“Jesus.” Luke doesn’t sound happy.
“That’s not the point,” he mutters, dragging a hand through his wet hair before facing forward again. “Middle of nowhere, up in the mountains, and a storm like this… you don’t just head out without thinking it through.”
“Yeah, well,” I say lightly, “it’s not exactly how I pictured the evening going either.”
No one laughs. Tough room.
Luke exhales sharply, the tension still sitting on him, and even from the back seat I can feel it lingering in the air between him and Reid. He says something under his breath I don’t quite catch, then falls quiet, but the concern doesn’t go anywhere. It just settles into something heavier.
He really was worried.
That thought lands softer than I expect.
“You can let go now,” I tell Talon, even as my teeth chatter. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
His voice is low, steady, leaving no room for argument as his arm tightens around me. His body is a wall of heat at my back, solid and grounding, and I can’t stop myself from leaning into him, soaking it in.
God, he’s warm.
The contrast hits me all at once—how cold I was out there, how quickly that cold had started to sink into my bones, and how different this feels now, tucked against him, shielded on all sides.
For a second, I let myself just exist in it.
Then my mind betrays me, drifting somewhere it definitely shouldn’t.
What it would feel like without the layers between us.
Skin to skin.
I swallow and shift slightly, but not away.
Suddenly, the car feels very silent. I look at the rearview mirror and catch Luke watching me.
My heart jumps in my throat. Discomfort skitters over my skin, but I don't pull away. I wonder if it bothers him that I'm in Tal's arms right now. He doesn't look angry. If anything, he looks almost contemptuous.
“Luke,” Reid says, effectively breaking our eye contact. “Can you see down that hill over there?”
“Not very well.”
“Shit.” He sighs. “Driving in these conditions just isn’t safe. We risked coming out to find her, but now we’ve succeeded, I think we should just wait it out.”
“Isn’t there an inn just a little further up the road?”
“Think so. With a gas station.”
“That’s the one. It should be about five minutes further up the road from Sierra’s car. Let’s go there.”
“I saw it on my GPS,” I contribute. “It was marked as a motel, shop, and gas station.”
Reid nods and turns the truck around. I watch my car go by the second time and try not to feel anxious about what might happen to it while I'm gone.
After a few minutes of worrying anyway, I decide to put it out of my mind for now. That's the key to anxiety, isn't it? Letting go of the things you can't change and simply accepting that not everything is within your control.
Maybe I should give the therapy thing a try. I might have if I weren't leaving.
Although now that they're here, I don't know what's going to happen.