“It’s a stupid name and I don’t plan on calling you anything.”
He chuckled and I wanted to prick him with the tip of my knife, just because I could. “Can I have my arm back?”
“That depends. What are you doing skulking around my shit at this hour?”
“What the hell do you think, Vivi? You show up, out of the blue and clearly in trouble that you won’t tell me about. I came to see just how bad it was and now I have my answer.”
I released his arm, closing and locking the window behind him. The man was a stubborn damn jackass who clearly didn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer. “I told you as much as I’m going to, Jag. If I need your help then I will call you. Got it?” The metal door was open but the screen door stood closed between us.
“I want to help. Let me.” Jeremiah pushed up onto the next step and opened the door, invading my space.
I snorted at the ridiculousness of his statement. “It looks like you have your own mess going on based on what I saw.”
“What can I say, I’m good at multi-tasking.” He stepped closer, until I had no choice but to touch him intimately or back down. I never backed down. One hand shot to my waist, his thumb dragging against the exposed skin at my waistband. “See, I’m helpful.”
I laughed and pushed at his chest, but Jeremiah was all man and he didn’t budge. He stared at me and I stared back, feeling my blood heat at all the energy swirling in the air between us. The charge of electricity made the camper feel ten degrees hotter. His expression was serious as he closed in, mouth descending on mine slowly, giving me time to decide if it would happen.
Luckily Jeremiah had no clue as to the effect he was having on me, didn’t know there was no choice because then I’d be in real trouble. Now the only danger I was in was having my clothes burst into flames from his nearness, from the deliciously hot way his full lips pressed against mine. From the taste of him, sugar and coffee and something earthy. Sexy. Masculine. The kiss was hot and hard, filled with hunger and raw unabashed need. Big hands cupped my ass and then my breasts. Something long and hard pressed against my belly and I pulled back, panting and staring at him with wide eyes. “What was that?”
With sleepy eyes and a captivating fucking smile he leaned in and brushed his lips against my neck. “If I have to tell you, then I’m doing it wrong babe.”
I laughed and shook my head. “If you’d done it any more right I’d be naked and wrapped around you right now. But why?”
“Why not,” he shrugged like it made perfect sense. “You’re hot as fuck and you’ve always turned me on when you were so damn prickly, which apparently, is all the damn time.”
I spluttered in my outrage and the jerk only laughed harder at me. “Asshole.”
“Meet me at the diner tomorrow for breakfast. Eight o’clock sharp. This place is too fucking far.”
“Yeah well no one invited you up here.” It was something to say but the amused look he gave me told me it was a lost cause.
His dark gaze was serious. And seriously hot. “Don’t make me come back up here, Vivi.” His words were a warning. A promise.
And for some reason it sounded good. Right. Hot. Sexy.
***
I really wasn’t in the mood to get up at the ass crack of dawn to meet Jag, but I knew if I didn’t then he’d come up here and invade my space. Again. But meeting him at the diner meant either leaving my camper and my gear behind or taking this big bitch back on the road.
Since I would never leave my surveillance equipment behind, I took my time getting dressed and guzzling a pot of coffee before I got on the road. Going approximately fifty miles an hour gave me plenty of time to think about what I’d wanted to happen with Jeremiah. Or Jag, because that was what I needed to get used to calling him. I needed to just talk to him about what I needed from him. No more games and no more bullshit. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t the boy I knew online anymore, what mattered was that he had the skills I needed to get out of this shit storm.
Like the beige sedan that had been trailing me for the past eight miles. It was an older model by at least twenty years given how boxy the body was and the driver kept two car lengths between us, a by-the-book tail. I didn’t do anything differently, anything that might indicate he’d been made. I took the Mayhem exit and found one of several public parking lots in town to park, keeping a close eye on the beige heap of junk.
The car didn’t park though, instead he waited for me to get out and start my journey. I grabbed my bag, engaged the booby traps and locks on the camper, then stepped out onto what was basically Main Street in Mayhem and walked towards the delicious greasy smells of the diner.
The diner was located in the middle of the block, which meant the scrap of metal had to slowly chug along the street and draw attention to itself.
The jerk chose to follow me closely so I ducked into a book store and waited five minutes before slipping back out like nothing was going on. When I arrived at the diner, I was ten minutes late and Jag looked suitably annoyed.
“You’re late,” he said as soon as I slid into the booth with my back to the door.
“You’re lucky I’m here at all.” I flipped over the coffee cup and set it as close to the edge of the table as possible to encourage the busy waitress to fill me up. “Look outside and tell me if you see a late model beige sedan. It’s been following me since about five miles from the campsite.”
Jag’s black brows rose, and I knew what he was thinking before he said the words. “You sure?”
“Just look outside and tell me if you see the car, Jag.”
Everything about him said he thought I was batshit fucking crazy. Until he spotted the car. His brows rose and velvety brown eyes grew as wide as the pancakes just set down in front of him. “I see it. Can’t see inside because of the glare, though.”