She smiles coyly. “Call me Cara.”
“Welcome aboard, Cara!”
“This is my first ride with you. Anything I should know?”
“Just remember to wear your seat belt.”
Two miles—fingers crossed, that should be six minutes, max.
I open the door for her, studiously ignoring her hand flitting over mine, her hip brushing against me as she slides into the back seat.Hurry up and get your legs in, girl. Let’s get moving.
I exchange a look with Firebird as I head back around the Dodge, and she pouts at me. Yup—she’s definitely got the measure of our passenger. I had warned her not to make presumptions, but in this particular case, she’d have been fine to judge away. SexyBikini isthisclose to stripping for me, and I’m getting a real kick out of the look on my trainee’s face.
I rev the engine and pull out, and once we’re cruising, I glance in the rearview mirror.
“Cara, this is Amy Hitman. She’s training to be a Campus Driver—if all goes according to plan, she’ll be joining the team in September.”
A sneer flits over her face. “A girl?”
Amy is clenching her fists, but at least she hasn’t whipped around and tried to bite Cara’s face off, or anything.Gold star for effort.
“That’s cute,” Cara adds. “Are you sitting in on all of Lewis’s trips?”
I see where she’s going with this, and I curse under my breath. She’s shredded all my groundwork in two seconds flat. Every now and then, a passenger will try to flirt with me, but it’s pretty rare—and while I usuallylovethat about my job, today it’s making me feel incredibly awkward.Of course it would have to happen this one particular time—of course it would.
I shoot Amy a look. She’s staring straight ahead, so I clear my throat and elbow her in the side.
“Every single one of them,” she drawls, smirking as a sigh drifts over from the back seat.
A silence falls over the car, Cara’s frustration and Amy’s tension fizzing somewhere in the background, my own stress levels firing hard. My arm is so close to Amy’s, I can feel the warmth rising off her skin, and I resist the temptation to reach over and stroke her wrist,fighting the urge to check out her thighs. This is the hardest trip I’ve ever had.
When we reach our final destination, Cara mutters a bye and slams the car door shut, and though according to protocol I should be hopping out to join her on the sidewalk, all I can manage is a rushed “See ya around” and a quick wave, before screeching off.
I know exactly where to take Amy now—a spot close by, nestled in the woods where I like to run. Quiet during winter, and perfect for what I have in mind.
“Well, that was very insightful,” Amy says cheerily. “What are the takeaways from that experience?”
“That charm isn’t something you can learn, I guess.” I shrug. “I just radiate the stuff, as you saw back there.”
“Charm?” She snorts. “You mean the part where you nearly amputated her with the back door?”
“I had urgent business to attend to, in case you forgot.”
“I didn’t forget.”
Music to my ears.
I weave through the trees until we reach a dead end, flinging off my seat belt and yanking on the lever to slide my seat back.
Amy glances around. “This is Dr. Conley’s miracle cure? Fresh, forest air?”
“Get over here, Firebird.” I pat my lap, but she shakes her head.
“Are you fuckingkiddingme? You think you can say jump, and I’ll ask how high?”
“I know, I know… Total disgrace, dude.” I sigh. “But I know you like it just as much as I do.”
A full minute of silence slopes by as we stare each other down.
