“I’m good, thanks.”
A low grumble hummed from my throat, focusing on the road, the heat pounding off the pavement in blurry waves in the late-afternoon sun. Picking him up set me back almost three hours.
“Construction. In Santa Monica,” he finally said, staring out. “But recently moved to Hermosa Beach.”
“Santa Monica and Hermosa?” I lifted my eyebrows. I had been in the area once for a weekend. Sadie and I drove up, staying in some low-budget hotel because it was so expensive around there. The boardwalk and promenade were fine, a check off my list of places to see. We drove through Hermosa and Redondo on our way home. It was beautiful along the coast and so were the people, but the whole celebrity/film world wasn’t really my thing. Everything felt so fake, shallow, and plastic. Probably why he loved it. An endless collection of models and actresses. “Strange we had only been a few hours from each other and didn’t know it.”
“What would you have done? Come visit me?” He turned his body to me, his head tilting. “Ventured out of your little controlled world and had a drink in a dive bar with a guy you hated growing up?”
“Controlled world?” My lids narrowed, glaring at him. “You don’t know me.”
“And you don’t know me,” he countered, glowering back. “But tell me I’m wrong, that you don’t have an app on your phone marking every site, every stop, like a bland, cliché travel book? Displaying all the typical sites you are supposed to stop and see on a road trip, but deep down you don’t give a shit about seeing half of it. Tell me, the largest ball of twine is on your list, isn’t it?”
“Fuck you.”
“If it will dislodge the stick up your ass.”
“Oh my god.” I yanked the wheel to the side of the road, popping us in our seats like corn kernels, dirt billowing around us as I came to skidding stop, Goat sliding off the bed. He got on his feet, his tail wagging, moving up between the two front seats.
“Get out!” I pointed at the passenger door, glaring at Smith.
He stared back at me, emotionless, his hand absently petting Goat. Calm. Cool. Not at all fazed by my sudden stop.
“I said get out! Find another way there. I’m done.” I jabbed my finger toward the door again.
“No.”
“No?” I repeated.
“You’d actually leave me in the middle of nowhere in this heat?” He thumbed out the window. “Where I could be kidnapped and taken advantage of? I mean, there are a lot of cougars out there, heading to Vegas, on the hunt for something like me.”
Forcing myself not to laugh, I shook my head.
“You are vile.”
“And you are full of shit.”
My mouth dropped.
“You’re not going to kick me out in the desert.”
“You wanna bet?”
“Sure.” One word and the challenge was laid at my feet.
Fury clawed up my back, strangling my chest. At him. At myself… because he was right. I wouldn’t. I didn’t like him, but I couldn’t do that to anyone. Plus, my sister and brother would kill me.
I stared down at the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white before I let out a strangled cry of frustration. Goat moved to me, his nose nudging my arm, his sweet face wanting to ease my troubles. I threaded my fingers through his fur; his tongue licked at my hand, calming me.
We didn’t deserve animals…
“When you’re going to challenge someone, Baby K, make sure you can follow through.”
“Don’t test me,” I growled at him. “And don’t call me that. I hated it then, and I despise it even more now.”
“Why?”
“It’s condescending and makes me feel like I’m still an eleven-year-old, gawky girl.”
He muttered something under his breath that sounded like, “Fuck, I really wish you were.” But I couldn’t be sure.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He clapped one hand on his thigh, rubbing it absently. “So… what’s first on your list?”
My eyes snagged on his hand, the way his jeans embraced his muscular legs and…
“Kinsley?” His voice snapped my head up. A smugness twitched his mouth, telling me he totally saw me checking him out. My cheeks flooding with color, my head nodded to the vast land stretched out in front of us.
“I was going to stop in Joshua Tree for lunch, but that’s out of the question if we want to make it to Phoenix by tonight.”
“Why do we have to make it to Phoenix by tonight?” he countered.
“Because…”
“Because you have a place booked?”
I huffed out my nose. “Yes.”
“Let me get this straight. In the middle of the day, in boiling heat, with a dog, you wanted to stop in a desert to have lunch at a café near Joshua Tree… because?”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out, my thoughts mocking me. To say I had been to Joshua Tree. To check it off my list. Rolling my lips together, I peered out my side window, feeling stupid.
“Is seeing Joshua Tree something you really want to do?”
“Yeah.” I tipped up one shoulder. “I’ve seen pictures of it and thought it was so cool. I know spring is best, but thought while I’m passing through…”
“Have you ever camped in the desert before?”
“No.”
“Then you are missing out. Spring is great, but a summer night in the desert is amazing.” He rubbed his hands together. “What do you say, Maxwell? You want to sleep under the stars tonight?”
Leaning back in the seat, I peered over at him, running my hand over Goat, his mouth open, looking up at me with the same expression. Can we? Huh, huh?
Crap! Taking in a deep breath, my head bobbed. “Sure. Why not.”
“How did you know about this spot?” I pulled my cooking stove from the back, handing it to Smith. The sun was just starting to kiss the horizon, brushing the white clouds with a rainbow of brilliant colors: blues, purples, yellows, reds, and oranges. By the time we picked up some groceries and drove out to a spot Smith knew about, where it was free to camp, the sun was starting to dip in the sky.
“We can set up later.” He ignored my question, motioning me to follow him. “See if you can just be in the moment without taking a thousand pictures.”
“Telling me what to do?” I dug out my phone, holding it up, snapping a dozen pictures, while I lifted my eyebrow at him, laying down the challenge.
He snorted, folding his arms, staring at the view. I tucked my cell away, matching his stance, and took in the landscape. Goat plopped down between us, oblivious to the beauty, panting from chasing bunnies and lizards.
It took me several minutes before I relaxed and denied the urge to take more photos, which I would hardly ever look at after, and be in the moment. My senses finally absorbed the unbelievable beauty, the colors blurring the harshness of the land.
Taking a deep breath, the smell of sunbaked earth and the perfume of cacti and other plants curled into my nose, my shoulders lowering. Birds swooped in the sky, looking for their prey as long-eared rabbits and scaly reptiles scuttled over the ground, going underground for the night before they became dinner.