Title: Road Tripping
Author: Noelle Adams
Release date: July 7th, 2014
Ethan was
Ashley’s secret crush, until he became an asshole.
Asshole is
too good a word for him. It’s bad enough that he stopped talking to her
brother, who was his best friend since preschool. It’s even worse that he went
wild and got involved with criminal types. But the worst thing of all is the
way he trapped her on this ridiculous road trip.
That’s what
it is. Ridiculous. It just isn’t normal for a girl to get dragged from Virginia
to South Dakota in a stolen car with just $1000 in cash. With Ethan Moore, who
is way too hot and way too infuriating to be tolerated. But she’s stuck with
him on a trip that is taking way longer than it should, sharing cheap hotel
rooms, destroying cars, and eluding bad guys.
Yep. There
are bad guys chasing them. Even worse guys than Ethan, and that’s saying a lot.
Plus, she’s
having trouble keeping her hands off Ethan. In fact, she’s falling for him
hard—when she isn’t wanting to wring his neck.
So, for two
crazy weeks, her pride, her heart, and her life are all threatened. Ashley
isn’t sure which she’ll lose first.
Their stolen car was low on gas, so they had to stop at a travel plaza off
the interstate in Beckley to fill up. Ashley went in with Ethan as he paid so
she could go to the bathroom, and they were walking out together when they saw
a police car parked not far from their car.
Two officers
were standing nearby, talking.
Ashley
jerked to a stop, her heart jumping into her throat.
“Don’t look
so guilty,” Ethan said, stopping beside her. “They’re probably not paying any
attention to us.”
“What if the
car was reported stolen?” Ashley crossed her arms tightly across her chest,
thinking about how all her hard work at being good over the last eighteen
months would be thrown out the window if Ethan got her arrested. “What if
they’re trying to act casual and are waiting to see who gets in the car?”
“I doubt
that. They look like they’re just killing time.” Ethan’s tone was laidback, but
he didn’t move forward to the car, so he must not be absolutely sure.
“We can’t
just stand here like this in the middle of the lot for no reason.” When she saw
one of the police officers glance their way, Ashley pretended to be
straightening Ethan’s shirt. “We’ll look suspicious, even if they’re not
waiting for us.”
“I know
that. Pretend we’re having a conversation, and it got so intense we had to
stop.”
Still
fidgeting with the buttons of his camp shirt, she couldn’t help but notice that
the t-shirt underneath was so thin it was almost threadbare.
“You really need to dump this stupid t-shirt.”
“You really need to dump this stupid t-shirt.”
“What are
you talking about?” His body stiffened, like he was offended.
Leave it to
Ethan to not care when she insulted him or swore at him but get all upset when
she threatened his favorite t-shirt. “You’ve had it since you were in high
school. It’s falling apart. I’m surprised it even still fits, since you were
skinny back then.”
He frowned.
“I wasn’t that skinny.” Despite his frown, there was an unexpected warmth in
his eyes that she used to see there a lot.
“Yes, you
were.” She couldn’t help but feel a sudden wave of fond memory at the thought
of Ethan in high school. He’d made her laugh and teased her and had once he’d
gotten into a fist-fight with a guy who had stood her up for the Christmas
dance.
Even Mark
hadn’t done that much for her.
“They’re
looking at us,” Ethan murmured, his eyes still soft with that something. “I’m
going to do something so we don’t look suspicious, so try not to get all upset
about it.”
She had no
idea what he was going to do. She was too distracted by the memories.
So she was
stunned when he raised a hand to the back of her head and then leaned down to
kiss her.
She’d never
kissed Ethan before, and she had no desire to kiss him now.
He was smug
and obnoxious and infuriating, and he’d brought nothing but trouble into her
life.
She didn’t
pull away, though. At first, she was so surprised she couldn’t. Then, when his
mouth started to move against hers and he eased her closer against him, she
didn’t really want to pull away.
It felt
good. Amazing. He was a really good kisser. He was Ethan. And she wanted to
kiss him back.
When she
realized that she was genuinely responding, she sucked in a breath and tried to
pull away.
“Don’t,”
Ethan murmured against her mouth, holding her head in place with his hand.
“They’re walking toward us.”
So she
couldn’t pull away like she wanted—since kissing him was a better option than
being arrested. But her heart was pounding painfully, and she fisted her hands
in his old t-shirt to channel her surging nerves.
“Not in the
middle of the parking lot, kids,” one of the policeman said as he passed. “At
least make it back to your car.”
They broke
apart, and Ashley heard herself giggling as the anxiety eased into relief.
“Sorry,
sir,” Ethan said, much more compliantly than he would ever respond under normal
circumstances.
So they
returned to the car, which the police obviously hadn’t flagged as being stolen.
Ashley,
feeling an intense wash of guilt and confusion, rubbed at her mouth with the
back of her hand. She shouldn’t have liked kissing him so much. Having feelings
like that would throw her whole life into a mess.
“Sorry,”
Ethan said, obviously noticing the gesture. “I wouldn’t have done it if it
hadn’t been an emergency.”
“I know. I
didn’t say anything, did I?”
He didn’t
reply, and Ashley was so embarrassed—thinking that he might have noticed she
was an enthusiastic participant in the fake kissing—that she pretended to take
a nap.
Noelle
handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was
twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different
states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any
book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many
years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her
priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.
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