Page 40 of The Law of Attraction
“Better?” he asked as he dried his head with a black T-shirt.
“Yes. Thank you.” She pulled the hoodie tight around her, resisting the urge to bury her face in it and huff it like glue.
When he’d finished drying off, he twisted back around in his seat with a tired-sounding sigh. “I guess I should probably turn the ignition off.” He’d cut the engine earlier, but left the ignition on so they’d have light inside the car.
“Why?” She didn’t want to lose the little bit of light they had, or the radio for that matter. It was one thing to be stuck in this tiny car together, but to be sitting here in the dark without even music as a distraction was an alarming prospect.
His hand was already halfway to the dash, and it paused in midair as he gave her a questioning look. “So we don’t run the battery down?”
“Triple A is already coming,” she pointed out. “If the battery dies, I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to give us a jump.”
“I guess.” He sounded unconvinced.
“I’d rather have the light on so we’re easy to see.”
His expression shifted to alarm. “Do you think we’re in danger here?”
“From flash flooding?” she asked, because flash flooding was always a danger with this kind of rain.
His eyes widened. “Oh my god, are we in danger from flash flooding?”
“Probably not here.”
“Probably not here?” he repeated, sounding panicky.
She tried to reassure him. “I mean, it seems like we’re on decently high ground. And I don’t remember crossing any bridges recently, so we’re probably fine.” Her voice rose a little at the end, making it sound more like a question than a statement.
Adam sucked in a shaky breath. “Okay, I was actually worried about the danger from a car hitting us from behind, but now I’m afraid we’re going to be swept away in a flash flood, so thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome,” Olivia said. “If it’s any consolation, I’m now worried we’re going to be hit from behind, so I guess we’re even.”
“Terrific.”
An eighteen-wheeler blew past them on the highway, making their car rock and the windows rattle.
“It’s probably fine,” she said. “On both counts.”
“Yeah. I’m sure it is.” Adam leaned back in his seat and she watched his chest rise and fall as he tried to make himself relax. It was just like at the airport, when the crowd had made him nervous. Or on the plane, when he’d been anxious about takeoff.
The urge to take his hand was so strong her fingers actually twitched. She shoved them under her leg instead. “Where would we even go if we decided to go somewhere safer?”
“No idea.”
“There’s nothing around here. I mean nothing.”
“True.”
“Like, maybe if we happened to set out in the right direction, I guess we might stumble across a barn or an old shed or something eventually, but I don’t know how that would be any better.”
It sounded too much like the setup of a fanfic or erotic novel. Two people stranded in the middle of nowhere take shelter from the elements in a rustic barn and end up huddling together for warmth until their repressed urges take over and then…
She couldn’t think about what happened after that.
Or repressed urges.
Or huddling.
Not when they were sitting in a car with the windows fogging up. Against her will, Olivia’s mind traveled back to the last time she’d been inside a fogged-up car with a member of the opposite sex. It had been way back in high school, with Bobby Barger. Olivia’s face heated at the memory, and she was grateful Adam wasn’t looking at her.
