Warren is hot. There is no denying it. Unfortunately, he’s also well aware of that fact. I wonder if one of these friends coming over is a girlfriend. I bet she’s gorgeous. I bet she also has a Pavlovian response to the smell of fuel now too.
Luke clears his throat, and I snap my attention towards the end of the hallway where he’s standing, looking at me with amused annoyance.“You’re drooling,”Luke signs as he waltzes past me to grab his backpack.
“Shut up,”I fire back.He raises an eyebrow as he slings the backpack over his shoulder.
“No I was not!”Shit, was I?That’s the second time this morning I’ve felt all… wound up… because of Warren. I can’t go there. There’s no safety net with Warren. He’s too close, too gorgeous, too brooding, too intriguing. Plus there’s the wholeif he leaves, Willow goes into carething. That little fact alone is enough to wash my attraction away.
“Time to go, Will.” I gently buckle her into the car seat on top of the stroller, and we all funnel out of the apartment in silence.
We step out of the elevator and take the side exit out of the building.If I get a car within the next few months, we’ll have to fight over who gets the parking spot.I put Willow’s car seat in the back and strap her in. Luke sits next to her, and Warren slips into the passenger side.
I try to act casual as I get into the driver’s seat. His car is as sexy as he is—perhaps more so—I can’t ride Warren to the other side of town, after all.Do not go there, brain.
The car has a smooth, black leather interior, built-up stereo, and the driver’s seat tilted back to the heavens. Why do men always think the farther they sit from the steering wheel, the cooler they are?Why are they a little right?I make quick work of adjusting the seat and mirrors as Warren grins my way.
“Whenever you’re ready.” He huffs out a laugh at my expense. The electronic seat hums as it moves closer to the front. I fight the urge to flip him off as the seat stops at a comfortable distance for my short legs.
Warren’s car is far more powerful than my parents’ Mitsubishi I learned to drive in, so I may have pressed a little too hard on the gas pedal as we exited the parking lot. To his credit, he didn’t react other than a quick glance at the speedometer.
We drop Luke off first and watch him walk towards a group of friends outside the main set of doors of the school. “Those are the ones I saw him with—at the park,” I say.
Warren scratches his chin as he tilts to get a better view.
“They look relatively harmless,” I suggest, hoping to ease Warren’s furrowed brow. “He’s a good kid.” I send him my best encouraging smile, subtle but warm. Warren sighs before he starts to direct me to his work.
About ten minutes later, I pull into a mechanic’s garage at the end of an industrial road. Warren points to a parking space with a peace sign spray-painted onto the fence in front, and I pull in.
“LikeWar and Peace?” I ask. “That’s what they call you, right? War?”
He blinks rapidly before tilting his head to answer, but he’s interrupted by a double knock on my window. I glance quickly at Warren, who nods, before I roll it down.
“Well, hello.” An older man, probably around sixty, is standing next to the car, his body turned to the side. He has a long grey beard and is stout in stature.
“Hi,” I reply, looking back briefly towards the passenger seat, which is now vacant.
“I take it you’re the roommate?”
An awkward laugh finds its way out before Warren steps up next to the man. “Morning, Ram,” Warren says. Another nickname?I kinda want one.
“War,” Ram acknowledges Warren’s greeting, but his eyes shift between me and the back seat—where he focuses, a small smile falling under his thick beard and moustache. “I’m Ram. This is my shop.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Chloe.”
“Good to meet you, Chloe. Heard a lot about you.”
I look towards Warren.Heard a lot about me?Surely he’d hate to admit that he’s been talking about me… but Warren doesn’t react in the slightest, not even a little embarrassed.
“Belle!” Ram shouts, and I watch in the rearview mirror as a woman a similar age to his own steps out of the garage. She’s dressed head to toe in denim, and her bleach blond hair could land a plane. I instantly love her.
“Chloe doesn’t have all day, Ram,” Warren pipes up, but he looks resigned. Belle steps up next to Ram.
“Well, hello, darlin’.” Belle could be a Dolly Parton impersonator, in voice and body.
I smile so wide that my cheeks push into my eyes. “Hello, I’m Chloe.”
She nods and looks at the back seat, then towards Warren as she points to Willow. “And this must be?”
Warren nods and opens the car door, allowing her in. I truthfully thought that no one in his life would know we exist, let alone be excited to meet us.Orhave heard a lot about us.My heart flutters a little at that thought.
