Page 38 of Mixing Temptation (Second Shot 3)

“PLANNING TO CHANGE into your costume on the road?” Josh held out a steaming cup of coffee. He’d woken early and fought his way through the hotel’s convention crowd to secure two cups of joe and a box of pastries for the road.

“I didn’t want to run the risk you would be distracted while driving.” Caroline accepted the cup and climbed into the passenger side of the truck. Settling her backpack at her feet, she opened the pastry box and peered in. Then she selected the jelly doughnut.

“Too late for that,” he said as he buckled into the driver’s side. “My imagination is already running wild with images of those kick-­ass boots.”

With her free hand, she picked his cell up from the center console. “I’ll pull up the directions while you daydream about Wonder Woman.”

“She always was my favorite,” he admitted. “Chad preferred Catwoman, but I liked to stick with the good guys—­and girls. Plus, with Wonder Woman, what you see is what you get. Catwoman always had a trick up her sleeve.”

“You know that Wonder Woman was really an Amazon princess right? And she had a third identity she used for her day job,” she murmured. He stole a quick glance at her and saw her attention still focused on his phone.

“A lot of ­people behave one way at work and another at home,” he said. “I’m not too crazy about the cat villain’s whip.”

“Oh really?” And he recognized the playful note in her voice. “You don’t have a secret desire for a spanking?” she added.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her set the phone on the dash with a hint of a smile on her lips. “No. But Wonder Woman’s golden lasso might be fun.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she murmured. “Take a right up ahead and then merge onto Highway 101.”

“Are you going to fill me in on the plan or should I just change into my special spandex outfit when we get there and follow your lead?” he asked.

“Which one did you bring?” she asked.

“Superman. But I tossed in my Batman outfit at the last minute just in case you have a thing for super wealthy men out to save the world.” He waggled his eyebrows but kept his gaze fixed on the road.

“I’m not into heroes.” The outside of her hand brushed his thigh as she reached for her coffee cup. She lingered for a second before picking up her cup. “You can keep your jeans on.”

“You can save yourself?”

“I do my best,” she said firmly.

He shook his head. And to think he’d questioned her strength last night. “All right, but I’m still coming with you today. So how about filling me in?”

She inhaled, sucking the air through her teeth. “I want to drive by Dustin’s house,” she said finally. “He lives outside Eureka, not far off this highway. Just stay on this road.”

“Are you still keeping tabs on him?” He stole a quick glance in her direction. Through the passenger side window, he could still see the ocean crashing against the coastline.

“Remember that private investigator Noah hired last year? Back when he thought Dustin was after us?”

Josh nodded. He’d spent a number of long nights hiking through the woods near Noah’s house and searching for the bastard. Hell, he’d been shot at by the man after Josie. And at the time, he’d thought it was Dustin. Though Josh didn’t like to spend too much time pondering his second close encounter with a potentially life-­ending event.

“The PI sent us Dustin’s address after his wife kicked him out. She’d moved off base during the trial. And when he was found guilty of adultery . . .”

He let out a growl that made it pretty damn clear what he thought about the fact that her rapist had been charged with freaking cheating instead of rape.

“His ex-­wife wanted to be closer to family I guess. Either way, Dustin moved too. He stayed close enough to see his kids. And lucky me, I was hiding out with my sister. He knew enough about my background to hunt me down.”

“And you think he’s still there?” Josh asked. “It’s been over a year since the PI located him.”

“Some days I still think I see him hiding in the trees,” she admitted. “But I’m fairly certain that’s my fear acting up and playing tricks on me.”

“You haven’t mentioned this,” he said. “Have you told Noah?”

“He has enough on his plate. New baby. New wife. And I think we can both agree my paranoia has caused enough trouble for him.”

“Caroline,” he said. “I doubt seeing Dustin, finding out where he is and what he’s doing, will erase those fears.”

“We’ll find out.”