Chapter Four
“It’s better than nothing,” Jasper said.
I gazed out through the windshield at the road ahead. The sun was setting against the horizon, turning the sky into a vast palette of orange and red. The headlights cut the darkness head. In the twilight, nothing was as it seemed—bushes looked like critters, and the shadows cut odd shapes across the pavement. We had no direction. Filming had cut for the day, and everyone had gone home. Despite putting myself out in the open, my stalker hadn’t revealed himself.
“Though, I kind of wish he had,” I mumbled.
“What?” Jasper asked.
I shook my head. “Sorry. I was just thinking to myself about how my stalker didn’t take today to reveal himself. I was hoping he would. But I’m getting to the point where I wish he would just make a move. You know, I’d rather rip off the Band-aid so to speak. Get it over with.”
“Think of something else,” Jasper suggested. “Try to take your mind off it.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked. “I guess I was sort of hoping it was all staged. I was hoping that Daly was the one all along.”
“He still could be,” Jasper said. “Maybe he’s a hell of an actor.”
“What’s this, another test?” I asked. “You feeling me out, the way Sheriff Sands did earlier?”
“Maybe.” Jasper punctuated the response with a casual shrug of his shoulder.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I don’t think Daly has anything to do with what’s going on, I mean. I think he was telling the truth. He was at my room last night because he wanted to talk me out of digging at the site. Someone jumped him. That’s a scary thought.”
“Beating up an old man?” Jasper said, his voice hard-edged. “That’s not scary. That’s cowardly. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I could take or leave the guy. But he’s as old as the hills. You just don’t beat up on an old man like that.”
“It is cowardly,” I concurred. “And that’s what makes this so scary. Whoever’s out there stalking me, they don’t have any rules. If they’re willing to beat up on Daly, what else are they willing to do to get to me?”
“We’re not going to find out,” Jasper said flatly.
I sank my teeth into my lower lip as I fought past a wave of nerves.
“Like I said, think about something else.”
I sighed. “Where are we going, anyway?”
“Wherever the road takes us, for now.”
Inside the truck felt safe. Inside the truck felt secure. It was a fake safety, but it seemed like if we were moving, if we were hidden in the darkness and had the anonymity of being just another pair of nameless headlights traveling the streets, we’d be okay.
“What do you do?” I asked Jasper.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. You say ‘think about something else.’ How do you do it? You always seem so focused.”
“I am, most of the time,” Jasper said. “Not all the time. Hell, if I’d stayed focused, this job would be over by now.”
“What’s distracting you?” I asked.
As Jasper pulled up to a stop light, he smirked at me. In the glow of the red light, he looked like a devil. I rolled my eyes.
“Now isn’t the time,” I said.
“With you, it’s always the time, babe.” He grinned. I was going to get a headache from all of the eye-rolling I was doing. “I’m just saying. You’ve had me distracted since the day we met. I don’t know why, exactly. I saw you, and you just…stuck.”
“So, I’m a parasite?” I asked. I unbuckled my seat belt and slid over to Jasper.
“You’re breaking the law is what you are,” Jasper cast me a sidelong glance. “Seat belt on. What if we get in an accident?”
“You wouldn’t let that happen.”
“You’re right.” Jasper released the wheel with his right hand and slipped his arm over my shoulder. It took me a moment to realize that the touch was meant strictly to comfort, and it made me melt a bit. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re my favorite distraction.”
“So, where are we headed?”
“Nowhere,” Jasper said. “Literally.”
I looked around. The town had become quiet, the houses giving way to rolling, empty fields. The traffic had become scarce.
“Nowhere?”
Jasper nodded. “It seems like every time we try to do something, our guy is one step ahead of us. We go somewhere, he’s already there. We do something, he knows just what to do to counter it. So, we’re going to come at it from a different angle. Plus, we need to get your mind off of things.”
Jasper eased the car off to the side of the road and kept the engine running. He straightened himself in his seat, pulling out his gun.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Just in case.” Jasper peered down the steel sights and cocked the weapon. “Nobody knows where we are, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Then again, we’re out in the open. We’re exposed. I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Nobody will find us out here,” I said, but I liked how seriously he took my safety.
