Unchained Instinct ( Complete)

Chapter 76

“Rogue!”

Gambit’s voice sounded in Rogue’s ear, drawing her up from a doze. The car swerved dangerously and Rogue felt Gambit’s foot stomping down, grazing her own with his effort to hit the brake from the passenger seat.

She came awake and realized she was at the wheel.

Taking control of the vehicle once more, Rogue eased the Roadster over to the shoulder of the road and stopped.

“Good god, chere!” Gambit shouted, obviously worked up over nearly running into that ditch they’d talked about figuratively not so long ago. “That’s it! We gonna find a place ta get a few hours rest.”

Rogue opened her mouth to speak, but the look on Gambit’s face told her to shut it again.

“No arguin’, girl. Neither of us can keep this up without a little shut eye whether ya like it or not.”

“Okay,” Rogue agreed. And she was tired. Bone tired. Darkness would be on them again in a couple of hours and still they hadn’t seen Pietro.

What if they’d somehow missed a turn or taken the wrong road in the first place? They knew they were following Kurt’s and Logan’s route, but did that mean it was Pietro’s? Had he met up with Mystique yet?

Gambit was out of the car and coming around to the driver side. “Com’on, chere. Move over. Gambit drivin’.”

“Sorry,” Rogue said, climbing into the passenger seat. “Ah didn’t mean ta doze off.”

Gambit looked over at her and his gaze softened. “Ah know. Ya just put the fear in me and Ah’m too tired to keep this up without some rest.”

She nodded and put on her seat belt.

A few miles down the road a nice little two story inn came into view and Gambit wheeled in and parked.

He climbed out and Rogue as well. She followed him into the lobby decorated in outdoor scenes of wildlife and fishing.

“Is this a fishin’ lodge?” she asked.

“Ah don’t know, chere. And Ah don’t rightly care as long as it got beds and a private bath with hot runnin’ water.”

An older woman came out of a back office and offered them a pleasant smile. “Do you have reservations?”

“Ah’m afraid not, mon chere,” Gambit offered, still wearing his dark shades, but his voice held warmth and exuded that something Rogue had yet to identify that seemed to work miracles...particularly on women. “We just a couple of road weary travelers seekin’ a night’s rest.”

The woman’s smile turned from business like to sympathetic. “Well...I’m not sure what we have available. We usually don’t have any openings without reservation.”

Gambit leaned on the counter. “It would only be for the one night. We nearly ran off the road a few miles back from fatigue.”

“Oh my,” the woman sighed and patted her hair into place. “You shouldn’t be driving when you’re that tired.”

“Sage advice, mademoiselle.”

That got another soft smile from the woman.

“I’m certain I can find something, it being the middle of the week and just for one night.” She booted up her computer and scanned her booking files. “Yes, here we go. A nice king size bed on the second floor. Room 26.”

“King size bed?” Rogue said, grabbing hold of Gambit’s arm in protest.

“That all they got, mon ami,” Gambit said in a hushed voice. “Be happy they have anythin’.”

Rogue crossed her arms and leaned her back against the counter.

How in the world would they make that work?

Gambit paid in cash and they gathered their bags and headed up the stairs. Room 26 was near the end of one long hallway. They found more of that fishing lodge look, even a bedside lamp with a trout carved into it’s wooden base.

“Ah’ve slept in worse,” Gambit offered and pulled off his shades. He pushed on the mattress. “Feel pretty comfortable.”

“We gotta make some rules, Cajun,” Rogue said, not yet leaving the entrance way. She fixed her companion with a stern gaze, her hands on her hips hoping to look determined. Yet the thought of being in bed alone with Gambit made her heart flip and flop like the trout on the lamp. “Ah can’t have ya goin’ inta a coma cause Ah accidently touched ya in the night.”

Gambit fell onto the bed and leaned up on his elbows. “Don’t fret, mon petite chere. All will work out jus’ fine.”

“Work out?” She continued to stare at him, but all Gambit did was lay back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. He let out a sigh and crossed his feet at the ankles. He used his toes to pull off his shoes and kicked them over the side of the bed.

“Awww, hell,” Rogue finally said and threw her hands up in acquiescence.

“Com’on over and relax, chere. You be as tired as me...maybe more. The way that mind a your’s has been workin’ overtime, Ah’d think ya plum exhausted.”

Rogue went, slipping off her own shoes and tentatively sitting on the bed. Gambit looked over at her and a slow smile crept across his mouth.

“Don’t go gettin’ any ideas, Gumbo,” Rogue said, but lay back and let her body relax into the softness of fluffy pillows and cotton bedspread resplendent with prancing deer and little woodland creatures.

Little by little, Rogue felt her body unwinding, cramped muscles and stiff joints from riding too long loosening. She glanced aside and Gambit’s eyes were closed and a low deep breath suggested he had drifted off to sleep.

She watched the rise and fall of his chest, let her gaze roam over his handsome face. He needed a shave, but otherwise, Rogue couldn’t remember ever knowing a man quite as good looking as Remy Lebeau. She wonder if she could talk him into shaving off that little soul patch beneath his lower lip. It’s presence was nothing but a distraction from Remy’s sculpted features.

Rogue lay back and stared up at the dim ceiling wondering if she was a complete fool for chasing after Pietro or if brilliantly intuit in her fears that Pietro and Mystique were intending no good towards Logan and Kurt.

Her thoughts grew fuzzy with fatigue and finally, Rogue let out an audible sigh, closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.