His peripheral vision recorded the police vehicle gliding by. The officer didn't even give them a second glance. When the car continued down the street and turned a corner, relief tightened his arms around Halli.
God, her lips were so soft. He closed his eyes, savoring the sensation of a lipstick-free kiss. Compared to the women he usually dated, it was a rare, welcome treat. She smelled great, too, after her shower; all fresh with a hint of flowers. No cloying perfume to choke his lungs.
One hand slid up to cup the back of her head, and he discovered her hair was indeed as soft as it looked. He ran the tip of his tongue along her lower lip as a test, uncharacteristically cautious with this mistrusting woman who'd resisted him at every turn. Something else he wasn’t accustomed to. Because, as she’d guessed, often all it took was a crook of his finger. A wink. A smile.
Her hold around his neck tightened, pulling him closer as she opened to him without reservation. Trent forgot the cop; forgot their dire situation; forgot that earlier he’d claimed she wasn’t his type. He deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue inside her mouth. His taste buds registered a hint of espresso, but underneath, she was sweeter than he'd have imagined. Her tongue slid against his, advancing and retreating, teasing and seducing until his body responded to the rising passion.
Trent spun to lean back against his car, pulling Halli with him. A groan rumbled in his chest. He slid both hands down her back and kept going until her butt filled his palms. Perfect. One swift move lifted her to ride his thigh. Desire pulsed harder and faster. His arms closed around her, pressing her body tight to his. It’d been forever since he’d enjoyed the simple act of kissing so much.
Directly following that thought he became aware of the fact she no longer clung tight to his shoulders. In fact, she'd stopped participating altogether. He was kissing her now, just like at the beginning, but add tongue and minus the resistance. Before he could do more than withdraw his tongue, Halli spoke against his tingling lips.
“Is he gone?”
Trent opened his eyes to find her watching him, her expression calm, cool and collected. Heat flooded his face. He looked in the direction the cop had disappeared and practically dropped her as he straightened.
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and put some space between them. “He's gone.”
She smoothed her hair back from her face and squared her shoulders. “Then let's go.”
Let's go? That's it?
What the hell just happened?
His gaze narrowed on her face in the dim light of dusk, hoping to see some sort of crack in her stony expression. All she did was bend down and pick up his hat. He snatched it from her grasp and tugged it low over his eyes, further annoyed by the heat creeping up the back of his neck again. Damn. How did she remain so cool when hot little flames of desire still licked through his veins from the feel and taste of her?
Trent stalked around to the driver's side of the car as she got in on her side. Hands folded neatly in her lap, she appeared completely unaffected. He bit back a growl. This rigid woman was the one who'd typed up that military precision travel itinerary. He'd chuckled when he first read it back at the house. Right now, it wasn’t so funny. His knuckles whitened on the wheel in his effort to keep from reaching over to shake her. Something to ruffle her feathers good.
Apparently, it took bullets to do that. He clenched his jaw tight and shifted the car into gear.
Halli thought her lungs would burst from trying to maintain a normal breathing rhythm. She'd freaked when he first kissed her. It'd been awhile, and he was Trent Tomlin! Then he'd explained why his mouth was locked on hers, and she'd been embarrassed beyond belief. Of course he wouldn't want to kiss her. It’d only been an act.
She’d done her best to distance herself from anything her parents had taught her growing up, only to discover in the police station that acting was like riding a bike. Guess you never forget how and a little bit of back story can make it so easy to jump back in with both feet.
She’d jumped alright. Put on a heck of a show for the cop, too, kissing Trent for all she was worth. And oh, God, it’d been nice. Really nice. She’d even felt the change in his kiss—kinda hard to ignore the evidence when he'd palmed her butt and ground against her.
For one glorious, mind-numbing moment she was thrilled that she, of all people, could elicit such a response from one of the sexiest men on the planet. But, ingrained from the experiences of her youth was the hard-learned truth that reality was never very far away, and it was better to be prepared than to be blindsided.
Reality was Trent was an international superstar while she was a nobody public television producer from small town Wisconsin. He’d been playing hero all day and was used to women falling at his feet. But no way was she going to be Trent Tomlin’s convenient plaything.
No matter how amazing his kiss. No matter how hot his muscled body made her burn. No matter how much his sexy groans of arousal urged her to lend some truth to the T-shirt she wore underneath the hideous brown sweatshirt.
Did it count that she was already halfway there? The second part of Wet & Wild would have to wait—if the day ever came that she decided to let loose and get a little wild.
Trent drove and Halli stared out the window, determined to ignore the unsettling sensations in her body and focus on their serious situation. That's probably why she'd reacted to his kiss so strongly in the first place. Her senses were super-charged from the last six hours.
Wow. Had it only been six hours ago that she'd met him? Six hours since she'd last seen Ben and Rachel?
And just like that, guilt reared up and smacked her across the face. In the heat of the moment, she'd completely forgotten about them. Real nice, Halli.
Trent's comment at the station came back to her, and she worried anew why her family hadn't checked into the hotel. Maybe they had by now? Maybe once she got to the consulate she'd be able to—
A blue sign whizzed by on her side of the car. Halli sat up straight in her seat and whipped around to stare behind them. “Hey! That sign said Milano.” She faced forward again. There! Another sign, and an arrow, but Trent was in the wrong lane. She pointed to the sign.
“You need to turn...there.”
Disbelief exploded as he drove right past without slowing down. He didn't even
glance in her direction, only into the review mirror, then back to the road. What’s he doing?