Free Extreme Exposure by Alex Kingwell Page A

me sooner. Here I was, sure the cops were after me.”
    “Will I redeem myself if I buy you a burger?”
    “Can we risk it?”
    “I think so. We’ll get some coffee, too. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
    The road led them south, out of town, past a commercial area with gas stations, fast-food restaurants, and motels. He pulled up to a drive-through window at a fast-food restaurant and they ordered burgers, milkshakes, coffee, and water.
    Back on the road, she watched a car come toward them, heading north. When it passed, she let out a breath, reached into the bag to open their meal.
    The heady aroma of greasy food filled the car, but there was something to sort out first, something even more important than raging hunger. She turned to him. “Where are we going?”
    He gave her a sly look, the corners of his mouth curving into a small smile. “Why, Emily, I think you’re finally coming around to me. That’s the first time you’ve used the word ‘we,’ at least in terms of us doing something together.”
    Shooting her a teasing smile, he looked seriously sexy, especially with that dark stubble on his chin. Feeling her face go red, she hoped it was too dark for him to see.
    “Don’t force your luck.” She gave him a stern look. At least she hoped it was a stern look. It was hard controlling how she looked at him. Or how her body responded. “Let’s put it this way, where are you going?”
    Rubbing his chin, he considered this for a minute. “How about this for a plan? We follow this road south for about an hour, and then we’ll pick up the highway heading west into New Hampshire. If we drive all night, we should be in New Hampshire by morning. We’ll stop at a motel, get cleaned up, maybe catch a couple hours of sleep. You should be able to get a bus to Riverton from there.”
    “And you’ll head south to Boston?” For all her wanting to be clear of him, suddenly the thought of them parting brought a dull ache to her stomach. But she knew it had to happen. She couldn’t let herself think of any other scenario.
    He nodded. “I’ll pick up a rental car in New Hampshire.”
    “Okay. Sounds like a plan,” she said, that ache in her stomach deepening.
    He smiled. “Can we eat now?”
    Twenty minutes later, most of the food finished, she said, “I’ll take a turn driving when you get tired.”
    “Okay, but you should sleep. You look beat.”
    Nodding, she put her head back against the headrest, closed her eyes. Her heart rate was in the normal range, but her mind raced with thoughts of her narrow escape. What would she do once she got to Riverton? Would it be safe to go to her apartment? She’d have to ask the landlord to let her in, since her keys were back at the cabin. But what if going there put other tenants at risk? No, she wouldn’t go back there until this was all over.
    Opening her eyes, she sat up straight. It was no use trying to sleep. The milkshake still cold in her hands, she sucked through the straw, finished it. The dim light made the mood in the car feel oddly intimate. Looking at Matt’s large hands on the steering wheel, it wasn’t hard to remember the feel of them on her face when he’d kissed her. Warm, gentle. Maybe some time those hands would touch her in a different way, one that was rougher, when his need was deeper.
    What is with you?
    To distract herself, she said, “Tell me about the woman you helped hide, the one whose husband was abusive.”
    “She was a friend of my sister’s. I didn’t know her that well.” He shifted in his seat. “To hear her tell it, she married this guy and he changed overnight. First, she tried to stick with him—they’d had one of those huge weddings, it had cost her family a lot of money—but pretty soon she realized she couldn’t.”
    He paused a few seconds. “She left him, but he kept coming around, begging her to take him back. When that didn’t work, he said he’d kill her. She got a restraining order, but he didn’t