I swallow. “I didn’t say you had.”
“And I didn’t say I’veneverstolen a car. Just not this one.”
Oh, god. I’m running away with a bad boy.
Oh, god. I’m running away with abad boy.
Maybe not the same kind of bad boy he was in high school, but still someone well outside my normal dating circles.
This is going to be fabulous.
I hesitate only the briefest moment before I open the door, shoo out the stray cat—he hasenoughcats, and this one has a clipped ear, indicating it’s wild and fixed—and slide in.
Theo doesn’t open his door.
He pulls a movie-star move and swings his legs over the side of the car, slides into the driver’s seat, takes a minute to unbutton his Hawaiian shirt all the way before buckling his seat belt over his dark jeans, and then punches the button to start the motor.
The car roars to life and makes my clit tingle.
Not. Good.
But I can ignore this.
I text Emma quickly.Turns out Theo actually DOES have gas. Have fun dancing! I’ve got this under control.
Theo looks at me. “Did you just tell my sister that I have gas?”
“Yes.”
Whyis he aiming the flirt grin at me again? “Good. She knows how bad I can stink. Add that I had sardines for lunch.”
And then he’s tucking his arm around the back of my seat while he looks behind us and backs the car out.
Like there’s not a backup camera right there in the dash.
A thrill zings through the rest of me.
I’m being a bad girl tonight.
For just one night.
For good reasons.
I am absolutely going to be that person I’ve always been told I shouldn’t want to be, but that person that I’ve wanted more and more to explore every single day of the past year.
“Where are we going?” I ask over the engine as Theo heads out of the parking lot.
“Does it matter?”
The question shouldn’t stump me, but it does.
And not because I don’t know the right answer.Nois clearly the right answer here.
But how often do I ever do things in my own life without purpose?
Never.
And that’s notwrong. But maybe it’s notenough.
