Chapter Six

Her tone had a finality to it and Adam backed off. He glanced at her in the rearview mirror and saw her face was set again. Those few moments of openness and lightness were well and truly over, but Adam was surprised at how much better he liked her for them.

Adam studied her, trying to set aside any feelings he had about Katie Lloyd. If he forgot that they’d been basically arguing non-stop about his photos for the past three-plus months, then he’d have to admit that he’d find her attractive. If she washed that shit off her face, of course. Nothing sexy about a mouthful of black makeup.

He changed the subject. “So, I hope we don’t hit too much weather in Utah. It looks bad in some places.”

She turned back to him. “I know. You think we’ll be OK to drive through it?”

“I think so. This car’s seen more than one Colorado blizzard and hasn’t so much as stalled. We should be fine.”

“And if not, we have a tent. We can just camp out, right?”

He glanced at her, saw that she was teasing him again. He grinned. “Just one sleeping bag, though, so we’d have to share.”

Their eyes met, his clear blue, hers deep brown. Both were taken aback at the spark of attraction and interest that flared between them. They looked away at the same time.

Flustered, Adam searched around for something to talk about. “You want to stop for takeaway coffee?”

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat, still shaken by that glint of heat in his eyes and by her helpless response to it. “Sounds good.”

****

Several hours later, Katie dropped off to sleep. She’d been fighting it for an hour at least, but in the end, she succumbed.

Adam looked at her, all curled up under her coat. Her face was turned toward him and he smiled as he saw that she was completely relaxed, totally out. He knew she was exhausted.

In the previous few hours, they had talked quite a bit about Katie’s upcoming photo exhibition – carefully avoiding the issue of the pictures she’d taken of him – and she’d told him how much time she was putting into it. It sounded like she had been living off caffeine and about three hours of sleep a night for months. And this was all while taking care of Mia for two weeks.

Adam had been amazed that Katie had moved in with Mia right after Mia had been attacked. According to Nick, Katie had basically sat up with Mia most of every night, comforting her after she woke up screaming from nightmares, and then Katie had gone and worked all day. Adam was surprised at Katie’s selflessness and obvious love for her friend. It had made him start to wonder if maybe Katie wasn’t the hard bitch that she appeared to be. Maybe she had a good, kind heart under it all.

Her breathing was soft and steady, and as her chest rose and fell, he noticed that she had great breasts. She was slim but curvy in all the right places, tall with long legs and delicate wrists. Her face was sweet in sleep, and she looked about seven years younger. He wished he could see her without all the black crap on her eyes. He was sure she’d be stunning.

Despite his background as a professional boxer, Adam had never gone for the whole lifestyle when it came to women. Most of the guys he knew fought and fucked, always trying to work off furious amounts of energy by either beating some guy or screwing some chick. Nick had fallen firmly into this category, and if Adam hadn’t known about his girlfriend Shelley and how badly her death had messed Nick up, he’d never have been friends with the guy. Adam had no use for womanizers. He did have three sisters, after all. And he had seen thirty years of his parents’ thirty-five-year marriage; he had seen what ‘until death does us part’ really looked like. He knew that’s what he wanted, and he didn’t mess around with one-night-stands and girls who got all starry-eyed about him owning a popular gym or his pro boxing days.

No, Adam had always been attracted to women with substance, and despite the fact that she annoyed and exasperated him beyond belief, it was undeniable that Katie Lloyd was pure substance. A talented photographer, smart as hell, a loyal friend.

In just a few hours of driving with her, he had laughed more times than he had done in months. It was a total shock for him to realize that he actually liked her. She was stubborn and infuriating and tough, but she was more than all that. She hated asking him for help, he knew now. It made her feel exposed and weak, and she was a woman who wasn’t good with having a man help her out. He wondered who had hurt her so badly, who had made her so determined to do things on her own.

He drove on in the approaching nightfall, keeping an eye on the sky. He was starting to feel uneasy and decided to find a motel.