“No, it’s okay. I had to run an errand at the movie theater first, but that was a bust,” she shrugs, and I nearly come undone at her choice of words. Ever since I laid eyes on her, all I can think about is sex—and what it would be like with her.
“Why, what happened?” I try to appear interested, and I am, but she’s so damn distracting. The way her body moves. The way she touched me. The way she smells. All of my senses are heightened.
“I was supposed to pick up the payment for their ad, but I struck out. Now Lauren’s going to go nuclear on my ass because the whole upcoming edition revolves around the film festival. It might be too late to change it.” She fiddles with her skirt as I pull up alongside her car.
“Yeah, I heard they’re not doing so well over there. People around here are so used to watching movies at home. The theater’s only been open for a few months. We had a pretty bad winter and no one wanted to make the trek into town on those cold and snowy nights. But now that summer’s here, they need to be reminded that it’s there.” I lean back, straining against my jeans to reach for the wallet in my back pocket. “I’m a huge movie buff and I don’t want to see it fail. I like being able to see a film on the big screen. There’s nothing better. Tell me how much they owe the Gazette and I’ll foot the bill. The arts need as much support as they can get.”
“Eric, you’re being way too generous. You don’t have to solve all my problems in one day.” She shifts, facing me. Instinctively, she lays her hand on my arm as a friendly gesture, but it ignites every nerve ending in my body. I lower my head and take a deep breath, and she misinterprets my response. “Please don’t be mad. I just don’t understand why you’re being so nice.”
“Because I like you, Ivy.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Damn it. “I mean…you seem like a really good person, who just so happens to be dealing with a lot of bad luck on her first day on the job.”
“How did you know it was my first day?” She looks at me in amazement, her jaw dropping.
“Because you’re trying too hard.” I’m joking, and for a minute I think she’s going to throttle me, but she doesn’t. The reason I know is that Lauren pretty much has me on her mind 24/7. I’m her obsession. So it’s a pretty fair assumption that she’d make up some excuse to send her new intern up here to spy on me. But I can’t tell Ivy that. She has to work with the nutcase. “Ivy, if you don’t take my money now, I’m just going to ask Lauren to tell me the amount when I call her to explain why you’re wearing clogs.”
“You’re really going to do that? I thought you were kidding.” She sounds impressed by my willingness to go out of my way for her. I’m not looking forward to talking to Lauren, but if it saves Ivy a tongue lashing, I’ll do it. From the moment I held her in my arms, I haven’t been able to shake the urge of wanting to protect her.
“I’m a man of my word.” I look deeply into her eyes, showing her I mean what I’m saying, and she blushes. “Now let’s go fill that empty tank of yours.”
My hand is on the door handle when I feel her pat me on the back. “Thank you, Eric. You’re really something special, you know that?”
And just like that, she’s out of the truck. But the warmth of her touch combined with the sweetness of her voice leaves my head spinning. Man, I can feel myself falling for this girl—or maybe I already have.
“What’s wrong?” Ivy shoots me a worried glance from the passenger seat.
I’ve been meaning to replace the ignition switch on my truck for a while now, but I kept on putting it off even though it’s been giving me problems. But man, it sure picked a hell of a time to die on me. I turn the key again, but to no avail.
“Eric, we’re already late, and you know I can’t miss this flight.” Ivy’s voice rises as she starts to panic.
We took our time getting ready this morning. I wanted to savor every last moment with her. We should’ve been on the road a half hour ago, but I followed her into the shower and…well, one thing led to another. I was a good boy while she cut my unkempt hair and shaved my fledgling attempt at a beard, but after that I couldn’t keep my hands off her. Holding back while she was cleaning me up just made me even crazier for her when she was done. It was torture having to sit there and behave while she was turning me on with every snip of the scissors and flick of the razor.
But I have to get her to the airport somehow, and my mind begins to race furiously through all of the available options. Jack was already out back on the tractor, but he rode over on his motorcycle, so that wasn’t going to work. My dad was off visiting an old buddy of his and wouldn’t be back until this afternoon. And my mom isn’t able to handle the stick shift in the old truck in their garage. And there’s really no one else I could call on such short notice.
Just when I’m about to give up, we hear a set of tires crunching the gravel and the pulsing bass of a stereo turned all the way up.
“Oh thank God,” Ivy whispers. “It’s Ben.”
Not exactly what I was thinking, but he could be our way out of this mess.
“Hey, boss. Turns out I don’t have school today because it’s a teacher in-service day or some crazy shit like that. And we don’t have football practice either because Saturday was a day game, so I thought I’d head on over here. Maybe pick up a few extra hours or something. What do you say?” Ben saunters over to my beaten, broken-down truck after exiting his showroom-worthy model while tucking his aviator sunglasses into his front pocket.
I fucking hate the kid. He has no worries, no responsibilities, not a care in the world—except deciding which cheerleader he’s going to bang on Friday night. He does whatever he wants, whenever he feels like it. And now I’m going to have to grovel at his feet.
I grit my teeth as he leans against the door, peering in at Ivy. “Ben, we’re going to have to borrow your truck.”
“Oh man, no can do. My dad has a pretty tight insurance policy on this baby. I’m the only one he has listed as a driver. If I let you take it and something happens, he’ll go apeshit on my ass.” Ben grimaces, but it’s all for show. He just doesn’t want me driving his truck. Does he really have to be such a dick about it?
“Please, Ben…” Ivy urges. I can’t stand hearing her beg him for anything.
“Well, I’ll tell you what I can do.” Ben’s grin slowly widens as he watches Ivy hanging on his every word. “I can drive Ivy to the airport…as long as you’re cool with it, Eric.”
I’m definitely not cool with it, but Ivy’s already out of her seat, trying to pull her luggage out of the back. No matter how much I don’t like this, there will be no arguing with her now. I just don’t like the idea of Ben driving like a maniac through all of that traffic. Ivy is precious cargo and he better treat her as such—and not tear down the interstate like the reckless thrill-seeker that he is.
I grunt while getting out, gently moving Ivy aside to take the handle of the suitcase from her. She huffs, giving me an exasperated look. What? I’m only trying to help. She shouldn’t be lifting anything heavy in her condition anyway. I only hope a stewardess is able to put her carry-on bag in the overhead compartment since I won’t be there to do it for her. And now I won’t be there to kiss her goodbye either. A knot forms in my stomach knowing that this is it.