“Why don’t you drive?” I offer when we reach my car. “I’m kind of a crappy driver.”

He catches the keys I toss to him. “You don’t mind?” He raises his eyebrow at me.

“No. I’d rather you drove.” Not just because I’m sure he’s a better driver than I am, but also because having a guy drive feels more date-like to me. That feeling amplifies when he opens the passenger-side door, waits for me to climb in, then closes it behind me.

“Where to?” he asks after he’s run around the front of the car and climbed behind the wheel. I laugh as he moves the seat back to give his long legs room.

“Anywhere.”

He smiles as he adjusts the rearview mirror. “Anywhere is my favorite place.”

Anywhere turns out to be a random drive around town, past the street I live on without him even knowing it, and to a drive-in burger place. This time I let him pay without making a move for my wallet. We sit in the parking lot, eating burgers and fries and drinking thick vanilla malts. We take turns feeding Acorn a plain burger that the guy at the window was nice enough to make for us without the usual slathering of condiments and pickles.

“Do you need to be anywhere?” he asks as he pulls the car out of the parking lot.

“Nope. Nowhere.”

It’s odd having nowhere to go to be together. When Josh and I dated, we mostly hung out in his parents’ finished basement or in his bedroom if they weren’t home. He’d make us popcorn, and we’d watch the movies we’d rented, always laughing about how we wouldn’t bring them back a week late this time. But they were always late and not rewound to the beginning, and we’d have to pay extra in fees. That was the extent of our worries as a young couple.

Evan drives as if he knows his way around very well, and I don’t question it. Maybe he’s walked every inch of this town, or maybe he’s just so good at wandering aimlessly he can make it look natural. I don’t care where we’re going. My hand is in his, and he’s singing along with the radio, turning to sing to me when there’s a lyric about love or wanting someone, and it makes my heart almost beat out of my chest. He looks happy, free, and incredibly hot with the open window blowing his hair. For the first time, I wish I had a sports car because he would look so damn good driving a fast muscle car with his tattooed arm hanging out the window.

A quick shot of panic hits me when he turns down a dark road I’ve never driven before. To be honest, I’m not sure what town we’re in. I’ve been so engrossed listening to his voice and just being with him that I stopped paying attention to our surroundings over an hour ago. Up ahead, I see nothing but total darkness, but as we drive farther, a few streetlamps appear. He stops the car just as the headlights reflect over the dark, shimmering water of a lake.

“Have you been here before?” I ask when he turns off the engine.

Nodding, he checks on Acorn in the back seat. “We’re not far from the park. We just made a really big circle.”

“Oh.” I’m alarmed at my total lack of sense of direction.

He leans back against the headrest. “Thanks for letting me drive. It’s been a long time.”

“You’re welcome. If you sing every time you drive, I may just let you chauffeur me everywhere,” I tease.

“You like my singing that much?”

“I do, Blue. Your voice is like… chocolate.”

He turns in his seat and looks at me like I’m crazy. “Chocolate?” he repeats with a laugh.

“Yes. It’s all smooth and yummy.”

He reaches across the car, grabs me, and pulls me playfully onto his lap.

“You finally called me Blue.”

He takes my face in his hands and brings my mouth to his, kissing me until the shy smile fades from my lips. I fall into a euphoric daze again as his hands roam over my body, and he maneuvers me until I’m straddling him in the seat.

“I want you to drive now,” he whispers against the soft sensitive spot of my throat.

“Oh… okay.” I move to get off him, but his hands slide forward to cup my breasts.

“No.” The metal of his tongue piercing is cold against my flesh as his mouth travels back up to my lips. “Drive me.” He pulls me down harder against him as he whispers the words, and the hardness of his cock pressing against me through our jeans sparks an instant flash of heat between our bodies.

