Drew knew it would have been within his rights to tell her that it was none of her business, and she would likely back off. After all, she’d had two grandmothers who considered themselves etiquette queens. So she’d know that being nosy was considered bad manners.
Still, he didn’t really have a problem telling her what she wanted to know. He was who he was and had no intention of changing. “I got run out of Charlotte because I have a problem leaving women alone, especially when they won’t leave me alone.”
She stared at him, a little too long to his way of thinking, so he asked, “Anything else you want to know?”
“You’re joking, right?”
“About what?”
“As to why you can’t visit your family for the holidays in Charlotte.”
“No, I’m not kidding.”
She frowned. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Who gave this order? The mayor, the governor, the sheriff?”
“None of those.”
“Then who?”
“Not who, but what -the barrel of a gun. I pissed off some of the women I was seeing, and they got mad and threatened my life.”
“They? How many are you talking about?”
“Last time I counted, five.”
“Five? Just how many women were you involved with at one given time?”
“Not sure. I never kept count.”
“But you’re saying all those women thought you were their boyfriend?”
“I never told them I was, Eden. In fact, I made sure they understood that I wasn’t. I was someone they could have a good time with, satisfy that ache and scratch that itch. Like me, they were single and old enough to do as they pleased. However, it seemed our time together meant more to those five than it should have. They became possessive, then obsessive, and finally aggressive. When I refused to see them again, they lost it, shooting up my house a few times.”
She stared at him for a long moment, then said, “You’re speaking of those incidents rather calmly, Drew.”
He shrugged and then smiled over at her. “I’m not the hysterical type.”
She frowned. “You find humor in this?”
Drew frowned as well. “There’s nothing funny about wanting to spend Christmas with your family, but knowing you can’t because it might put your family in danger. I never lie to the women I sleep with. I explain the score, and if they still want to play after I break it down to them, then it’s all good. But if they say they understand and decide to play by another set of rules after sharing my bed, then that’s not my fault.”
“Evidently, they think it is. Maybe you shouldn’t mess around with several women at one time, even if you have schooled them on what or what not to expect. I recommend a private meeting with the five of them -individually, of course. I would even suggest that both your attorneys are present. No one should be allowed to become violent after a breakup. That’s unheard of.”
Drew found it incredulous that he was being given advice by a woman nine years his junior, someone who looked no older than seventeen, a woman on the run from her own father because she didn’t want to be controlled. Go figure. It was his choice to be a die-hard womanizer, one who never intended to marry or populate the earth with children. Hell, he answered to his trucker handle, Casanova, proudly. He loved the life he lived and lived the life he loved. He never intended to get shackled to a demanding wife. Five demanding ex-bedmates were bad enough. But at least he could walk away. If he’d been married to any of them, he wouldn’t have been able to. Marriage was something he wanted no part of.
When the cab of the truck got quiet, he figured she was expecting him to say something, so he did. “Thanks for the advice.”
She smiled, and he almost choked on the iced tea he had been sipping. Her smile, combined with those mesmerizing green eyes, caught him off guard for a second. He hadn’t been expecting the impact.
“I’m glad you’re thinking about taking my advice,” she said.
Taking her advice? He would do no such thing. However, he wouldn’t tell her that -at least not yet. He much preferred seeing her smile to her frown. At that moment, his CB radio sounded.
“Breaker 1-9. This is Snowman. Beware. Night construction between Exits 10 and 14 on SR 450. Plenty of Smokey Bears in the area.”
“What was he saying, Drew?”
He glanced over at Eden. “Truckers’ lingo. That’s how truckers communicate with each other. Snowman is his handle, and Smokey Bear is a state trooper. He’s letting me know road construction is going on, and he’s pinpointed the exact area. He’s also letting me know state troopers are out.”
