Road Trip

Jaime isn't certain what to expect on this road trip--her best friend won't even tell her where they're going. But that's not the most awkward part of the proposition: the car for the journey is so overloaded, that the only place for her to sit is in the lap of one of the guys, Brendan. His tragic past made him aloof and nearly as mysterious as the journey at first, but as the miles pass by, Jaime and Brendan soon find themselves growing closer in unexpected and sexy ways.

Excerpt:
I stared at the vehicle in front of me. It was a larger model SUV, but was packed to capacity with suitcases and backpacks and even cardboard boxes, both on the inside and out. I turned and gave my best friend an arch look, my hands on my hips. “Did you forget that I was going with you?”

“What?” Lauren barely managed to come up for air long enough to even listen to what I was saying. She was wrapped around her boyfriend, David, as if he was a tree and she was a vine. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t leave any room for me to sit.”

“Don’t be silly! You can sit on Brendan’s lap, of course.”

“Brendan?”

“Oh, that’s right. You haven’t met him yet. He’s David’s cousin.” She waved in the general direction of the automobile. The back door on the passenger side opened and a tall, rather lanky guy stepped out. He walked toward us in a seemingly hesitant sort of way. I wondered if there was something wrong with one of his legs, for his gait was noticeably uneven. “Jaime, this is Brendan. Brendan, this is my very best friend, Jaime.”

“Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand.

He stared at it for a moment, with the oddest look on his face, before he reached out and closed his hand around mine. It was very large and very warm. “Nice to meet you too.”

His voice was deep and pleasant and I had to admit, he was more than easy on the eyes. I might even have considered him to be pretty damned hot, if he hadn’t also been acting so weird about the whole thing.

Then again, the fact that I would be sitting in his lap for the trip was a pretty weird first introduction to a stranger, too.

It was a good thing I’d packed light. Somehow, we found room to stuff my backpack into the vehicle without crushing anything—at least I hoped we did—and then there was no further excuse for delay.

Brendan was already sitting in the last row, surrounded by the luggage of, I had to assume, Lauren and David. His expression was tight and I thought he looked a bit aggravated as I prepared to climb up into the seat myself.

His thighs were very hard.

I don’t know why that sensation struck me so much, but it did. I couldn’t be certain whether it was pure muscle that I was feeling, or if he was so tense about the fact that I was sitting on him that it had made him tight.

I had to suspect it was the latter.

With the tight space we were crowded in, his body seemed bigger and thicker than it had when I’d looked at him outside. More muscular too. And the amount of heat that radiated off him was incredible.

We talked a little. Or rather, I tried to talk to him a little but couldn’t get him to do much more than give me yes or no answers to any questions.

Which was a bit awkward, to say the least. I was a bit irritated with him. I knew this wasn’t exactly the ideal way to spend this time on the road, but surely, he could make some effort to make the best of it!

After the first hour, I gave up. Decided to let him keep his secrets. To pretend that he was just part of the car seat, if that was what he wished.

But I was quickly bored.

Any conversation with Lauren and David was impossible since they were so far away. There was another couple riding with us too, squished together in a similarly tight space on the second row of seats that Brendan and I were in the third. But they were too interested in each other to have time for anyone else.

The girl’s name was Kathy. She was another friend of Lauren’s, though I personally didn’t know her very well at all. They had met in college and were roommates there.

The guy with her was her boyfriend, though his name was slipping my mind at the moment. He didn’t seem to care that they had an audience, his hands on her breasts as he made her moan with his mouth on her throat.

Talk about awkward.

Their display shouldn’t have turned me on, but it did. I squirmed.

Brendan’s strong hands suddenly clamped on my hips. Forcing me to hold still. “Don’t move.”

His voice was barely more than a growl full of a mix of anger and need.

And I realized that he was hard.