Chapter 16: Nine Days

His mouth was warm and shocked, and for one second he did not move.

Then his hands came up and framed her face, and he kissed her back.

Clara pushed him against the side of the Subaru. The roof rack rang under his shoulder.

He laughed against her lips, breathless, and she felt it all the way down.

"Careful, Mercer," he said into her mouth. "That looked like you were about to say something out loud."

"I'm saying it with my mouth."

"That's allowed."

"I know it's allowed. I made the rule."

She kissed him again, longer, with her fingers in his hair.

He made a low sound she wanted to hear again.

She took his bottom lip between her teeth until he did.

A truck pulled out of the lot, and somebody whistled from the cab.

Miles pulled back an inch, his forehead against hers. His eyes were nearly black.

"Take me home," Clara said.

"Which one?"

"The one with the door that locks."

He drove with one hand on the wheel and the other wrapped around hers on the gearshift.

He ran a yellow light on Main Street.

Her phone buzzed in her lap.

It was Beth.

Sleeping at my sister's. Take the room. I mean it. Eat something first.

Clara showed him the screen at the next red light.

Miles read it, went red to the ears, and said, "I like your roommate."

"She's going to want details."

"She can have the ones I don't mind."

The dorm hallway was empty and smelled of microwave popcorn.

She got the key into the lock on the second try.

He was behind her with his mouth against the side of her neck.

The door shut.

The lamp was on. Beth's green sweatshirt was on the chair, and the dishes were stacked in the sink.