Chapter 17 – Genevieve
GENEVIEVE
Ihold Rhys against me and press my lips to his.
I have no clue what I’m doing, but I don’t exactly care much either.
I ran away from home. Was attacked this morning and survived.
I’m in a car driving toward the coast with a man I know very little about, other than he’s a thief and has killed people.
But he didn’t attack me when I made myself come for him—hell, he didn’t even touch me. He saved me by attacking the man who attacked me, then carried me back to our room, bandaged me up, and put ice on my face. Now he brings me frozen peas for my cuts and freaking ice cream for me to try.
Clearly I have no frame of reference, and I’m wildly out of my depth, but all those things don’t sound like someone who’s all bad. I mean, he’s not good. But… he’s good to me, whether he realizes it or not.
Rhys isn’t moving. He’s a statue of what the fuck is this woman doing. But screw it. I tilt my head and press myself firmer against him.
“Genevieve,” he murmurs against my lips, his tone imploring.
“Kiss me, Rhys. Please, kiss me. I know what this is. I’m not expecting romance or flowers or love.
But I want passion. I want fireworks. Teach me how to kiss.
” I lick the seam of his lips, and he grunts and grabs the fabric of my shirt at my shoulder, undecided if he’s going to haul me in or push me away with it.
I open my eyes, and he’s right there, staring at me with an intensity I feel deep in my core.
“Teach you?” He groans and pulls back, layering his lips with mine, keeping them a breath apart. “This is a mistake. You shouldn’t be kissing me.”
That frustrates me to no end, and I grip him tighter, even if I’m no longer forcing his lips to mine. “I’ve never kissed anyone before, and what if this is my only chance? What if I go back home and that’s it?”
I can’t do that. I can’t live like that. But I also have a feeling the choice might not entirely be mine. There will be a reckoning with my mother, and I don’t know how that will go. I also don’t know how to live out here, so there’s that element too.
“I want to know what a real kiss feels like. I want to learn how to do it right.”
The asshole still isn’t moving. Am I not pretty to him? Didn’t he tell me I was? Or was that simply the lust of a man looking at a woman touching herself?
“Please,” I whisper, holding the back of his head, my fingers threading into his hair. “Come on. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little challenge. What? Does kissing the innocent virgin fuck with your high moral compass?”
He smirks while his eyes search mine from centimeters away before he closes the distance and nails his lips onto mine.
A moan sears from my chest, and he swallows it down, groaning as he opens his mouth and slips his tongue straight against mine.
My cheek hurts with the movement, but I don’t care.
This kiss is everything I imagined and more. Everything I need and then some.
His lips move mine, controlling the angle and depth while his tongue takes no prisoners.
“Like this. You kiss like this.” He kisses me like my mouth is fire and he’s oxygen, and together we’re explosive.
Combustible. Deadly. His hand coasts up into my hair, where he grips me by the roots.
I moan and arch into him, dragging him closer.
His seat belt snags, and I giggle lightly into his mouth.
He smiles and unlatches his belt so he can lean over me and deepen the exchange. I follow his lead, matching what he’s doing with his lips and tongue. “Am I doing it right?”
“So fucking right. So fucking good.”
Cars whiz past us, making the car shudder and shake, but neither of us notices. We’re mauling each other. Grabbing and pulling at clothes. Scraping teeth along jaws and nibbling on ears. It’s breathless and hot and devouring.
The windows fog, the air dense and warm.
He pulls the shoulder of my shirt down and nibbles on the flesh before he trails across my collarbone. My breath catches, and my neck goes back. My hands in his hair hold him tighter just as a knock comes on the driver’s window.
We jump apart, and I hastily pull my shirt back up my shoulder. He gives me an oh fuck look before he rolls down the window for the police officer standing on the other side. The officer eyes us both, a strong look of disapproval on his face.
“License and registration,” he growls, and Rhys tenses.
“Is there a problem, sir?” Rhys questions with his charming smile on full display. “We were just—”
“The breakdown lane is for motorists with car trouble. Not a sexual free-for-all.”
I nearly choke on that one. He said it with such a straight face too.
“Sir, I can assure you—”
“I said, license and registration. Now.”
Rhys throws me a side-eye that I don’t like the look of.
If he hands the officer his ID and they run it through or do whatever it is they do with it, I’m assuming it’ll come out counterfeit.
Rhys will get arrested, and all of this will be done.
This is my fault. I started this. It’s my turn to save him.
I lean over Rhys, flip his cut-up hand over, link our fingers, and smile at the officer. “Officer… Bloom,” I say, reading his nametag. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
The officer eyes me, but he’s not growling, so I continue despite the furious looks from Rhys for me to shut up.
“You see, we just got married. Last night, in fact. Now we’re on our way to the sea for our honeymoon, but we got into a fight over ice cream.
I mean, how silly is that? Anyway, Mike pulled over so we could talk it out, and I ended up kissing him.
” I giggle and shrug. “We didn’t mean to cause any trouble, and we’re so sorry if we did. ”
The officer slides his reflective shades down the bridge of his nose and angles in so he can see us better. “What happened to your face?” He glares at Rhys, and I’m glad I turned his hand over so the cuts aren’t visible. “Is he hurting you?”
I point to my face and laugh. “This? Oh, no. I tripped and landed face-first right into a lamppost. So ridiculous, right? I’m such a klutz.
” I roll my eyes in a self-deprecating way.
“Mike is the one who fixed me up.” I hold up the melting peas on my lap.
“And gave me these to help with the swelling and pain.”
He squints at us.
“If you just got married, where are your rings?”
I glance down at my empty finger and lower my tone.
