A Long Goodbye (9 page)

“You ‘bout ready for ride of your life?” he asked after he gave me a ‘hot damn you’re looking good girl’ whistle. I’m wearing a pair of my cut offs with a skintight red tank with my black lacy bra peeking out just enough to tempt him. I felt like a slut putting it on, but Lu insisted it would work after I told her last night was one of the best nights and worst nights of my life. Even going as far as Lu telling me if he didn’t kiss me today, “then baby girl, he’s kissing someone else.”

He made the necessary steps to catch up to me, as I gave my hips an extra sway walking away from him. “Better question is are you ready for the ride of your life?”

The valet took my ticket before trotting off to get my car while Woody and I waited under the porte-cochere. He looked nervous but darn if he didn’t look cute. His hair was still damp from a shower, and he pulled off that natural tousled look like a GQ model.

My shiny red Lexus pulled up and Woody raised his eyebrows at me. “Never in a million years did I think someone would get me in one of these.”

I leaned over the top. “You got something against my car?”

He crossed his arms on top of the hood and matched my stare. “Yeah, it’s not made in America. When you get home, go tell your daddy to trade that in for something American made would ya?”

Not liking someone telling me what to do other than my daddy, and I even questioned him too, I stood tall, hands on hips, trying my best to look mean. “Get your ass in my car and tell me where it is I’m going, or I’m going without you.”

He placed his sunglasses on, with a huge grin spreading across his face. “Hmm, bossy. I think I might like that side of you.”

CHAPTER 14

DANE

Before the valet could even walk away, Ashton was already waiting on me behind the wheel. Her hair was suddenly pulled back, her smile larger than life and her hand was resting on the passenger seat headrest, drumming her fingers on the leather. She has on a dark pair of sunglasses to hide behind, but I knew without a doubt what she was feeling at that moment.

Excitement!

Today we were knocking off one of her bucket list wishes. Slowly, I walked around her car, my finger gliding across the cherry red chrome. She had the top down now and damn if she didn’t look like this hot little ride was made just for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

Propping my hands on the outside, I leaned in. “I thought you wanted to hit some old dirt roads and turn it up some?”

She opened her mouth then snapped it shut. She glanced all around her, looking a bit confused at my question. She shrugged ever so slightly. “I thought we were. Is something wrong?”

I grinned trying to play with her. “It is if you want me to get in this car of yours.”

“Again, what’s wrong with my car?” She snapped all attitude pouring out of her. Something about seeing her all feisty riled me up some.

“When I offered to go, I meant my truck, seeing it’s a four wheel drive, not to mention,” I paused and tapped her nose, “as cute as you look in this, I don’t like foreign cars.”

“Fine.” She spit out before turning to the front and cranking on her engine. “I’ll just go by myself, or I’m sure Lu would love to take your place.”

“You’ll kill both of you out there,” I fired back. In all likelihood that was a possibility when it came to those two girls together.

She shook her head not willing to bend. “My list-my car. Now get your ass in here, Woody, or I’m pulling away and I mean it.”

I watched her for a quick second trying to determine if she was serious, or if I could still change her mind, but when she tipped those glasses down, shooting daggers at me, I knew I’d lost. Sighing, and rubbing the back of my neck, I jumped in her side to the back before climbing over the console to get to the front.

Her eyes were still glaring at me, but I could tell by the way the corner of her mouth curled up just enough into a smile that she was content. “You ready to do this thing?” Her soft Southern drawl got thicker as she ended her question. I had this unbelievable desire to kiss her, but I refrained after I reminded myself not to get any closer than I already had. Although, I think that ship may have already sailed. Something about her just drew me in like no other woman had done before. I knew I shouldn’t be sitting next to her, that I should be watching her from the safety of my truck, or just keeping tabs on her, but no, like an asshole I was burying myself deeper and deeper, just to be a part of this girl letting herself go and be who she really wanted to be.

Leaning forward, I slipped the directions out from my back pocket and handed them off to her. Her eyes met mine and I swore they danced for me, but then just as fast, she winked at me before slipping back on her shades. “Let’s do this.” It had taken me almost two hours earlier to find the perfect spot for her to let loose.

