She looked back down at her feet but not before he caught her look of guilt. Gone was that feisty woman caught in the window. Back was the fragile woman that looked like a summer wind would knock her over. He didn’t like it one bit. “I…”
“Have I tried hurting you?”
“No,” She mumbled.
“Have I said anything to make you think I would?”
“No,”
“Then why? You have no idea where we are. It doesn’t look like you have a phone or a wallet. Do you know what could happen to you walking alone at night dressed like that?” He had to take another step back from her. Not because he worried about hurting her. He would never lay a hand on a woman. He was just worried and his voice rose.
The last thing he wanted was her to fear him more than she already did. Just the thought of something befalling her made him loose his mind.
Calm, he reminded himself.
Shay didn’t answer but nodded her head.
“Then why?” Why risk herself.
“I just got scared after the fire. I wasn’t thinking.”
Oh she played the damsel in distress beautifully. No one would question she was scared she was playing into it. A normal person wouldn’t question her. There was just one problem. He wasn’t a normal person. He was trained to read people and situations. She was lying. He didn’t know how he knew but she was.
Shay wasn’t giving any tells away. She wasn’t doing any nervous twitches besides keeping her eyes averted from his. Probably because she knew he would read through those lies.
“Is that why you were hiding in the back of my car?”
“I didn’t know it was yours.”
“But why hide in someone else’s car. Did you go to the club with someone?”
Now she started shuffling from foot to foot. Even her body tensed. He could tell by her body language she was trying to come up with another lie. “I did, but we got separated.”
Drew wanted to press her and call her lie but crowding her in the bathroom wasn’t going to get him answers. “Well, why don’t you come out to the dining room and you can call them.”
“It’s alright. It’s late. I’ll just call a cab and go home.”
“And how do you plan to pay for one?” She didn’t have a ready answer for that. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
She knew she was stuck.
“I don’t know about you but I’m hungry. I’m going to make some food. Feel free to come out or stay here.”
She looked up at him finally. “I thought you were going to take me home.”
“I plan on it. I just never said when.” He planned on it being a joke but her face paled to a ghostly white. Shit, he really was an idiot around women. He didn’t know why he was bothering to be funny. No one thought he was. He thought it would be an ice breaker.
Instead of digging himself an even deeper hole Drew retreated to the kitchen and made himself busy. He would never call himself a chef but even he could make eggs and bacon. With the luck he was having night, she would turn out to be a vegetarian.
He tried not to show how happy he was when he saw Shay come down the hall. She sat down at the dining room table,probably to keep some distance between them. He liked seeing her in his clothes. They were a little big on her but since she was only a few inches shorter they weren’t that baggy. He bet they smelled like jasmine now. His body reacted to the thought.
He mentally shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for that.
“So what do you do Shay?” He asked, trying to distract himself from thinking about her smell and being in his clothes.
“Do?”
“Yeah, do you work, go to school?”
