Chapter 25
Elliot
The Road to Somewhere Special
“You brought road trip snacks?” Dilynne turns to me for just a second before focusing her eyes back on the road.
I reach into the plastic bag and make quick work of pulling out a few necessities. “I sort of have this irrational fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere without food.”
“That’s a very specific fear,” she says with a quirk of her lips.
“I wish it were the only one, but sadly, I have quite a few.”
We’ve been on the road for only thirty minutes, but I finally feel like my chest has started to loosen.
After Thursday night, Dilynne and I barely spoke yesterday. I wanted to give her some space, and part of me needed the same.
The night at her house was…intense. Part of me wonders if I should have put myself out there more, but I didn’t really get the reassurance I needed from her that this isn’t just about lust. And without that, I worry if developing something serious with her is a lost cause.
I can tell that her ex did a number on her. Hell, that’s one commonality that we share, despite our many differences.
But if there’s one thing the past few weeks have taught me, it’s that timing is everything. This fake engagement would never have worked years before. Dilynne and I aren’t the same people as we were back when we were younger, with good reason.
I was a cocky kid with so much still to learn.
But I think I’m finally starting to see the light, to understand what’s important in my life—something real.
And Dilynne Marie Clark is about as real as it gets.
She’s unapologetically herself. She knows who she is and doesn’t cater to other people’s expectations. Hell, even the way she stood up to my father has made me respect her in a way I didn’t know was possible.
But what really sealed the deal for me over the past month is seeing a side of her that most people don’t get to see.
The instinct to protect the soft, feminine, sensitive woman she is on the inside makes me want to suit up for battle and defend her to the depths of the earth—the same way she showed up for me when all I did was try to push her away.
And so, I’m just trying to prove to her that she can trust me, and with time, I hope she will.
“So, is that what we’re going to do on this road trip, Elliot? Tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets?”
I glance over at her and shrug. “If you want.”
“Ha. No, thank you,” she jokes, but I can tell the topic has made her uncomfortable.
“Maybe later then.” I reach for the bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, pop it open, and hold it out to her. “Want some?”
“Hell yeah. These are my favorite.” She slides her hand inside the bag and takes out a handful.
“I know.”
Her eyes meet mine, asking so many questions without ever speaking a word.
“I also got Sour Patch peaches, and some shortbread cookies from Bites & Bliss.”
She arches a brow. “Any special messages on them?”
I pop open the box and read them out loud since she’s driving. “Eat Me. Pull my hair. Bend over.”
She rolls her eyes and glances back over to me. “I’m beginning to sense a theme with your baked goods.”
Closing the box, I put it back in the bag. “I’m pretty sure you’re the one who started this, weren’t you?”
Dilynne keeps her eyes forward, not bothering to look at me now at all. “I did. But I also find it interesting that you brought most of my favorite foods on this trip, besides…”
“French toast,” I finish for her, and that makes her peer over at me again. “Have you forgotten that we’ve known each other for almost nineteen years, Dilynne?”
She huffs out a laugh. “No, Elliot. I most certainly have not forgotten that detail.”
“Good. Now, tell me about Motorlux,” I say before popping a Dorito in my mouth and mentally patting myself on the back for my small wins so far.
My grandfather would be proud.
I offered to drive instead, but she wasn’t having it, and I figured letting her have control in this situation would make it easier to get her to open up in the long run.
Besides, she’s driving her Camaro, the same one we had sex on the hood of, so hopefully the memory will offer some introspection as well.
She finishes eating her chips and then wipes her hands on her denim shorts. “Well, the team will be here on Tuesday to pick up the Porsche so it can be delivered to California before we get there.”
“Your brother mentioned that detail at the winery this past week.”
She nods. “Which makes me nervous because after I get this gauge, I have less than forty-eight hours to finish every last detail on the car. And I feel like I’m forgetting something, even though I know the chances of that are slim to none.”
I reach over and rest my hand on her thigh, watching her shiver under my touch.
Fuck, if I didn’t think she’d freak out if we fell behind on time, I’d tell her to pull over right now so I could fuck her along this bench seat and mark every inch of this car and her body.
