When the Bus Stopped

Chapter 15

Her tummy rumbled audibly. She opened the bag and peered in. "Cheezels?" Ripping the packet open she stuck one on each of her digits and wriggled her fingers watching the Cheezels bang together. Lucy began nibbling them off. "Childhood habit," she apologized when she noticed his gaze on her.

She could see a soft expression in his eyes. It was making her feel more than slightly unsettled. Her heart started hammering against her ribs. He was so contrary. In the short space of time that they'd been parked by the side of the road he'd made her feel like the most desirable and interesting woman he'd ever set eyes on. And yet she knew it would only be a space of minutes before they were back to bickering at each other.

Pointedly she turned her head towards the cottage in front of her and watched it quietly. "Who lives in tiny little houses like that anyway?" She asked.

"Murdering rapists," Daniello replied. He scooped a beer out of the bag which she'd now put on the car floor. "Want one?"

"Is that allowed when you are on the job?"

"It probably isn't smiled on. Do you want one?"

"No thanks," she said with a prim voice.

Daniello cracked it open and took a long drink. His eyes were trained on her over the top of his beer.

The tension in the car was fraught from all his intense staring. She had to change the subject. "When I was a kid I always thought Cheezels tasted better when I ate them like this," Lucy said. "It seems I was right."

"Really?" Daniello caught one of her hands and nibbled a Cheezel off her finger. She could feel his soft warm lips against her skin. Lucy felt like the victim of a lightning strike, the zap of electricity shocked her to the core. Her mouth gaped open in shock. Swallowing the Cheezel Daniello sucked the crumbs off her finger.

"Yup," he agreed. "They do taste better." He sat back and she could see that he was assessing the situation. Waiting to see if she'd manage to kick him in the gonads. But there was no fight in her body, except for the attempt to stop her cheeks from flaming any more red than humanly possible.

"May I kiss you, Lucy?" He asked.

Kiss her? Did she have to answer that? What if her voice broke like a pre-pubescent boy? What's if she struggled to articulate that one syllable word and ended up choking on a chip and having to be carted off to an emergency room? And on her clipboard at the foot of her hospital bed would be: aging spinster choked on chip due to hormones.

She usually wouldn't be so dramatic but the last day had been full of more lows than highs. "I don't know."

Her cheeks reddened more if that was possible.

"I'm sorry." He thudded his head onto the steering wheel. "I'm being a jerk again."

Lucy's hand reached out and touched his face. "No, you're not. I'm just -" she struggled to say it aloud. I'm just scared. "Just kiss me. I promise I won't kick."

He didn't need any more invitation. Clasping her hand in his he reached his free arm out and cupped the nape of her neck to draw her face forward. When their lips touched she could smell his cologne mixed with the hint of rose oil which she'd dabbed on her wrists earlier. He placed her hand on his chest, Lucy could feel his heart racing. "This is how you make me feel," he groaned onto her lips.

"I didn't realize," she whispered in awe. She didn't realize that he felt half as scared as she did.

Then their lips were together again and his strong, masculine torso was crushed up next to hers. She could feel Daniello's hands creeping up her shirt, caressing her stomach and then up further toward her-

"Turn left and then make a you turn," a stern woman spoke from the shadows.

"What?" Lucy sat back in horror. Gazing around in confusion.

"Sorry, that's my GPS. It wasn't working so well earlier... I forgot to turn it off. I guess it has been processing since then."

"Oh! I thought you had some kind of gadget to help you with the ladies as well. That dirty cow is obviously hankering for you to do a 69er. I must say there is not bucket of cold water that works as well as having a monotoned woman directing you sexually."

He found his beer from the drink holder in the dash of his car and took a few gulps. "Ahhhhhhh. Tough day."

"Really?" Lucy looked surprised. "Because not much is happening here, except for – well..." she drifted off. Shamefaced.

"I think I saw something in the house," Daniello said in interest. She could tell that he was trying to change the subject quickly and she didn't want to get in the way of that.

Sitting forward in her seat Lucy watched the house intensely. "Car. Night time. Lights inside the house come on," she narrated. Wriggling her brows at Daniello. "Door opens." As the words fell from her lips the front door of the white cottage opened slightly and a man slipped out and looked over both shoulders.

"Oh shit! The door has opened. Daniello! That is him! That is the perv, have you got your handcuffs?"

"I can't arrest him. I have to follow him... see where he puts the body."

The man, not noticing the tension and near hysteria in the car parked nearby, locked the door and hurried down the path to a car which had just pulled up nearby.

"Daniello!" Lucy barked as she buckled her seatbelt. "After him!"