She followed my directions without a word. I couldn’t seem to stop looking at her, just to see her bopping in her seat, belting out wrong words to almost every song that came on the radio. And even though her voice wasn’t the most angelic, I relished in the fact that she felt so comfortable sitting next to me, being herself, and doing what she aimed to do.

Let go.

Every preconceived notion of everything everyone had ever told me about Ashton Winslow was false. There was no pole up her ass; she wasn’t wound up tighter than a yo-yo, a snob, or a bitch. It was symptomatic of a life that she thought she had to lead. None of those was correct. Thank the Lord above.

This was the kind of girl I could get down with and easily call a friend, if I were inclined to be looking for one anyway.

She just needed an escape to discover who she really was and who she really wanted to be. And I was going to be the one to give it to her come hell or high water. Lost in thought, she cleared her throat and I noticed the radio was off and the car was slowing down as she turned onto the dirt road that I knew she’d be able to cut loose on. She turned to face me, so I matched her position, only I dropped my hand to rest on her knee.

“Look, I want you to ride it nice and slow once to get the lay of the land, then we’ll swing back around and start from the beginning.”

Her eyes were trained on my hand, but slowly she lifted her face to look into my eyes. “Why can’t I just gun it and go?”

I laughed unable to hold it back, hoping not to piss her off. “Darlin’ you got six miles of road. There’s a steep climb about two miles in with a straight and fast downhill all on a mesh of shit. There’s dirt, gravel—you name it. It’s gonna be a blast to ride it, but I want you to warm up first.”

“How hard can it be? Hell, it’s just a dirt road?”

“Grace, listen to me and just give it a once over. That way you’ll enjoy it more when you really let it rip.” I pulled my hand away, but moved it to her shoulder, gently working out her knots. “You ready?”

She pulled her bottom lip in with her teeth and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her mouth.

“Woody?”

“Hmmm?” I whispered still eyeing her wondering what her mouth tasted like.

“The car won’t flip, or anything, right?”

“No. Like I said, do one lap slow and easy and then we’ll let her fly.”

She does the full course and I could tell when we got to the creek it stumped her. To her credit, she didn’t say anything, or show fear other than a few deep breaths before she pulled in reverse, turned it around, and headed on back.

She looked over at me quickly with a small smile.

“Whenever you’re ready, Grace.”

Her tiny fingers fumbled checking her seatbelt, and then she checked mine to make sure I was buckled up too. Which I thought was kinda cute. She did this little neck roll, inhaled once, then twice, and then hit play on her CD player letting Luke Bryan blare through the speakers. She barely spared me a glance, but just as she did, she gave me a megawatt smile that did something to my heart, and then the feel of the car jerking forward snapped me to attention.

About a mile down the road, I thought we might be in trouble as she gripped the wheel tighter causing her knuckles to go white, but she yelled out loud, so I knew she was having fun.

“Woohoo, this is fun,” she shouted just as she was taking the car up the hill. I gripped the edge of my seat tight with my right hand before quickly eyeing the speedometer. Downhill could be a little unsettling, but with Ashton behind the wheel it was downright scary. A finely paved road was one thing, but riding on dirt roads was another beast all together. Thankfully, she had let up on the gas and even though we were coasting, the car was maintaining a generous speed the whole way down.

The next two miles went by in a blur of dust kicking up behind us, Ashton not giving in, or slowing it down and personally it made me proud to see her unraveling. Keeping my eyes strained for the creek, I knew she was going to have to take it down a notch. Once I spotted it, I felt my own body relax knowing it was almost over and we were both alive. “Time to slow down, beautiful,” I screamed over the noise of the radio and the gravel kicking up behind us.

She immediately turned to look in my direction, smiling. “Grace you need to slow down now,” I reminded her again, taking the leather gripped wheel in my hand seeing the water coming into view. “Grace,” I yelled louder. She blinked, my words finally clicking, because suddenly we dropped speed and by the look on her face she was focusing.

