A small water moccasin was along for the ride, swimming dazedly among the crushed Red Bull cans, looking as freaked out as she was.
Cade dared a quick snatch for it, but it slithered under the seat. He'd never thought he'd say this, but..."Off me, Holly. Back to your seat. Just keep your legs up."
She shook her head. "Not until it's gone!"
"Then you're going to have to drive."
"Okay," she said shakily, taking the wheel as he edged under her.
His hand shot under the bench. "Come here, you little fuck."
"Cadeon!"
"Ah, come on, halfling!"
The truck began to slow. He jerked upright, facing backward, and was blinded by the nearing headlights. "What in the bloody hell are you doing?" he barked at her.
"Something moved in the water down there!"
"Holly, you slam that pedal down or you die! Clear?"
With a visible shudder, she stretched her leg far down, barely reaching the pedal, tamping it down with her toes. Each time she was jounced in the seat, the gas let off, but she doggedly kept at that pedal.
He snared the moccasin. Knowing that his female would have to see it to believe it, Cade held up the snake as it merrily envenomated him. "Here, look. Visual confirmation." He tossed it out the window hole. "Now, move your little ass over here, and let's lose these miserable pricks, yeah?"
"Yeah?"
When she shimmied over his lap, he resisted the urge to plant her there, then took the wheel. As they crested a small rise and started back down, he spied another washout. He sped up, yanking her into his side. "Hold on to me."
She wrapped her slim arms around his torso, burying her face against him. Tension shot through him, desire for her eating at him, even now.
He was holding her. Forty miles per hour. His female. Forty-five. He tightened his arm around her as the frame of the truck vibrated, sounding like rocks rattling in a tin can multiplied by a thousand.
The truck hit the washout at nearly fifty miles per hour, plowing through the water. Midway through, the engine strained, sputtering. Water in the exhaust. He floored the gas.
"Come on, baby," he muttered. He smelled incongruous smoke. Churning, churning, and then...
The old girl surged out the other side. When he glanced back and saw the trailing SUV bottom out, he couldn't resist a pat on the cracked dashboard.
"We lost them. Truck's not so bad, then, is it?" he said. "Holly?" He frowned down at her in confusion. She was still holding his torso like he was a tree in a storm. As if she needed him for comfort.
Cade couldn't remember the last time anything had felt a fraction so good.
5
"Little busy here, Rydstrom," Cade snapped when his brother rang again.
"What's wrong with your phone?"
"Got wet."
"Are you back at the house yet?"
"On my way," Cade answered. "I'm fifteen minutes out. Where're you?"
"An hour from the city." He paused. "You sound excited. You sound...not miserable."
Discerning Rydstrom knew him well. For so long, Cade had wanted Holly from afar, and now he was with her, talking with her, touching her.... "Naff off, Rydstrom."
