Page 97 of Drive
Her eyes darted to the back seat as she started doing up her buttons. “We just rounded third base in front ofArchie.”
“What?” Jacques looked over his shoulder to see the dog curled in the middle of the bench seat, wagging patiently at the two of them. The crack of his laughter ricocheted through the Impala. “What?! Did you just say rounded third base to describe what we just did?” Somehow, he managed to speak the words through hislaughter.
Rainey shrugged as she buttoned her top button, but her face was now scarlet. “What would you callit?”
He mastered his laughter and gave her an arch look. “Longoverdue.”
She swatted his knee. And Jacques promptly hauled her into him for a kiss. For a whole quarter of a second, she didn’t yield. But then she did. Her arms wrapped around him, and the soft noises from her throat fell on him like blessings. He drew back to find her stillblushing.
“Youokay?”
She blinked three times and chewed on her lip. “Sure,” she said, sounding anything butsure.
He nodded, knowingly. This was Rainey after all. He couldn’t expect that she’d be even-keeled about their foray into unchartered territory — long overdue though it was. But if she thought she could push him away again, she’d be wrong. For right now, he could be sure for the both ofthem.
Chapter 24
“We needto find a place to stay tonight,” Jacques announced, keeping her tight in hisarms.
The rain still pounded against the car, and Jacques grinned down at her with such an easy, relaxed glint in his eye that Rainey wondered if she’d just imagined the steamy, toe-curling,oh-my-God-he-had-his-hand-up-my-skirtinterlude.
But she couldn’t have imagined it. Because she could still feel it. It had been a while — quite a long while — since anyone (other than herself) had brought her to orgasm. And when she did it solo, it felt nice and all, but it didn’t rearrange the plate tectonics of her whole body, and Rainey was quite sure that the ground beneath her hadshifted.
Irrevocably.
In fact, the events of the last hour had been more than a little earth-shattering. She’d met her brother and in the process completely wrecked their plan of talking to Gloria. And she’d let Holi down. She’d confessed to Jacques her greatest fear. And then she’d let herself lose control withhim.
So, when he started talking about finding a place to stay, Rainey could only nod. The roaring noise in her head was making rational, linear thought sort ofimpossible.
Jacques released her from his embrace, but he kept her hand clasped in his as he took out his phone. The hand, she allowed herself to admit, felt good. She looked at Jacques out of the corner of her eye, and her heart gave a painfulsqueeze.
He was everything she wanted. Not just in a man, but in another human being. He was thoughtful, and compassionate, and smart. He laughed at her jokes, and he made her feelinteresting.
He made her feelbeautiful.
She craved him. She savored every piece of knowledge about his nature and his past. She hungered for more. Rainey couldn’t imagine a time when she wouldn’t want to be nearhim.
And the moment they’d just shared was without a doubt the most passionate of her life. She wanted more. But above everything else, Rainey wanted to lovehim.
Does that mean I already love him?She held her breath at the thought.Ican’tlovehim.
She couldn’t even allow herself to answer the question. Yet she couldn’t deny how much she ached. Loving him would be incredibly easy. And if things were different and she could have him for good, she would love himwell.
Rainey pictured a Saturday morning in a fantasy future. She’d make him waffles with powdered sugar for breakfast, and they’d go the flea market on I-49 in search of choice vinyl albums and organic yarn. Rainey would never complain about how much money he spent on music, and in turn, he would never complain about how balls of yarn could be found in every corner of the house. They’d play his maddening games in the car on the drive home, and then make love all afternoon. She’d learn to cook his favorite Asian dishes, and they’d share a glass of wine on the front porch everynight.
Jacques voice on the phone pulled her out of herreverie.
“…yes, Gilchrist… G-I-L-C-H-R-I-S-T…Yes, just the one night.” He glanced over to see Rainey watching him, and his lopsided grin was like a stealth assault. Her heart pounded with an intensity she couldn’t name. “We’re about ten minutes away, and we just got caught in this storm, so we’re soaking wet. Would our room be ready when wearrive?”
She watched Jacques listen to the person on the line while she could only focus on the wordsourroom.
They’d be sharing a room. Again. Of course, they’d be sharing a room again. It was what she’d expected and looked forward to when she awoke that morning. But a lot had changed since thatmorning.
Jacques frowned at her.“You okay?”he mouthed. Rainey’s eyes widened, and she nodded. Did he have to notice everything? Every thought that crossed hermind?
“Yes…Great…That’d be great…See you soon.” Jacques ended the call and started the car. “I found us a B&B that allows pets.” He gave her a self-satisfiedsmile.
“Oh… okay.Good.”
