“No, I haven’t.” Be polite, Kinley.
“Your boyfriend?”
She wasn’t even certain she had a boyfriend any longer so that was the last thing she was going to do.
“He’s busy tonight.”
“That so? If you were mine and you broke down and didn’t call me—” He broke off what he’d been about to say. Exactly what would he do if she were his? And why was she so curious to find out? “Of course, if were you mine you wouldn’t be driving on your own this late at night.”
“I wouldn’t?”
“Certainly not. It’s far too dangerous.”
Dangerous? Was this guy for real?
She drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. “I’m beginning to understand why you’re single,” she muttered. She knew he was arrogant and bossy, but the man was kind of crazy as well.
“Pardon?” he asked in a low voice.
A dictator who was really good at intimidation.
She swallowed heavily.
“If you’re not going to call your boyfriend or roadside assistance then why were you just sitting here? Were you hoping it would magically fix itself?”
Pretty much.
“Get out. I’ll give you a ride home. You can get someone to tow it tomorrow.”
Who she would get to do that, she had no idea, but she’d figure that out in the morning. One problem at a time.
Getting into a car with him would be a bad decision. The more she was around him, the more he seemed to think he had some say in her life. But how else was she going to get home?
He reached through the car window and unlocked the door before opening it. “Out. Now.”
She glared up at him. “What? No please?”
“Stop playing around, Kinley. Either you accept a ride home from me or I’ll call you a taxi, ride home with you in the taxi then take the same taxi back here.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Exactly. So, get out of your car and get your butt into mine.”
She climbed out of the car with a huff. She would have kept arguing but she got the impression that would be pointless. He wasn’t the type of man to back down once he’d made up his mind about something, and she really just wanted to get home, dive under the covers, and not come back out for at least a year.
She sighed then shut the door, locking it. “Fine, you can give me a ride home.”
“Why, thank you. So gracious,” he replied sarcastically. “You do realize I’ve never had to work this hard to get someone to accept a kind gesture from me before. I should have known you’d be difficult.”
She decided to ignore that insult. He wasn’t exactly easy to deal with himself. “You offer strange women rides home in your car often?” she asked as she followed him back towards the building. He didn’t go towards the front entrance. Instead he headed towards a gray door at the side of the building. A keypad was mounted on the wall next to the door, and he quickly entered a number into it. When they walked in she was surprised to find an entranceway with slate floors and cream walls. There was an elevator, also with another keypad, next to it.
“Like Fort Knox around here,” she commented as he put another code in.
“I take safety seriously.”
They entered the elevator, and it descended swiftly.
“Is this your private elevator?” Seemed a bit extravagant, but, then, he was rich. She’d done a bit of googling on him, and the man was even more loaded that she’d first thought.