Dopplebanger (Meet-Cute #5)

Chapter 9

NINE

Okay, I might’ve initiated the kiss at the top of the lighthouse. In my defense, Gwen just told me she wanted my hands on her—that’s how my turned-on brain chose to interpret it anyway.

It was something I couldn’t stop focusing on. Every glance, every smile, held this charged anticipation, and I wanted to explore the crazy chemistry between us some more. The instant my lips had met hers, my common sense went on vacation. Now I was trying to lure it back, even though I knew it’d tell me that I absolutely couldn’t sleep with her.

Eyes on the road, I thought, focusing on the feel of the steering wheel and the smooth way the Camaro handled. Try to think of something else.

Gwen stretched her legs up onto the dash.

My throat went dry.

Then she leaned her head back, her chest rising and falling, rising and falling. Having those curves pressed against me as I kissed her breathless at the top of that lighthouse made my Top Five Best Moments. The fact that graduating from law school and passing the Bar were two of the others was probably sad. All the time and energy those accomplishments took away from my personal life probably only fueled my lust fire.

Gwen sighed.

Nope. She was just that damn sexy. Her toenails were neon pink, too, another thing that was more distracting than I ever would’ve guessed. Don’t get me started on the delicate silver chain dangling from her ankle.

She glanced at me and did a double-take, and I thought I’d get called out for ogling her. “Is it okay that I put my feet up? I kicked off my shoes so they wouldn’t get the dash dirty.” She started to scoot backward. “Never mind, I wasn’t think?—”

I placed my hand on her thigh and dragged my thumb over her smooth skin. “Keep them up there.” I like looking at your legs and thinking about having them wrapped around me. I shifted in my seat for what had to be the hundredth time since climbing in this car this morning.

“And you’re sure you don’t want me to drive for a while?”

“Nah, not yet. Just… talk. Your awful music might keep me awake, but I prefer stories as opposed to tunes that’ll make my ears bleed.”

She shot me a dirty look that was far too cute to be scary. Then she twisted a strand of hair around her finger and peered up at the ceiling, as if she expected to find inspiration there. “I’m having a hard time thinking of something to talk about.”

“You? Speechless?”

She shoved my arm but smiled, which was my goal in the first place. I’d never get tired of her beautiful, infectious smile. Or those ridiculously cute dimples.

Not that I’d get the chance to get tired of the smile or her dimples, or her in general. I should be glad we’d successfully put several hours of the trip behind us, but every one sent us closer to the last, and I knew that at the end of this trip, I’d only want more.

Don’t think about that.

My gaze ran down her legs again. Don’t think about those, either.

When it came to Gwen, no place was safe for my eyes.

She raised an eyebrow. “What about you? We haven’t talked about you very much this trip.”

“But I already know about me.”

“Apparently, I don’t. For instance, I had no idea you were afraid of heights.”

“Plummeting to my death, you mean. ‘Afraid of heights’ sounds too wussy.”

She laughed. “Okay, okay. Afraid of death—not very original, but totally valid. Any other fears I should know about?”

I’m afraid you’ll find out that I’m not my brother, and then you’ll hate me forever.

I’m afraid that after this, no other girl will measure up.

Not only no other girl, but life in general. Being with her was the most alive I’d felt in years. Every one of those revealed more than I could say, so I searched for something a bit lighter yet still true—I wanted to give her as much of the truth as I could. “Not a big fan of thinking about failure, but who is?”

“Can’t claim I’m not afraid of failure. When I started college, the goal was to become a corporate controller, financial analysis manager, or accounting director for some huge company and make a lot of money. I pictured myself wearing power suits and climbing to the top of the corporate ladder. Since my life isn’t how I imagined it, sometimes I wonder if I’ve failed, but I love my job. I love the people and the animals, and I’m good at it. So naturally, my brain tosses other worrying thoughts at me, so I can feel like I failed at them.”

“It’s sad how easy it is to think of the bad, and how hard it is to remember the good we do.” Throughout school, every B or C grated at me, getting way more weight than the dozens of As on my transcripts. I tended to beat myself up if I couldn’t recall facts in an instant and had to look them up.

When Gwen blinked at me, I wished I hadn’t revealed so much—apparently that problem was mine alone. “Exactly,” she said, making it okay that I’d confessed as much. “It’s like we need someone to come in and reprogram us. But since we’re not robots…” She eyed me like she needed me to confirm.

“Not a robot.”

“Oh, phew,” she said with a laugh. “Let’s do it.”

Whoa, what? Since my mind was preoccupied with her and her sexy body, the “do it” went down the wrong road, I was almost sure. I cleared my throat. “Do… what?”

She removed her feet from the dashboard and twisted in her seat to face me. “Reprogram ourselves. For this whole trip, let’s only focus on our good traits.”

