She peeked in her rearview mirror. “You don’t seem like a geek.”
He folded his big arms over his chest. “We come in all shapes.”
“I suppose so.”
He yawned, showing off his teeth. “I do like being driven around by you, Anne.”
Her heart picked up, though she cautioned it not to. Twice now she’d picked him up and witnessed women hanging off of him. He was a ladies’ man. Flirtation was as natural to him as breathing.
They went over a pothole, and he groaned. “Sorry,” she murmured.
“Don’t apologize. I’m sorry. I must have drank too much tonight.”
She could sympathize. Her inability to process alcohol was legendary, though she assumed he’d drank more than her standard single glass of wine.
“Don’t worry. I won’t make a mess in your car, I promise.”
“I’m not worried.”
She split her attention between him in her rearview mirror and the road in front of her. When he rolled his neck, she cleared her throat. “Rough week?”
His laugh was without humor. “I’ve had better.”
Since he’d spent at least two days during the week with her, she was a little insulted. She made sure to keep her voice deepened an octave. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He was silent for a moment. “Have you ever wanted something you couldn’t have?”
Her heart thudded. It was like he’d peeked inside her soul and found the one sentence that described her life.
She had the money to buy everything, but the things she wanted couldn’t be bought. Sometimes she felt like she was starving, even when she was eating four-course meals.
The ease with which she could buy four-course meals was why she didn’t complain. She didn’t face the challenges a lot of people faced. But yes. There were many things she’d wanted, craved, even, and she couldn’t have. “Yes,” she whispered, then said it louder. “Yes. I have.”
“I guess we all have.”
She’d picked out chairs and cake and discussed flowers with this man over the past month. In the light of day, Eve would have never asked an intrusive follow-up question. Ladies didn’t intrude.
But it was dark now. She wasn’t Eve. She could ask. “What is it you want?”
He was silent.
She overtook another car, though she resisted the urge to speed easily. Speeding now meant she’d get him home quicker. “The thing you want—what’s stopping you from getting it? Is it you, or is it someone else?”
“Both, I suppose.”
She tried to think of what her therapist or her friend Madison would say. “You can change your behavior. You can’t change someone else’s.”
“Hmm.”
She glanced in the rearview mirror. His eyes were closed, head back. She thought he might be asleep, but instead he spoke. “I’m going on a trip tomorrow.”
Her fingers clenched around the steering wheel. “That’s nice.” Her heart stopped, then started up again at the reminder of how dangerous this was. In a week, she was going to be standing opposite this man at an altar. Hell, starting tomorrow, she was going to be spending the week with him in a not-nearly-large-enough estate four hours away from Rockville. The home they’d rented wasn’t far from where they’d all used to vacation growing up. She knew exactly how remote it was.
If Gabe recognized her as his friendly neighborhood Ryde driver...
“Maybe I’ll find what I’m looking for there.”
If what you’re looking for is a girl you treat like a little sister who has had a massive crush on you forever, then you can find her right here, right now, sir.
