I Can Fix That

Chapter 17

“Can you at least give me a hint?” Grant had been driving for forty-five minutes now, and I hadn’t the slightest clue where we were going.

“Give me five more minutes, and you’ll find out. I’m pretty sure you don’t have a patient bone in your body.” He’s not wrong. The entire drive I’d been pestering him with questions and him deflecting them. I admit to being slightly distracted during the drive, as his finger had been tracing circles on the inside of my thigh. His other hand gripped the steering wheel and his veins poked out of his forearm. I found myself excited on a primal level and had to force myself not to make him pull into a random parking lot just to move to his side of the truck. I needed a distraction.

“Let’s play a road game.”

Grant looked at me wearily, and then back at the road. “Okay…” he drug out his reply.

“I like the one where you say moo every time you see a cow.”

“That’s not a game. That’s just you making noises.”

But I loved that game. I put my finger to my chin, thinking of things to do to fill the drive.

“Let’s do that game where I say a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind.” Grant shrugged his shoulders and I took it as a hint to move forward.

“I’ll start! So don’t even think, just say the first thing that pops in that grumpy head of yours.”

I heard him grunt at that but I continued the game.

“Dog.”

“Cat.”

“T-Rex.”

“Jurassic Park.”

“Yellow.”

“Sun.”

“Boobs.”

“Nice.”

“June.”

“Sweet.”

I giggled at his answers, interrupting our fast-paced conversation. He entertained my rounds of games without being too cranky about it. He eventually migrated his hand to my inner thigh, tracing circles on me.

I looked up at him, thinking of the vault in front of me. He seemed to be easing up with me slowly but surely, but then I thought about his house and the lack of anything in it.

Did he really just never allow anyone in?

Curiosity got the best of me and I slipped out my question.

“Why do you not have any pictures up on your walls?” He shrugged his shoulders.

“I never had anything I felt was important enough.” It was a simple answer, with a complex background. Just like him.

I wanted to delve deeper into his answer, pick apart each breath between his words and dissect them till I understood every part of him. Instead, I followed his quote with a simple nod and a quiet, “I get that.”

He turned onto a gravel road and I eyed him questionably. “You know, if I didn’t know you better, I would be a little concerned about my safety with you.”

He chuckled and moved his hand from my thigh to grip the top of my hand, giving my palm a light kiss, which sent tingles throughout my body.