No more thinking about how horrible I am for going along with this scheme? For enjoying it so much? Sign me up.

“We’ll help each other. Like, instead of simply thinking about how much I like the way you worry about me falling to my death, I’ll go ahead and tell you that I appreciate that you care enough to worry about me. And when I was cold, you gave me your hoodie.” She tugged on one of the hood’s strings. “Of course, you probably didn’t realize you weren’t ever going to get it back when you lent it to me, but that’s neither here nor there.”

I grinned at her. “Well, since it’s neither here nor there, I won’t tell you how easily I could tackle you and steal it back. But the truth is, you look a lot better in it than I do.”

“Doubtful, but thank you. And just so you know, I’m translating that into you giving it to me.”

I barely resisted saying: Yeah, I’ll give it to you, all right. “You’re always happy, and you smile at perfect strangers and spread that happiness. You care about other people, on a deeper level than most.”

“I try.” Two creases formed between her eyebrows and she ticked up her chin, resolve setting into her features. “I mean, I do.”

“You’re also crazy hot,” I said, curling my hand around her thigh. Good thing I was focusing on the good and shoving away guilt, because now I could bask in the way her skin felt under my palm, and how right here, right now, it felt like she belonged with me. “I can’t stop staring at you, and I kind of despise the road and the other cars driving on it for taking my attention away from you.”

Her cheeks colored, and my blood rushed faster through my veins. She covered my hand with hers. “Thank you. And thanks for paying attention to the road and the other cars so we don’t crash and die.”

“Admittedly, my main motivation is getting to our next stop in one piece so I can get my hands and lips on you again.”

She swallowed, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “You’re getting better at your motivational skills.”

I tightened my grip on her thigh, and my breaths were coming right on top of each other.

She ran her fingertips up my arm and settled them against the back of my neck. “Shall we see how mine are improving?”

My mind ran rampant with all sorts of scenarios, most of them involving her losing her clothes.

“Luckily, I don’t have to watch the cars or road.” She leaned closer, testing the limits of her seatbelt. Her warm breath hit my ear and then she pressed an open mouth kiss just underneath it. “I’m thinking we come up with a reward system. For every half hour you don’t wreck, you rack up another kiss.” One of her hands moved down my chest, my abs. “An hour earns serious groping”—she dragged her fingertips over the waistband of my jeans—“and we’re talking both ways.”

Holy shit, the woman was trying to kill me. My hard-on pushed against my zipper and I shifted in my seat yet again, bringing the tally to about a hundred and one. I needed to distract myself—and fast—or I’d be pulling this car over and showing her that I was good at both punishments and rewards.

“This is where we’re going?” Gwen asked as I maneuvered the car into a parking lot near one of those pop-up carnivals. During our last fuel and bathroom pit stop, I’d seen a flyer about the state fair in Caroline County and thought this would be a fun activity before we had dinner and found somewhere to settle in for the night.

Apparently, Gwen didn’t get the memo about it being fun since she was frowning at the flashing lights on the other side of the windshield.

“It was until you started looking at the place like it’s a dentist office and you have a root canal scheduled,” I said.

“It’s just that…” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like thinking about imperfect machines made by imperfect people being set up as quickly as possible. You wouldn’t trust a house that can be built and unbuilt in a matter of hours, would you?”

“I believe those are called tents, and yes I would.”

She pressed her lips together, battling between giving me a scowl and a smile. Thinking of her clinging to me only encouraged the carnival idea. She sighed, exaggeratedly loud. “This from the guy who doesn’t trust a brick structure that’s been standing for over a century. Look how high that Ferris wheel is. As someone?—”

I arched an eyebrow, warning her not to say it.

“ Opposed to heights, I’d think you would avoid carnivals.”

“Well, you’d think wrong. The Ferris wheel might be a no-go, but there plenty of rides with protective cages and security belts and… it’s just different.” I grabbed her hand and ran my thumb over her knuckles, hoping it’d help soothe her worry. “How about we just try a few rides? I’ll hold your hand the whole time and keep you safe, I promise.”

“After the tire and pet-food slinging incident, I know you’re strong and all, but you’re not the Hulk.”

“Are you sure about that? Have you seen me get angry enough to test that theory? I mean I’m not confirming or denying, but I’d also like to point out that you haven’t seen me and Superman in the same room, either.”

She rolled her eyes, but this time she lost the battle to hold back her smile.

“Come on.” I laced our fingers together. “I’ll let you pick the rides.”

She was seconds from giving in, and I lifted our entwined hands and kissed the back of hers to tip the scale. The second she reached for the car door handle, I knew I’d won. “Fine. I hope you like the merry-go-round.”