He stares up at me with his dark, brooding eyes as if he’s daring me to stop him from unbuttoning my jeans, but I don’t. Instead, I reach between us to unfasten his, and a sexy grin crosses his lips. His sensuality is contagious. With him, I feel sexy and beautiful rather than small and awkward. I let him push my jeans and panties down to my ankles, and I lift myself just enough for him to pull off one of my boots and slip one of my legs out of my clothes. Eyes still on mine, he leans the seat back and quickly pushes his pants down, pulling a single condom out of his pocket as he does so.

“For you,” he says softly, holding the silver foil package between us.

I nod, watching him tear it open and then slip it over his shaft, and it seems like a shame to cover such a beautiful part of his body.

Taking my hand in his, he guides it to his cock, coaxing me to wrap my fingers around him. I grip him through the thin latex as he slips his hand between my thighs.

“You’re so tight and juicy.” His voice is ragged with deep breaths as his fingers caress and explore. “Come here.” He grasps my waist with urgency, and he watches with hooded, possessive eyes as I slowly descend onto him.

Sudden, sharp pain accompanies the first few inches as his cock stretches me, but I bite my lip and take more, leaning my palms against his wide chest for leverage while he lifts and lowers me. My naked ass bumps against the leather steering wheel as I slowly ride him. Groaning, he wraps his arms around me and kisses me ferociously, our long hair in our faces and getting caught in our mouths.

We don’t care.

Our bodies find a slow, deep, entrancing rhythm. We lose ourselves in every kiss and touch and find each other again. For the first time in my life, I don’t feel out of place or disconnected. I feel beautiful and wanted. I feel—and I believe—that I belong right here with Evan and nowhere else in the world.

Maybe I’m crazy and this is just a crush that will fizzle and fade.

But the way my heart flutters in my chest and the way he holds my face and stares into my eyes like there’s nothing else in the world to look at makes me believe we’re going to be so much more.

I gasp when he moans and thrusts himself deeper and harder into me, and he moves his hand between us to stroke my clit. Within seconds, he’s got my entire body quivering at his touch and completely under his control despite me being on top. I start to come just moments before he does, but we ride the height of the surge and shudder together, breathing heavy as our lips clash against each other, seeking and claiming more.

He smooths my hair back from my face and plants soft, warm kisses on my lips, down my throat, and over my chest until my breathing calms. I stay in his arms with absolutely no thoughts of running away from him—unlike the last time.

“You’re so fuckin’ perfect,” he whispers between kisses, and I feel like I could soar to the moon.

“I’m not,” I reply. “But you make me feel like I am.”

“You are, baby. You are. And you better not disappear for a week again,” he warns.

“I won’t. I promise.”

We separate and quietly pull our clothes back on. The inside of the car is steamy and smells of sex and smoke. I want to bottle the scent and sprinkle it on my pillows and bed sheets to linger in all night. My legs are still wobbly, and my sore insides sting when we walk Acorn in the grass around the lake, but I don’t mind the lingering effects of being with him. Every movement is a reminder of him inside me, as close as close can be, and I want to emboss it all in my flesh.

After Acorn does his business, Evan drives us back to the park, which does turn out to be only fifteen minutes from the lake.

“How is it that you know this town better than I do, and I grew up here?” I joke as he turns off the headlights but leaves the car running.

“Because I wander, and you don’t.”

Hmm. I’ve never quite thought about it before, but he’s right. I’m a creature of comfort and habit.

Usually. But not lately.

“I had fun today,” I say, saving my non-wandering habits to analyze later.

“Yeah?” He gives my lips a quick kiss. “Me too. I’ll see ya soon.”

He’s out of the car with his belongings and Acorn before I have a chance to say anything, and now I’m driving home all sorts of confused and unsettled. I feel like I was reading a book that ended abruptly, with the remainder of the pages missing.

I was hoping he’d want to see me tomorrow and at least let me know that, but he left without any solid indication that he ever wanted to see me again, other than as some girl who sits on a park bench and listens to his music.

My fingers grip the steering wheel my bare ass crack was shoved against just an hour or so ago. “See ya soon,” is pretty general and vague and not a real plan in any way after having sex in a car. Especially if he enjoyed it.