He probably was. Jerk.
I was dressed within a couple of minutes, so I sat on the foot of the bed to pull on my socks and boots. I took my money out of my boot where I’d stashed it and stuffed it into my bra for safekeeping.
Oliver came out of the bathroom, steam billowing around him, wearing nothing but a white towel.
He walked past me and around the bed to where he left his clothes hanging over the chairs to dry.
I expected him to grab them and take them back into the bathroom to get dressed, so I turned my head to ask him a question.
Only to my surprise, he wasn’t shy at all, and instead of gathering his clothes, he dropped his towel right there.
His ass was aimed my way, but he was standing right in front of the mirror, so I got a full view of the front side as well.
“Guess I’m not the only one who forgot how mirrors work around here.” I blurted the words out, my face hot. I couldn’t look away, though. Oliver was really… wow.
He smirked as he grabbed his jeans. “Nope, I just don’t care.
I understand wanting to check under the hood before you take it for a test drive.
” He had his jeans up now, but not fastened.
He held out the waistband, allowing me to see the dusting of dark curls there.
“Want to come closer and do a three-point inspection?” He grinned.
I shook my head.
“You’re disgusting.” I stood and pulled on my jacket.
“Suit yourself,” he said with a laugh before buttoning up.
I turned and walked into the bathroom, where I grabbed the hotel-provided mini toothbrush that I managed to claim the night before.
The bristles were wet. Too wet to still be from me using it the night before.
Holding the toothbrush in my fist, I walked back into the room. “Did you use this toothbrush?”
“Yeah, why?” He pulled his shirt over his head.
“Because I claimed it last night! I need to brush my teeth, and now I can’t because you’ve used it.”
He shrugged. “The way I see it, Crash, I paid for this room. That means that this room is mine. It also means that the toothbrush is mine. You’re not the only one here who needed to brush their teeth.
I don’t give a shit if it had already been used or not.
” He sat down to pull on his socks. “Use it or walk around all day with morning breath. Up to you.”
I let out a snarl as I turned back for the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me and grabbed onto the sides of the porcelain sink as I hung my head. I closed my eyes as I willed myself to calm down.
After several minutes and some really deep breaths, I felt my heart slow, so I opened my eyes, lifted my head, and put toothpaste onto the toothbrush. I told myself to pretend he hadn’t used it.
I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and combed my hair. Once I was finished, left the bathroom to find him standing in front of the window, looking out.
He turned to face me. “I figured we’d grab some breakfast and then maybe try to hitch a ride out of town before looking for another car.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. We need to stop at a dollar store along the way. I need a toothbrush of my own and some deodorant, maybe an extra set of clothes.”
He nodded and opened the door. I honestly had no idea what we were doing or why I kept going along with him. I’d probably do better if I just found Kevin and strapped myself to his back and let him carry me off.
We stepped out into the bright sun, and I took a deep breath of the cool spring air.
As we walked to the lobby to turn in the key, I noticed the police car parked behind the truck we’d left across the street the night before.
The officer stood there, talking to a little old man in jeans and a flannel shirt.
I smacked Oliver’s arm.
“I told you that truck belonged to a little old man.”
We both looked across the street as the man scratched his head in confusion, almost like he didn’t know why he couldn’t remember parking his truck at the gas station.
We were about to walk into the lobby when the door opened.
A teenage girl came walking out, holding a stack of papers to her chest. When she saw us, she fell back a step.
“Oh, excuse me.” She handed over a sheet with Kevin’s picture. “Did either of you two lose a goat last night?”
I looked up at Oliver, my eyes wide. He just shook his head. “Nope, not ours.”
“Darn it. He made his way to our place, just behind the motel. I want to keep him, but my dad says he belongs to someone. We figure he got spooked by the storm yesterday and took off.”
I tried to bite my tongue, but I couldn’t. “Why don’t you go ask that old man over there. I heard him say something about losing a goat.”
Her brows arched, and a look of determination settled over her face.
“Thanks!” She rushed past us.
Oliver just glared down at me.
“What?”
“That’s the kind of shit that will get us busted. Keep your mouth shut,” he said quietly as we waited at the counter.
I grumbled at him.
“Everything OK with your room?” a woman asked.
“Everything was fine,” Oliver told her, handing over the key.
“It’s a shame everyone is checking out today. Everyone is going to miss the excitement.”
“What excitement?” I asked.
She leaned forward. “Well, I’ve only been on the clock for twenty minutes, but already we’ve had the police show up because they located a stolen truck across the street, and apparently we have a rogue goat that’s running around town causing all sorts of trouble.
He humped a plastic reindeer in Mrs. Willmore’s yard, and then he kicked her when she tried to shoo him away.
” She laughed. “This is the most entertainment this town has seen all year.”
I chuckled, happy that Kevin potentially found the love of his life.
“Alright, we have to go,” Oliver said, grabbing my wrist and tugging me toward the door.
“Have a nice day, and thanks for staying with us,” the woman behind the counter called out just before the door closed between us.
“What’s got you in such a rush?”
“Now you see why I refused to sleep with that thing in the room. That could’ve been one of us,” he said, walking down the sidewalk toward the restaurant.
I laughed. “Don’t worry. Kevin didn’t like you like that. He told me you weren’t his type,” I teased.
“Yeah, I figured you were more his type. He would’ve gone from six to midnight when you slipped out of your bra and scurried over to bed. I know I did.” He smirked.
I smacked his bicep and gave him a shove off the sidewalk, embarrassment flooding through me. “God! Don’t you ever shut up?”
He chuckled as he fell a few steps behind me.
“Never, Crash.”