Free Naked by Kelly Favor Page B

the clock on the nightstand.
    Everything was still, peaceful and warm. She was tired, but her adrenaline was flowing from being so close to Elijah.
    She looked at his face, the skin smooth and completely unblemished. He looked like someone had painted him.
    Suddenly, his eyelids snapped open and his big brown eyes were looking back at her. “Hey,” he said, his voice froggy.
    “Oh, hey,” she said, jumping out of bed like she’d been given a high-voltage shock.
    “You’re up early,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “We don’t need to leave for like half an hour yet.”
    “Well, I’m just awake—ready to hit the road I guess,” she laughed nervously.
    Then she went into the bathroom. Her heart was beating rapidly and she felt totally humiliated, having been caught staring at him like that.
    He must think I’m a total freak.
    Caelyn washed her face, brushed her teeth and then came out of the bathroom.
    When she opened the door, she was greeted by the sight of Elijah, stripped to the waist, as he bent over his bag and searched for a new shirt. Finally, he stood up, holding the new t-shirt in his hands. He smiled at her, but all she could see was his incredible body.
    He was like a fitness model. He could have been on one of those infomercials, showing how to use some ridiculous machine that would give you ripped abs for five payments of $19.99.
    She averted her gaze, pretending to look out the window. “It’s still dark,” she said, by way of conversation.
    He was taking an awfully long time to put his shirt back on. “Yeah, I like driving early in the morning like this. You grab a coffee, put on the radio, there’s hardly any traffic and you just go. It’s kind of beautiful in a way.”
    She made eye contact with him and they both smiled.
    “That’s poetic,” she said.
    He shook his head. “I must be tired still, talking that shit.” He pulled his shirt on.
    She almost wished he hadn’t.
    A few minutes later, they were back in the SUV and on the road again, having gassed up once more and gotten fresh coffee for the drive.
    It was much as Elijah had said. There were still very few cars on the highway, and the sky was just starting to turn purple and pink, and lighten a bit above the trees on the horizon.
    He turned the radio on low, and there was just the soothing sounds of voices talking about safe subjects, and the taste of coffee and the presence of Elijah beside her, driving, and occasionally looking over and giving her a cute little smile.
    They didn’t talk much for the next few hours, it was enough to drive and look forward to Florida—where they would arrive that evening.
    The peacefulness wasn’t disturbed again until the text came in.
    She looked at her phone, hoping it was anyone but him, anyone at all.
    When she looked, though, his name was staring at her in stark black and white.
    JAYSON.
    And then his texts, one after the other: Hey, haven’t heard from u lately. U
    around tonite? Hit me back.
    She turned her phone off and threw it in her purse. She thought briefly of tossing the phone out the window, but ultimately decided not to. He wasn’t going to control her actions from a distance. She wouldn’t destroy something of value just because he was using it to contact her.
    Once again, Caelyn could barely breathe. Elijah glanced at her. “Who was that?”
    he asked, suspicious.
    “No one,” she lied.
    “Seemed like someone, based on the way you threw your phone and the look on your face.”
    “It’s nothing.” For some reason, she didn’t want to tell him. Part of her was afraid he would try to reply or respond to Jayson in some way.
    Another part of her simply didn’t want to deal with it at all, wanted to pretend that everything would be automatically fine once they reached Florida.
    But she was starting to suspect that reality was more complicated than that.
    Jayson texted her again and again that day.
    She knew because she checked her phone once more when she was in the