“Oh, I don’t know. Probably something like unlawful protesting or resisting arrest?”
“You can still accomplish resisting arrest.”
“Awfully odd for thieves, ain’t they?” Officer One asked David.
“Yanks are an unusual lot, they are,” David responded.
Officer One handcuffed me and David cuffed Tom.
Agh! Our duffels! “Tom! All our stuff!”
“Don’t worry about it. Jason will take care of us.”
They stuck us in the back of their police car and I was forced to lean a bit into Tom at the awkwardness of our positions. “You’re just too big,” I told him. “My God, we’re both too tall for this thing.” Our faces were pressed so close together, I could have counted the hairs on his head.
“Maybe we should’ve ran,” he joked, his warm breath a caress on my ear. I involuntarily shivered.
“To where?” I asked, shaking off the tension of the proximity. “An invisible car?”
We both started laughing at the ludicrousness of our situation. Tom looked at me just then, really looked at me for the first time without guarded eyes.
“You’re beautiful, January,” he told me.
My eyes widened and my jaw went slack. “Is that a compliment from you, Eriksson?”
“I should have told you that first night in Austin.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked in a whisper, not believing where this conversation was headed.
“I was a dumbass.”
“Really, tell me, Tom. There’s something going on with you. Jason told me you used to be this carefree, funny guy. Then it was like a switch went off, he said, and you became this, and I quote, ‘hulking beast who hates the world.’”
“He’s an idiot,” he said, but his grin negated the statement.
“No, he’s not. He cares for you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, meeting my eyes once more. Our breaths came out in billowy clouds. “Wish they’d turn the car on. Are you cold?” he asked.
“Freezing, but it’s not like you can warm me up,” I said, without thinking.
I caught the surprise in his eyes and my face and neck heated up to its usual unnatural red. “Oh, I could warm you up,” he answered, shocking the hell out of me.
“Tom,” I said, closing my eyes.
“Come closer,” he said, inching my way.
“If I was any closer, I’d be on your lap.”
“I have no qualms with that.”
“Tom, stop it.”
“I’m tired of pretending I don’t find you the sexiest girl I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
“Your entire life.”
“I’m serious, January. You want to know why I moved to Austin?” When I didn’t say anything, he continued. “I moved to get away from a girl I was in love with but she belonged to someone else.” I gulped, my stomach twisted in knots. “But when we kissed, that burning need to have her vanished in an instant.”