Fantastic. She was stuck there. She couldn’t drive off because her car wouldn’t start, and she couldn’t open the door or roll down the window because then he won.
Like you’re winning now? She shivered a little. How long did she think she was going to sit there in the dark and no warmth in her car? Yeah. She was totally the winner in this. With a sigh, she reached over and rolled down her window.
“Problem?”
She smiled brightly. “Not at all. I just like to sit in my car sometimes. Ponder life. It’s peaceful, you know. At least until someone comes along and knocks on the window and frightens the life out of me. You’re giving me gray hairs, you know?”
“Somehow, I think it’s the other way around,” he said dryly. “Not very safe, sitting in your car in the dark.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” she replied sweetly. “You never know what sort of degenerate might approach you.”
“Degenerate, am I? It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever been called.”
“I’ll bet,” she replied.
“But I can’t let you sit out here all night. Makes security nervous.”
“They called you?”
“Yep.”
“Over me sitting in my car for five minutes?” she asked skeptically.
“This is my building.”
That might have sounded plausible, except she knew he had several offices across the globe. No way security was alerting him about every little thing going on at all the buildings he owned.
“And you’ve been here thirty minutes, not five.”
Crap.
“Sorry to disturb your night, if you want to continue on I can leave.”
She needed to get rid of him, so she could figure out where the closest bus stop was. She hoped like hell she didn’t have to walk far. If she could have afforded a taxi she would have called one.
“Turn the car on.”
“Pardon?”
She glanced up at him. What was he even doing here? Why didn’t he just send one of the guards out? Then she could have asked them how to find a bus stop. No way she was asking him.
It would be an admission that she didn’t hav
e her life together. That she wasn’t strong enough or smart enough.
Why can’t you be more like your sister, Kinley? She’s so smart and beautiful. Poor Kinley. You’re nothing like Char, are you?
Kinley banished the thoughts from her head. Enough with the self-pity. She’d had years to come to terms with the fact she had to live in Char’s shadow. But she didn’t need to be reminded right now that Char had inherited their mother’s good looks and their dad’s brains. While Kinley . . . well, best not to go there, she was already feeling depressed enough.
“You heard me.” There was a warning note in his voice she couldn’t ignore.
She turned the key once more.
Clunk.
The universal noise for “your car is fucked.”
“That doesn’t sound like you’re driving anywhere tonight,” he told her. “Have you called for roadside assistance?”