Ensenada Escapade: Destination: Desire, Book 6 Read Online Free

loathing himself for it. “I’m coming with you or Dinah gets a phone call. Is it worth dealing with the drama llama mama to leave me behind? Take me with you, and she never has to know about this. Ditch me and you’ll get calls every fifteen minutes the whole way, meltdowns bigger than Chernobyl and Fukushima combined, and she’ll get mileage out of this for years to come. You’ll hear about it until the end of time.”
    “And somehow she’d make it all about her. Every crisis any of us ever had is somehow all about her.” Shadows filled her gaze, a sadness that made him ache. She shook her head. “You know that about my family and you’d use it against me. That’s low, Ben. Even for you.”
    “Maybe, but I’m not wrong.” He steeled his resolve, because as much as he loved to rile her, causing her real pain sent knives into his soul. “You need a copilot. Driving in shifts means we won’t have to stop to rest. It’s safer. Be reasonable, Nora. Sitting beside me for a couple of days can’t be worse than dying in a fiery car accident. You’re a nurse. You’ve seen what a crash can do to the human body. Hell, you saw what it did to your youngest sister, and she managed to recover. There’s never a guarantee of that. And what if you hit someone else?”
    She blanched. “I’ll stop for the night somewhere in LA. I can still be there by tomorrow. I’ll be fine.”
    “Sorry, no deal.” He stabbed a finger at her. “I go too, or your mom hears about it.”
    “Now who’s being unreasonable?”
    “Twelve-hour shift,” he reminded her. “Tell me you’re not tired. You did just leave my sister’s house because you wanted to go home and get some sleep.”
    “Maybe that was an excuse to get away from you,” she retorted.
    “Are we going to stand here bickering or are we going to get on the highway? You have your options.”
    Her face crumpled a bit, her shoulders slumping. “Of all the shitty things you’ve said and done to me over the years, Ben, this one is the shittiest.”
    He wanted to apologize, but knew showing any weakness now wouldn’t serve him. So he kept his mouth shut and just arched an eyebrow, demanding she make a choice. He wasn’t sure what it said about him that she had to internally debate for a full minute whether her mother or he was lesser of the two evils.
    She closed her eyes, resignation filling her expression. “Fine.”
    Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he turned toward his MX-5. “My place first. You’re coming in with me while I pack, then we go to your place. We’ll hit the road after that.”
    “It’s faster if we go to our separate homes, pack, and I pick you up,” she said as he walked away.
    He snorted and didn’t bother glancing over his shoulder. “And give you the opportunity to leave me behind? Not happening, sweetheart.”
    “You’re being ridiculous,” she called, and he heard the slight squeak of her car door opening. “I do not need you along on this trip. I’m fully capable of—”
    “For someone who wants to save time, you seem to be wasting it by continuing to argue. My place first, you follow me.” He popped the lock on his car and pulled the door wide before he looked at her. “If I don’t see you tailgating me the whole way there, I will call your mother immediately. Is that clear?”
    Her teeth bared in what only an idiot would call a smile. “Imminently.”
    “Great. Let’s go. Don’t forget your passport.”
    “I loathe you,” she spat and ducked into her car, slamming the door hard.
    That was too bad.
    Within an hour, they were on the road, the GPS on his phone charting their progress toward Ensenada. That also meant he was in an enclosed space with the woman he’d been lusting after for most of his life. The smell of her light perfume filled his nostrils, and he had to force his gaze away. This would be the longest amount of time he’d ever spent with her.
    And he could feel irritation radiating off her, and the grip