I gnawed my lip, half-wishing I had taken Rita up on her smuggling plan. Waltzing out the front door was the easy part.
A plan of my own popped into my head then: keep waltzing. Hide in plain sight.
Not a great one, I admitted, but the only one I had. I popped a piece of bubblegum into my mouth, put on my sunglasses and crouched low. My heart pounded in my chest and I prayed the guard was tired this morning. Dozing. Maybe reading a paper.
Moving as fast as I could while crouched over, I dashed toward the outpost and flattened myself against its left side. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting to hear the door open and the guy bust out to grab me.
Nothing. Only the tinny sound of a small TV. The View.
That show is still on? I thought those gals would’ve killed each other by now.
Breath held, I scooted along the edge of the checkpoint and peered over the window. The guard had his back to me, feet kicked up on the desk, absorbed in the show.
Let’s do this.
I ducked under the boom barrier, crept along the brick wall, then simply turned around and walked right back up to the outpost. Casual as fuck, as if I’d been strolling up the road this entire time.
Toward a sanitarium. At seven in the morning. As one does.
The guard did a double-take to see me, his eyes widening, and his feet dropped to the ground.
“Hi,” I said, snapping my gum.
“How did…?” The guard looked all around, over his shoulder and then back to me. “Can I help you, miss?”
“Maybe,” I said with a flirty smile. I folded my arms on the window, pushing my breasts up.
Hell, it worked for Erin Brockovich.
“I think I’m lost,” I said. “I’m in town for the Celebrity Rabies Fun Run Race for the Cure? They said it was supposed to start around here.”
I held my breath. If this guy was a super-fan of The Office I was toast, but it was all my brain could come up with on the fly.
The guard squinted. “The what?”
“Haven’t heard of it? Bummer. Wi-Fi up here is shitty. My GPS must’ve sent me the wrong way.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “It’s a long wrong way up this hill.”
Slow down. Be cool. Act natural.
“You’re telling me.” I smiled bigger, leaned closer. “What is this place, anyway?”
“Blue Ridge Sanitarium,” he said. “Brain injury cases.”
I widened my eyes and lowered my sunglasses to show him I had nothing to hide. “No shit?”
He nodded, and his glance went longingly back to his TV. Immune to my charms. And, apparently, my boobs.
“No shit,” he muttered. “Hope you find your fun run.”
“Me too.” I blew a bubble and let it pop. “Have a good one.”
I patted the window frame in parting, turned, and sauntered down the winding road as fast as I could without looking like I was trying to hurry. When the curve took me out of sight of the outpost, I ran like hell. Any second, the security guard was going to wonder who in their right mind did a fun run for rabies.
Michael Scott, that’s who…
A relieved laugh burst out of me and morphed into a gasp as I rounded the last bend in the road and came to where the sanitarium drive met the main road. I stopped short, staring.
Jimmy leaned against the driver’s side door of an old green pickup truck, mind-blowingly handsome in his leather jacket, jeans, and boots. His hair was slick with a morning shower. He nervously checked his phone then glanced around. His arms fell slack when he saw me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He pushed off the door. “I heard you needed a ride to New York.”
I stared, happiness exploding across my heart. “I thought you left me.”
“And I told you I’d never give up on you.”
Tears threatened, and I crossed my arms, refusing to turn into a complete puddle at his feet.
“How did you know I’d be making my escape this morning?
“Rita texted me her plan last night. She didn’t tell you?”
“She failed to mention it.” My cheeks warmed. “I guess she wanted it to be a surprise.”
He smiled one of his rare smiles. “I hope it was a good one.”
“The best.” I tore my gaze from him and looked at the pickup truck behind him. “Where’s your motorcycle?”
“I traded it. I didn’t like the idea of driving from here to Manhattan with you on the back. If you had a seizure—”
“I’m not having seizures, Jimmy,” I said.
He shrugged. “I’m not taking any chances. Besides, if you were behind me the entire time, I wouldn’t be able to…”
“To what?” I asked, moving closer. “See me?”
“Talk to you.”
His words sank into my heart, better than any compliment. The ultimate compliment from Jim Whelan.
“God, this is so much better than my Greyhound bus plan,” I said. “But I can’t ask you to—”
“You don’t need to ask. I’m here.”
My eyes stung at his quiet humility. I didn’t know how to thank him for everything he’d done for me. I knew I’d burst into tears if I even tried. I glanced around, blinking hard, struggling to find something to say.
“You sold your motorcycle for me?”
“Yesterday.”
“Right after you were fired?”
He nodded.
“You lost your job because of me, so you traded your beloved motorcycle for this truck?”
The truck was old with a dented fender and scratches in the paint, which meant Jim took a loss on his bike, probably in order to sell it fast.
“I was fired because I broke the rules,” he said. “But yes to everything else.”
I threw my arms around him. He held me close, my feet dangling off the ground, and my body reacted instantly. Every part of me wanted every part of him.
He’s it. He’s what I want. In every way.
“Thank you,” I whispered against his neck, which was wet with my tears. “I should say it a hundred times…”
“Don’t,” he said into my hair. “You don’t have to.”
I slid down the length of his body until my feet touched the ground but left my hands around his neck. I brought one to his cheek, my thumb brushing the corner of his mouth.
“Jimmy…”
He stiffened in my arms.
“What’s wrong?” I sniffed a laugh. “You don’t want to kiss me anymore? Granted, I’m a little snotty right now, but that’s your fault.”
“I… That’s not what this trip is about. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Owe you? I—”
“Hold up.”
His glance darted over my head, eyes widening at the road leading up to Blue Ridge. As I turned to where he was looking, I heard the slow crunch of tires on gravel.
I looked at Jimmy. “Oh shit.”
He stared back. “Oh shit is right.” He yanked the passenger door open for me. “Get in. Get down.”
I crouched on the floor of the cab as he raced to the other side of the truck and jumped in. A pleasant panic bloomed in my gut, like the feeling you get right before a roller coaster drops. My stomach sent flutters up to my heart, adding to the adrenaline rush that was already coursing through my veins.