“Well, then it looks like we’re stuck here for a while.” She glanced up and down the deserted road. “This place is patrolled pretty frequently. It shouldn’t be long before a cop drives by. In the meantime...” She lifted the blanket off his legs, and spread it out so it covered them both. “Why don’t you tell me a little more about this Washingtonian childhood?”
Okay, so maybe I pressed a little...
Chapter 10
For the next two hours, the two of them sat in their car. Getting colder and colder as the windshield began to frost over with the faintest hint of ice. Huddled happily under their shared blanket—doing their very best to keep each other warm.
“And that is when I realized the man was colorblind after all,” he concluded with an animated smile. “We can chalk everything else up to elevation sickness.”
Lacy stared at him for a split second, then burst out laughing. “What the hell kind of story is that?! Elevation sickness—and this happened in Arizona?!”
“It happened on the very top of the highest roller coaster in all the land,” he replied defensively, throwing a leftover handful of granola in her direction. When they’d first gotten stranded, they’d decided to ration whatever food was left over from the picnic. That mentality tapered off after about fifteen minutes. “You would have gotten sick too!”
She laughed again, shaking her head with incredulous wonder. The Dylan Stone she’d read about on paper was nothing like the man sitting in her car. She wasn’t sure what exactly had changed, but he couldn’t be more different than what she’d expected.
She’d expected a show-off. He was self-deprecating and sweet.
She’d expected a player. He’d forsaken all other women just for her.
Sh
e’d expected a narcissistic jerk. He was adorably attentive, never missing a thing.
“It’s still a random fucking story,” she chuckled, wiping the handfuls of granola from the side of her jacket. “What the hell were you doing at an amusement park in Arizona anyway?”
“College road trip,” he answered promptly. “It was only about a day’s drive away.”
Lacy froze suddenly beneath the blanket—staring hard at the dash. As it had so many times over the last few days, that strange cautious tingling prickled the back of her neck. She was able to hold her tongue for a second. Only a second, then she had to ask the question.
“It was a day’s drive away from college? Because you have that one picture framed with all your buddies at Cleveland State University.”
“Yeah, I only went there for a year.”
This time, it was Dylan who froze—his hands stilling suddenly upon the dashboard as he silently missed a breath. Only an expert could have caught it. Someone professionally skilled at being able to tell when people lied. It was there for only a fleeting moment, before he twisted in his chair and flashed her an easy smile.
“Few days. We all took turns driving.”
I’ll bet.
Lacy smiled just as sweetly, stuffing her hands beneath the blanket to hide the fact that her palms were beginning to sweat. “Does Cleveland University have a mascot? I always forget.” She knew the mascot was a Viking named, Magnus.
She could practically see his heartbeat quicken. The color of his face paled by several dozen shades, and he was just opening his lips when there was a sharp tap on the window.
The relief was palpable. Until he saw it was a cop.
He rolled down the window quickly, remembering their predicament, and flashed the officer a polite smile. “Good evening, officer. We’ve been hoping someone would drive by—”
A flashlight broke through the darkness. Blinding both of their eyes.
“Do you know you’re parked illegally?” the man asked, with a bit of a Southern twang.
“Yes...uh...” Dylan lifted a hand between them, shielding his eyes from the piercing beam, “we were just—”
“You kids weren’t doing anything you shouldn’t have been, were you?”
Kids. We’re both twenty-six years old, but to the ‘adult’ population, we’re still just children. Probably came out here to play tag in the woods. Make sandcastles at the beach.
Dylan shook his head nervously, forcing himself to make eye contact. “Not at all. We were just driving back to Cleveland when the tire blew. I don’t have cell service to call—”