Ah, who the hell was I kidding?
I was the one with somewhat shady dealings, seeing as how I was responsible for getting her reservation deleted so that I could take her to her final destination. The idea of finding out her room reservation so that I could have that canceled as well did pass through my mind.
“You’re right,” I responded. “But I can assure you, you’re in safe hands with me.” I held up both hands in a surrendering fashion.
She smirked but folded her arms across her chest.
I blanched, mentally chastising myself. Of course that move wouldn’t work. I knew how damn big I was. And Mia couldn’t be more than five-four, though her demeanor made her feel taller than that.
“How about this?” I pulled out my phone and held it up. “You take out your phone. Snap a photo of me and send it to whoever you want. I’ll give you my number, full name, and home address so your contact knows exactly who you’re traveling with.”
She squinted and gave me a wary look.
“You know you’ve done the same thing while going on a date with someone for the first time.”
“Oh, so this is a date now?” she asked.
“It can be whatever you want it to be.” Shit, where did that smoothness come from? I rarely talked more than two or three sentences to most people. This woman had me going far out of my comfort zone without her even trying.
“I have done it before,” she admitted. She held up her phone and snapped a couple of photos. “And I’m sending your information to my sister and my best friend.”
“Make sure you spell my name right. The last name is Prince.”
She eyed me before following instructions. I gave her all of my information, including the name of place where I was staying.
Her sister’s response was immediate.
Who the hell is that?I read the question before Mia started typing a reply.
“My rental’s right out here,” I told her.
She hesitated.
“You’re still not sure,” I guessed.
She shook her head as she bit her bottom lip. For a split moment, I wondered if she knew how fucking tempted she looked? More than that, I wondered if she knew the enormous amount of restraint I exhibited at that moment. Probably not, because if she had, she’d run as far away from me as possible. There would be no part of her that would even consider getting in the car with me.
“How about this?” I pulled out my phone again and dialed my father’s cell. “You better answer, old man,” I mumbled.
He picked up on the third ring. “You made it to your home away from home already?”
“Not quite. I need you to speak to someone for me,” I said.
“Listen, boy. You know I don’t like talking to people. Who is—”
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied. “This is Mia. I need you to tell her that she’s safe with me.” I handed the phone to Mia.
Her forehead wrinkled as the cutest look of confusion crossed her beautiful face. “Who’s this?”
“That’s my father. Say hello.”
“Wha– Hello?”
“Who’s this?” my father’s gravelly voice bellowed through the phone.
“Mia, I, uh, um … a friend of Brutus’.”
My lips dropped at that word,friend.It was too tame for what she was to me. But if asked to put a word to it, I couldn’t come up with one. So, I guessed friend was as appropriate a term as any.