“We can’t afford them. Not yet. It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing.
We love each other so much, but life isn’t always easy, you know?
” I look up at him and smile. “It’s something we’re planning for the future, but you don’t need a ring to love someone and promise them forever. ”
That was a line from one of my romantasy books, and I think it’s a winner, because just like that, the grumpy, growly officer melts like ice cream in the heat.
“All right. I’ll let you go with a warning. No more pulling off to the side of the road unless you need assistance.”
I beam at him. “We promise, Officer. Thank you so much.”
He nods. “Have a nice rest of your day and congratulations.”
With that, the officer walks off, and Rhys rolls up the window. I give him a smug smirk. “How was that for social engineering?”
He shakes his head, re-buckles his seat belt, and puts the car into drive. “Fuck, I’m in trouble with you.”
“This is so exciting. My first make-out session with a guy ended with the cops. If I had a best friend, I’d call her and tell her all about it.”
He grunts and runs an agitated hand through his hair. “You read too many books, princess.”
“Probably,” I agree. “But it’s still a good story, and I have no one to tell.”
“You have no clue, do you? What we did was reckless.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Oh, please. Your entire life is reckless.”
His anger grows, his voice climbing with it. “I control the reckless. With you, all my control goes up in smoke.”
I huff and return to the window. I don’t want to be chastised. I don’t want to be made to feel like a child. That’s been my entire life. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is a bad thing. Do you not get how bad that could have been for me? How fucking close that was? I have several disguises and fake IDs with credit cards associated with those names on me. I have two guns and a knife in the backseat. One of those guns belongs to the man I nearly killed this morning. Not to mention, I’m a wanted man with my face smeared across lampposts.
I’ll get arrested, and they’ll likely tack on kidnapping to my numerous crimes because no one will believe I didn’t steal you.
You’ll simply go home to Mommy, the thrill of adventure over.
For you, this is fun. For me, it’s my freedom. ”
“It’s my freedom too,” I murmur under my breath, all kinds of stung and petulant.
He kissed me, and not just because I begged him to.
Right? Or maybe not. Maybe men don’t give a fuck who they kiss or how they kiss her.
Maybe it’s all about fucking to them. I almost laugh at myself. Like it matters why he kissed me back.
“I knew I should have left you this morning, but I got stupid again and didn’t.”
That burns me up from the inside out as a ridiculous sense of betrayal hits me. He was going to leave me? Just like that? “Then why didn’t you?” I snap.
“Because you nearly died and I’m apparently a sucker!” he yells, his hand flying about before he returns it to the wheel and grips it so tightly the leather creaks.
“Well, I’m not dead, am I?” I say slowly, my voice evening out, turning cool. Detached. “And you know what? I can manage on my own without you.”
He laughs mockingly. “Right. You wouldn’t survive the night on your own.”
That stings too. All of his jabs are hitting their mark with perfect precision. If he keeps going, he’s going to make me hate him, but worse, regret him, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to regret these last three days, and I don’t want to regret my first kiss.
“Whether I would or I wouldn’t isn’t your concern, is it? You were going to leave me this morning. Same thing.” I point to an exit off the autoroute. “There. Take that and let me out.”
He balks. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Do it,” I demand harshly as I set my bag onto my lap and fish through it until I find the zipper compartment on the bottom.
“Here.” I pull out his necklace and drop it in the cup holder between us.
“That’s what you wanted. That’s the only reason you’re here.
Now it’s yours, and you can be on your thieving way. ”
He eyes the necklace. “You’ve had it with you this entire time?”
“Yup. Told you you’d never find it in the cottage. Take the exit.”
He does, his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel as we wind our way into a small town that is much nicer than the first one.
Plus, I see a sign that reads Carona twenty kilometers, with an arrow.
Perfect. Maybe I won’t make it to the sea, but that can be a future goal.
One dream at a time. The festival is what I wanted.
After that, well, I can figure it out then.
“This looks great. Pull over here.”
Without a word, he pulls over and puts the car in park. I can feel him watching me as I search through my bag to check that I have everything. “Can I have one of the guns?”
“You don’t know how to use it.”
“I can figure it out. I’m a smart girl.” I can’t look at him.
If I do, I’ll cry like a little, lost, helpless girl, and it infuriates me.
That’s not who I am. Not anymore. I’m brave and smart and fearless.
I mean, I’m not, but I’m trying to be, and the only way I’ll ever know what I’m made of is if I manifest it. Is if I go off and do it.
He grabs his knapsack off the back seat and hands me the gun that was pointed at my head this morning. Works for me.
I shove it into my bag and zip it up. I don’t say bye or good luck or thanks. He never cared about me. I was always a means to an end, and he told me so from the start. I knew better and yet…
It doesn’t matter. I unbuckle my seatbelt, open the car door, and get out.
It slams shut, and my heart seizes with pain and fear, the first part of that making me feel silly.
I shouldn’t care. My instincts about him before the kiss were wrong.
He didn’t even like me. He barely tolerated me, and yet I got clingy.
Rookie mistake. One I’ll learn from.
But hey, that’s one thing checked off my list, right? Kissed a guy: Done. On to the next part of this.
With my head high, I sling my bag over my shoulder and walk away. I don’t look back. I will myself not to listen for the moment when he leaves. And I sure as shit don’t allow my threatening tears to fall.
Instead I make my way up the sidewalk and down a path that leads toward an open green area filled with flowers, a bridge over a small lake, and a child’s play area filled with children.
I take in the beautiful late summer day and the pretty town and the happy children and try not to think about the man who, unfortunately, turned out to be everything he told me he was.
Or the fact that I’m officially on my own now.