Page 14 of Craving Theodora
“Curtis?” she replied, taking a deep breath.
I glanced in the back seat again, and with the reminder of the kids who were counting on me to get this right, I grinned huge. Reaching in through the window, I wrapped my hand around the side of Theodora’s delicate neck and tugged her toward me.
“Grease sent me,” I murmured against her mouth.
Then I kissed her like I hadn’t seen her in months. Like I couldn’t hold back. Like I couldn’t get enough.
The lines between reality and fiction were blurred in an instant.
Chapter 3
Teddy
“What the fuck?”Jesse cried from the back seat, jolting me from the haze I’d fallen into.
I wrenched my mouth away from the kiss, but the man—Curtis—held me steady just inches from his face.
“You got eyes on you,” he said, the thinnest thread of apology in his voice. “You pick up your man at the bus station, you kiss him hello.”
“My man?” I asked dumbly, only long experience keeping me from looking past him to try to find who he thought was watching us.
“Scoot over, baby,” he ordered, letting go of me so he could reach for the door handle.
I stared in disbelief as he threw the door open and reached down for his bag. Then, because if I hadn’t moved, it seemed like he would’ve climbed into my lap, I scooted across the bench seat. He set his bag on the floorboard at my feet and the flannel between us as he closed us into the truck together.
“Who are you?” Finn asked in confusion, finally lifting his head.
“Curtis,” the man replied, rolling up the window. He started the truck as he looked at Finn in the rearview mirror. “Who are you?”
“I’m Finn.”
“Hey, Finn.”
“Hey, Curtis.”
“Hello?” Jesse called, leaning up to poke their head over the seat. “This is yourfriend?”
“Jesse,” I said, lowering my voice in warning. The last thing we needed was Finn soaking up every word of our conversation in order to bring it up later.
“Hey, Jesse,” Curtis greeted as he backed out of the parking spot. “Buckle up, yeah?”
Jesse threw themselves backward and buckled in, but I could feel their eyes on the back of my head.
“You filled up the tank,” Curtis said, smiling over at me. “Good.”
“Uh, yeah,” I replied, a little dumbstruck at the sight of that smile pointed at me again. “We’re all set.”
“Saw that,” Curtis murmured as we pulled out onto the road. “You think you used enough tie-downs?”
“There’s no way anything is falling out…” My words trailed off as I realized he was joking. “It’s better to use too many than too little,” I huffed. “I didn’t want our shit falling out onto the freeway.”
“It definitely won’t do that.”
“How long until we get there?” Finn asked.
“About seven hours,” Curtis replied.
I closed my eyes in frustration just as Finn yelped,“What?”
