Page 21 of Pursuing Desire

In response, he puts up the volume and starts belting out the lyrics in his smooth baritone. When he starts singing about thighs and earth quaking and shaking all night long, I just about die. Damn, his voice is sexy.

He notices me watching him, and he smiles at me. Oh, I bet that smile could turn a woman to jelly. But not me. Nope, definitely not me.

“Sing with me, Jess,” he implores.

Who can resist a man with one hundred percent sex appeal?

I wait for the chorus and then join in. Our voices mesh together, and I’m surprised at how good we sound. I’m not the best singer, but his voice makes me sound pretty good.

When the song ends, he turns down the volume, and we look at each other and chuckle. Maybe this won’t be the worst trip after all. Dax is turning out to be kinda interesting.

“Do you think we should make a game plan?” I ask.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Dax agrees. “For instance, I need a plan on when I’m getting some food in my stomach.” As if on cue, I hear his stomach make a very distinct rumbling noise.

“We don’t want you to be hungry. We need to figure out a budget. We don’t have much money, and it has to last until we arrive at the checkpoint in Florida. How do you propose we divvy up the funds?”

Dax thinks for a minute and rubs his perfectly tight stomach. “I’d rather eat quickly and cheaply and spend more money on a hotel.”

I wrinkle my nose in distaste. “So, fast food? I don’t like that idea. I’d rather spend more money on food and less on the hotel.”

“We need it to be quick,” he counters in a reasonable tone. “If we stop for a longer meal, we’ll fall behind the other contestants. Besides, I’m not sleeping with roaches on a lumpy mattress.”

“Roaches? I’m not sleeping with roaches, either. It’s bad enough I have to sleep in the same room as you and your snoring. I couldn’t deal with roaches, too,” I tell him with a wide grin.

Dax makes a silent ouch with his mouth. “That’s just plain mean. Comparing me to a disgusting roach?”

“You’re right. They’re much cuter,” I tell him playfully.

He leans over and pinches me on my side. I swat his hand, squeal, and scoot toward the passenger door to get away.

“Yeah, well, you’re like a hyena. Loud and cackly sounding,” he says with a half smile.

“This is going to be a long trip,” I respond.

“Got that right,” Dax agrees, laughing.

I clear my throat and watch him out of the corner of my eye. “Now, back to the plans. We have three hundred dollars total for food today, tonight’s hotel, and food tomorrow. We don’t need to cover the hotel for tomorrow night since it’s part of the prize we’ll win at the Florida checkpoint. Personally, I’d rather not use the entire budget because whatever we don’t use rolls over. It could help us later.”

“Nah, we don’t need to save anything. I’d rather make sure we have good accommodations and get good sleep than worry about saving. We get a new budget for each leg of the trip. What’s the point of saving anything?” Dax asks.

“I feel like we shouldn’t use all of the money they’ve allocated to us for the first leg,” I explain reasonably.

He shakes his head. “I feel pretty strongly about the hotel. We need a good night of sleep after driving all day.” He slides his gaze my way. “Are we having our first lovers’ quarrel?”

Lovers’ quarrel? Ha! How I’d love to respond to that comment, but I’m aware of the cameras always watching us.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way this time. We should stop at one of those gas stations that have ready-to-go healthier options like sandwiches and salads. Some even have pizza if you need something more substantial. We can fill up the gas and grab food to take in the car.”

He grimaces. “Gas station food? Sounds interesting and kinda disgusting. Pass.”

“Nope.” I laugh at his look. “You pick the hotel, I pick the food.”

“I hope I don’t die of dysentery on this trip,” he says in a perturbed tone.

“Dysentery? Nah. You won’t die of that. I think salmonella or E. coli would be much more likely. Anyway, what’s more fun than a gas station poop emergency?”

“That’s very comforting. And thanks for the visual,” he says in a dry voice. “Prior to this trip, I’d never even used a gas station restroom. I’m in awe of all the new experiences this trip will bring.”