I smile at the thought of how my touch can affect her, which gives me a sliver of the validation I was hoping for.
“Anyway, then when we arrive in California the following week, the schedule is pretty set in stone. Monday is a day full of interviews, Tuesday is open spectating, where the public gets to walk through all the cars, the awards are Wednesday, Thursday is the auction, and Friday is the post interviews. We should be done by mid-afternoon on Friday.”
“Damn. This is a big deal, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and all the while, I have to smile and pretend that Vinnie isn’t watching my every move.”
I want to reach for her hand this time and bring it to my lips, but I refrain. “That’s what I’m there for, remember?”
“I know. It’s just…”
“If you need me to, I’m sure I could find a way to distract you…”
Her eyebrows nearly hit her forehead. “The last thing I need in that environment is for you to distract me with your penis jewelry and that tongue of yours.”
I unbuckle and slide across the seat to the middle, fastening the seatbelt right next to her before planting my lips on her neck. “My tongue, huh?” Dragging my tongue up the column of her neck, I chuckle as I hear her breath hitch.
“Elliot, I’m driving.”
“And I’m showing you how well I can distract you.”
“With all due respect, the last thing I want to do is get in a car accident before the biggest show of my career,” she says, reaching down to rub her hand over the bulge in my shorts, contradicting her words with her actions.
“Fine. But trust that I know what you need, Dilynne…and I’m more than willing to give it to you.”
Her eyes meet mine briefly before she rolls her eyes. “You think because we’ve slept together twice that you’re an expert on my body now?”
I line my lips up to her ear. “I’m not just referring to what you need physically. I’m talking about everything. I’ve been watching you this past year, even when I didn’t want to be paying attention.” A small gasp escapes her lips. “Turns out, you’re easier to read than you think.”
“Elliot…”
I plant a kiss along her jaw. “Don’t freak out. If it makes you feel any better, my dick initiated the shift.” Her laughter makes me smile. “But now…I’m just…” I blow out a breath and run my nose along her cheek. “I’m just trying to be honest with you, like I said I would.”
“Thank you,” she says, twisting her face to the side so our lips can meet. “I never knew that honesty could be so hot.”
Her words make me chuckle. “Oh, trust me, Dilynne. We’re just getting started with the truth that we’ve both been avoiding.”
***
“Tell me more about your grandpa.”
Dilynne and I were staring out the windshield for a few moments in silence, so her request sort of comes out of left field.
“What do you want to know?”
“I mean, he obviously meant a lot to you. And that picture of him in your dad’s office?” She shrugs. “You can definitely tell you two were close.”
I smile softly thinking about the man that has shaped me in more ways than one. “Well, he was the second lawyer in my family, his father was the first. My dad was his only child, so I think that’s why he felt such a need to follow in his footsteps.”
“Is that what was expected of you too?”
“Actually, my grandfather was very adamant that I should do whatever made me happy. It was my dad that pushed the lawyer thing onto me and made it this big deal that all Thornes would be lawyers.”
Her brows draw together. “So did you actually want to be a lawyer?”
Her question is one I’ve asked myself more and more over the past couple of years. “Yes, but the past few years have been difficult for me.”
“How so?”
I push a hand through my hair. “Working for my dad has gotten a tad unbearable. It wasn’t like that when I first started practicing, but I don’t know. He’s…changed and not in a good way. It makes going to work miserable sometimes.”
“Why don’t you quit then?”
“Because I still love the job, just not the environment. I mean, I watched my grandpa do it with such passion that it made me want to be like him. But I didn’t look up to my grandfather because of his job.”
“What was it then?”
Looking over at her, I pause for a beat before answering. “It was the way he loved my grandmother that I appreciated the most about him.”
Dilynne smirks in my direction. “Oh my God. Elliot Thorne, the last thing you’ve ever made me consider is that you are a closet romantic.”
“Because I haven’t been for a long time.”
“So you were before?”
“Before what?”
She holds her hand up. “Before all the girls and one-night stands. Before you hit your head and chose Tori as someone you thought was worth marrying.”
“Yes. Before I balked at the idea of monogamy, I used to think that everyone had someone out there that could make them believe in love.”
“So what changed that?”