Broken Wings (A Romantic Suspense)(59)

Oh my God, Ellie. Please never stop wearing thongs. She walks over to the bag of clothes and bends at the waist, holding her legs straight, and the way her ass rounds makes me want to f*ck her until she can’t move. She knows it, too. She wiggles her butt back and forth.

I give her a good smack on the ass and she jerks upright and sticks her tongue out at me again. I repay her insolence with a kiss, and she slips out of my grip and heads into the bathroom after shedding her stockings and f*ck-me panties. Before she gets away I snatch her underwear, bury my face in it, and inhale deep her scent.

Ellie rolls her eye but I can see from the way she quivers that she likes it.

“That’s gross.”

“You mean, gross the way you sniff my pits when you think I’m asleep?”

She looks mortified and darts into the bathroom, still naked. I just like looking at her, watching her move. I wait for her on the bed while she showers.

This time she doesn’t bother closing the door. Water beads on the small of her back and droplets run over the round fullness of her ass and down her perfect thighs as she brushes out and dries her hair. She sees me watching and leans over the sink, arching her back. Her ass juts out and she shows me a glimpse of her * before she stands up, walks out, and starts to dress.

I help her with it, tugging the sweatshirt down over her. I use pulling her sweats up as an excuse to hold her from behind and savor the smell of her damp hair. I love it when she’s fresh from the shower, she smells like heaven. She’s warm from the heat of the water and suddenly I feel cold.

“You ready?”

“Yeah, let’s pack up and go.”

There’s not much to pack, just a duffel my mother gave us and the paper bag with Ellie’s folded-up wedding gown and my tux in it. It all fits in the back of the ’Vette with ease. I hand in the key and we’re off.

Vegas is different during the day. It feels bigger, more inviting. It’s Disneyland in the daytime and red-light district at night. There are performers in foam suits, parents leading gaggles of kids behind them.

Ellie glances at the children in the crosswalk ahead of us and looks at me.

“Should we have kids?”

I grip the wheel and glance at her. She looks serious enough.

“I don’t know, Ellie. I’m having a hard time thinking past tomorrow. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

She sighs.

“I think I’d like that, though,” I add quietly. “I’d like you to be the mother of my children.”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

I let out a long sigh.

“I’m afraid.”

“Afraid? Why?”

“I don’t want to be like my own father.”

She seizes my hand.

“Jack, you’re not. Stop saying that. You’re sweet and kind. You actually care about somebody besides yourself.”

“Thank you, Ellie.”

“I think that’s why he sent you away. He can’t stand looking at what he could have been. He was jealous of us.”

“Jealous?”

“That you could love me in a way that he isn’t capable of.”

The light turns. I motor through the intersection. We’re going to have to take the highway. Down the Strip, Las Vegas Boulevard first, then onto the interstate. Ellie stares back wistfully at the city.

“I didn’t really get to see it. We have to come back here someday.”

“We will, I promise.”

She shifts in the seat and sits up, staring out at the scenery.

“It’s so beautiful here. It’s like everything is painted. Look over there. That looks like rust.”

“It probably is. I think that’s an iron mine. They do that out here.”

She looks at me and grins, and then back out.

“The sky is so big. Isn’t it weird? It’s like it’s five times bigger than back home, and it’s always so clear. It must not ever rain here.”

“It must rain sometime. Can’t stay sunny forever, right?”

She looks over at me again and I see a little hint of sadness on her face.

“California border is a few hours away. Then we need to find some beach we can go to and just look at the ocean, I guess.”

“I wonder if it looks different. The Pacific, I mean. I haven’t been to the beach since I was little. I hoped you’d take me the summer after… Before…”

“I’m taking you now. We can see it together for the first time.”

“Where should we go?”

“I figure Malibu would be closest. Isn’t that near LA? Put Malibu Beach in my phone and tell it to take us there.”

Ellie nods and after some fiddling, gets us directions. We’re going to be on the interstate all the way to LA. No one knows we’re in this car—I hope—but my teeth are still on edge every time a highway patrol cruiser passes us.

The long stretch of highway through nothing settles my nerves a bit, once we’re away from the city. Ellie is marveled by the scenery. I play it cool, but it has an effect on me, too. I didn’t expect the desert to be so vivid. The piles of rock outside the iron mines look like giant mounds of blood, and the sky is so blue and completely clear, not even a hint of a cloud.

The sky does look bigger out here. Ellie rolls her window down after a while. It’s crisp, cooler than you’d think, but the way the sun beats down on the black car and all the glass heats up the interior. With the wind blasting into the cabin, I have to shout for her to hear me.