The car spun in a full circle just as she panicked, letting go of the wheel. As fast as lightning, I tightened my grip, praying to the big man upstairs that we’d make it out all right. Or, at least she would. Water’s edge was coming up fast but just as the front of the car dropped in, I yanked on the emergency brake, bringing us to a painfully abrupt stop. The entire time Grace was screaming at the top of her lungs in my ear making my nerves rattle.

The finality of the ride wasn’t exactly pretty and I was sure if anyone were watching, downright funny to see the car sitting in the creek with us in it. Luke Bryan was still playing in the background, loudly and my heart was beating so fast I could feel the throbbing in my neck.

Grace was waving her hands in the air back and forth to the beat of the music, yelling, “I did it,” over and over again. There were beads of sweat dripping down her forehead; loose strands of hair falling out of her previously perfect hair and the smile on her face was like witnessing a child on Christmas morning-pure magic. We were both panting like heat-struck dogs on a hot summer’s day when she finally leaned her head back to look at me. My breathing started to slow; Grace matched my pace as we continued to eyeball each other. “Do you think you might want to kiss me now?”

Everything stopped. My breathing, my train of thought, and my apparent lack of discretion I’d taken on since day one of this case, because all I could think about was her lips and honeysuckle. “Yeah, Grace I want to kiss you more than I want to breathe, but I’m not sure if I should.”

My heart was kicking my ass for turning her down right now, but my brain started functioning as I stared into those beautiful green eyes, knowing I was only going to bring pain to them someday if we continued the walk down this road.

She backed out and then turned off the car once we were on the grass. “What does that mean?”

“Grace, words can’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling right now, and fuck yeah, I want to kiss you, but me and you can only last until you go home. Can you do that?”

“I know that, Woody, but I’m still asking.”

I could feel my heart’s pace picking up so quickly that it was like watching a hummingbird take flight.

Reaching out, I grazed her cheek with my knuckles. “Go for a walk with me? I want to show you something.” I had found this spot when I came looking earlier this morning and I thought it was perfect. If I ever wanted to live in Tennessee, I’d want to build a house right smack in the middle of this property.

She pulled back slightly, but her hand reached for the door, her long legs slipping out of my view as she got out and slammed the door shut. Taking a breath and mentally shouting at myself once more for pushing this with her, I followed suit. Could I give her the best of me for the next several days and walk away? Could I really do that? Walk away? What if she wanted more? What if I wanted more? What if she found out it was all a lie? So many different things flashed inside of me before I was able to meet her, standing at the rear of her car waiting on me.

I took another deep breath and said fuck the job for two weeks. When she asked me to kiss her, her eyes screamed so many things as I looked into them. The only one I liked was the hope I saw in those green eyes, all the others showed disappointment and fear, and I didn’t like seeing those feelings on her.

She stuffed her hands into her pockets of her cutoffs just as I stepped in front of her. Slowly, not taking my eyes off her, I pulled one of her hands out and wrapped it in mine.  As I did this, her eyes followed each and every little move, until finally; I got the reaction I wanted. She gave me a just-kiss-me-now amazing temptation of a smile and squeezed my hand encouraging me.

CHAPTER 15

ASHTON

I felt like I was going to die right there on some back road in Tennessee when he didn’t kiss me. You know that moment when everything you ever wanted was dangling right in front of you and then bam… It’s all taken away in a blink of an eye. Well, that about sums up how I felt. Granted it had been a while since any one had even felt me up, let alone made me feel like I was losing something before I even had it, but Woody brought out something in me that only he could. Whenever he looked my way with that certain twinkle in his eyes, I started having thoughts that made me blush.

Had he not made the next gesture of touching my cheek, causing me to shiver in my boots, I would’ve up and left him, walking my ass back to the hotel from sheer embarrassment alone. Albeit, I probably would’ve been doing it crying.

Something as simple as Woody holding my hand now brought out a feeling of excitement that ran straight down to my toes. The sun was warm and every few seconds a fresh breeze ran through the field allowing me to get a whiff of pure man. A scent that made me want to pull him closer and breathe him in. A scent I wanted remaining on my pillowcase and sheets the next morning just so I could smell him whenever I wanted. A scent that I swore should be bottled and sold at every department store (hell every discount store too) for purchase so every woman could have her man smell like Woody.