He turned and went back out to thecar, finding Marli sitting in stifling heat, the windows all rolled up, doorslocked. Her face, drawn into tight lines, cleared as she saw him.
"So?" she asked theinstant he got in.
He started the car and drove slowlyaway before he told her what had transpired. He was scoping out the neighboringhouses, just looking for anything...anything at all.
It was almost seven o'clock."We can find a place to stay here," he told Marli. "Or keepdriving. We can be in Tucson before midnight."
"I don't want to stayhere." She shivered. "I'm not getting a good vibe from this place.It's too small, and I feel too conspicuous."
"Fine." Trey had noproblem with that whatsoever. "We need gas and food. Once we get away fromBrawley, we'll find somewhere to stop, then we'll head for Tucson and spend thenight there."
Chapter16
They drove through the dark forhours. Marli convinced Trey to pull over so they could trade places and shedrove for a while. She thought he might doze off like she had earlier, but hestayed alert and tense the whole time.
"Why did you become acop?"
"My dad's a cop," hereminded her. "I just always wanted to do that. The criminal mind alwaysfascinated me. I wanted to get inside their heads and figure out why they didthe things they did. The satisfaction of catching a criminal, prosecuting him,seeing him convicted is amazing. It's exhilarating."
"You love it, don't you?"
"I guess. Yeah. I'm prettycommitted."
She shot him an amused glance."I'm guessing that's an understatement. You're so intense, you probablydon't even have a life outside of work, do you?"
He looked uncomfortable."Maybe."
"Do you have a life outside ofwork?"
"I don't have much of a life,period," he said quietly. "Not right now."
The curiosity and desire to knowwhat was making him tick burned fiercely inside her. He was so closed off toher, so tightly wound she was afraid at some point he was going to explode.
"You're very...moral, aren'tyou?"
"What does that mean?" heasked. "Of course I have morals."
"I mean, you want to do theright thing. I don't know what you did that you consider so heinous, but youdon't like to make mistakes, do you?"
"Nobody likes to makemistakes."
"True. But I think it bothersyou alot."
"Yeah." His voice was low.
"And you have pretty highexpectations of other people, too, don't you?"
He was silent, staring out thewindow at the passing scenery. What was he thinking about? She didn't botherasking him, like he'd asked her earlier, because she knew he wouldn't answer.
He was thinking he'd like to changethe subject.
"How about you," he said."Why photography?"
She considered that. "It'salways been something I loved. Capturing images... I can't paint or draw, but Ihave this need to capture beautiful things, for other people to see. Mywork isn't important, but it's a way for me to do what I love and actually earna living. The stuff I do for myself is more creative, I guess. But I also lovethe technical part of it, the science of it, getting the light right, theexposure, knowing how to translate the image from real life into a photographthat captures it for eternity, does it justice. Does that make sense?"
He nodded. "I think so. Youmust be good at it."
She shrugged. "I do okay."She glanced at him. "I'd like to photograph you."
"Huh? Why?"
"Your face is sointeresting...complex. All those shadows and secrets. But when you smile, youlight up like the sun coming out from behind a dark cloud. It's almostbreathtaking."
Whoa. Was she talking abouthim? Clearly, this was a woman who saw things others didn't.
"We're both so lucky," shesaid musingly.
"Why's that?"
"We both get to earn our livingdoing something we love."
Lucky. Huh. He hadn't feltlucky for a helluva long time.
When they neared Tucson, they founda decent-looking motel with a vacancy sign.
Inside the quiet, dark motel room,Trey dumped their bags on the floor in the corner. He turned and looked atMarli. She was stretching, arms over her head, her body arched, head back, titsthrust out. Her tank top rode up and revealed her flat belly and the flash ofher diamond piercing. Oh, man.
She'd gotten inside his head,somehow, inserted herself in there, and somehow she knew stuff about him hewasn't sure he knew about himself. It was kind of freaking him out. Preferringto deal with the physical rather than the emotional, he went over to her andyanked her against him, roughly, pressing his hard cock into her softness, andkissing her with a bruising, demanding kiss.
A startled sound escaped her, andher hands came up to clutch his shoulders to regain her balance, but then shewas kissing him back, just as demanding, winding her arms around him, archinginto him. The hunger simmering in him boiled over, and he ground his mouth intoher, tongue thrusting inside, taking her with hot urgency.
She had him throbbing everywhere,hot, jolting desire shooting through him. The edginess and tension that hadgripped him all day, the pent-up need and adrenaline that had built up in himwhile he was forced to sit in the confines of the goddamn car all day, rose upin him. His heart was pounding, his ears roared, he had to have her.
His body clenched, craving Marli andthe release she could give him. His hands gripped her ass and lifted heragainst him, and he ground his pelvis into her, hard and horny.
"Trey!" she gasped againsthis mouth. "Take it easy."
"I can't," he muttered,nipping at her bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth. "I can't.