“That’s the plan. Now, let’s get your mind off things.” Jasper rolled down the window, switched the gun to his left hand, and let the firearm hang out. He rubbed the front of his jeans with his right hand. “I’ve been distracted, but I can think of one thing you can do to help me focus. Plus, it’ll take your mind off things.”
My eyes went wide, and I looked down. His cock was pressing against his pants, straining the denim. He was clearly ready to go, right here, right now, and realizing that made me weak in the knees.
“Here?” I wasn’t repelled by the thought, not at all. Rather, I was excited.
“Right here.” Jasper’s voice had thickened with need. When he raised the gun, resting it against the window, my pulse sped.
Wetness pooled between my thighs. Two days ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing something like this. Today? With the idea now in my head, I wanted it. I craved it, the taste of him on my tongue.
Silently, my fingers found the zipper of his jeans. With sure movements, I freed his erection. In the dim light of the fading sun and the cool, green, digital glow of the clock on the dashboard, I could make out Jasper’s cock—it was long and fully erect, the veins engorged. I wrapped my fingers around it and squeezed.
“Oh fuck,” Jasper said, shuddering. “Yeah, this is just what you needed to relax,” he said.
I snorted. “Right, this is for me,” I said.
“It’s therapeutic,” Jasper said innocently. “I’m only thinking of you.”
“Right.” I couldn’t hold back my grin. Damn it, I liked this—liked our banter and liked him, even more than I liked the sex, and I liked that, well, quite a lot.
Bending over, I lifted my feet onto the seat and pressed my head into Jasper’s lap. Keeping a grip on the shaft with my fingers, I opened my mouth wide, and took him in.
The reaction was immediate. Jasper’s whole body tensed. If he’d had his finger on the trigger of his gun, he probably would have accidentally fired into the pavement. As my head dipped and my lips ran down the length of his shaft, Jasper raised his hips to meet me.
“Oh fuck,” Jasper said again.
I flicked my tongue over the underside of his shaft and Jasper twisted and groaned, doing a little dance in his seat. I went in deep, letting his swollen head poke at the back of my throat, and when I did so, Jasper depressed the accelerator, and the truck revved to life. I giggled.
“Cari!” Jasper said. “Watch the teeth!”
“Suh-wee,” I mumbled. Brushing my hair aside, I leaned in again, letting Jasper’s cock pierce my throat. Jasper groaned again, seeming to melt into his seat.
“All right, take it easy,” Jasper said at last. He gripped my forehead and pulled my head away from his lap. Setting the gun on the seat beside him, he zipped up his pants.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said with a grin. “Nothing at all. But I don’t like feeling exposed like this. We have to get somewhere else, somewhere safer.”
“Like my room?”
Jasper holstered the gun and looked up and down the highway before putting the truck in drive and taking off down the road. “No, not your room. It’s already compromised.”
“You think he would come back?” I asked. “My stalker, I mean. Not Daly.”
“No, I don’t, but I don’t know for sure. But it’s fine. I have a backup plan.”
“A backup plan.” I sat up straight. “Okay, let’s go with it.”
Jasper continued down the road. We approached a pullout, the kind of thing where cars could turn around. Jasper didn’t slow, but passed it by completely.
“Wait,” I asked. “Where are we going? Aren’t we going back to town?”
Jasper shook his head. “No. We’re going to a cabin I just rented on the outskirts of town. It’s safer there.”
Taking a deep breath, I frowned and crossed my arms. “I disagree,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because we’ll be cut off. What happens if something goes down? What happens if you get hurt? We’ll be farther from help.”
“It won’t be a problem,” Jasper said, peering into the rearview mirror. “Nobody is tailing us, and nobody knows where we’re going. There are only a couple of people that even know about this place, and two of them are you and me.”
“Who are the others?”
“Other,” Jasper corrected. “Jackson. He’s the only other one who knows about it.”
“I guess if you think it’s best,” I said.
“I do,” Jasper said. “Trust me, I do.”