Page 132 of Love at First Ride
‘Kiss me,’ I whisper.
She tilts her chin, wordlessly pressing her lips to mine. It’s a sweet, innocent kiss, but it’s not enough. She pulls away.
I watch her. Stroke her face. ‘What did I say to you… in the closet that time? You remember?’
She bites back a smile. ‘I believe you said…come on over, don’t be shy.’
‘So… don’t kiss me like shy girl Hollie. Kiss me like we’re back in that closet. Kiss me like you mean it.’
Hollie raises her head, watches the door, checking there’re no doctors or nurses present.
‘Go on. Lay one on me,’ I say. ‘Give me something to fantasize about.’
She giggles as she leans forward. This time, she kisses me enthusiastically, and when her tongue meets mine, I don’t hold back, and neither does she. Until something wrenches in my leg and I have to pull back, wincing in pain.
‘Are you all right?’ Hollie asks.
I lay my head back against the pillows. Frustration whirls in my stomach. Man, I’m not gonna survive five minutes in this place, let alone a couple weeks.
‘Uhh,excuuuse me!’ a nurse raises her voice as she strides into the room, wheeling a monitor on a cart behind her. She gives us both a withering look. ‘Romeo and Juliet. Visitors do not lie on the bed with patients. I don’t care how cute they are.’
Hollie carefully extricates herself and slides off the bed, getting to her feet and straightening out her clothes, while the nurse opens the window blind.
‘How are we feeling, AJ?’
‘Feel good. I’ll feel better when I can stand on my own two feet and get back on my motorcycle.’
‘Motorcycle?’ she hoots. ‘Lord, only a motorhead could think about a set of wheels before he can even learn how to use his legs again. Now, hold still, honey, I gotta check your BP.’
When the nurse is through and walking out the door, I call Hollie over.
‘Kiss me again.’
She pokes me in my side, just under my rib cage. ‘Get your mind out of the gutter, Callahan. Think about something else.’
‘I can’t help it if I’m obsessed with your kisses, Palmer. Turns out I always have been. I just didn’t know it.’
She wrinkles her nose at my words, then leans forward and presses her lips to mine one more time for the sweetest lingering kiss.
‘You doin’ all right?’ I ask after. ‘You talk to your dad?’
‘Briefly,’ she tells me. ‘I think he was still in shock at Evelyn’s arrest.’
‘You think she actually did it?’
Hollie shakes her head, like she can’t quite believe it either. ‘According to the sheriff, he’s got credible evidence that she paid the Flood brothers to set Scotch & Smoke alight. She’ll deny everything, of course. I mean, she had the motive to do it. But paying somebody money to burn down a building so she could allow the development company to roll in the bulldozers? That’s extreme, even for her.’
She starts pacing, like she’s agitated.
‘When she came into the waiting area last night…’ she continues, ‘she asked about you. And it was like… I don’t know. The look on her face. Regret, maybe. Sadness. It was genuine. Like… if shediddo it, she didn’t know there would be somebody asleep at the top of the building. And then,poof, she switched back into Queen Bitch mode without a second thought.’
‘When we went to their house yesterday, all she heard was that I lived in Rapture. Don’t think it occurred to her to ask whereabouts. We’re all the same lowlifes to her, remember?’
‘But if the sheriff says he has the evidence…’
Her voice tails off. I reach out and grab her hand. Hold it to my chest. ‘Whatever happens,’ I say, ‘None of this is your fault.’
She’s looking up at me helplessly with those pretty eyes and I’m considering asking her to kiss me again when Echo enters the room, his studded boots thudding heavy across the tiled floor. He’s holding a cup of joe and looks like he hasn’t slept. He sees me with Hollie’s hand pressed flat against me and gives me a knowing smile.
