“Not once AAA arrives.” The nice woman on the phone said forty-five minutes. I could listen to a few chapters until then.
“Damn. I’m right here Minx. I can give you a ride home.” He smiled but I could tell he was frustrated with me, probably because he thought I was playing games, but I really wasn’t.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll wait. I don’t want to leave my van here unattended.” That was part of the reason, anyway.
“Fine. I’ll wait with you and then you can let me take you out to dinner.” He flashed that panty-melting smile, and I squeezed my knees together, refusing to be moved by his gorgeous smile or those laughing eyes.
“No thanks. I have no itch that needs to be fucked,” I said pointedly.
He groaned and smacked the roof with his palm. “Dammit, Minx.”
Exactly what I had expected. Anger, not an apology. He probably didn’t owe me one because he didn’t understand why I wasn’t ready, but my stupid emotions didn’t get the memo, and they were well and truly offended. “You’ve done your duty by offering, Cash, so thank you.” Leaning against the headrest, I closed my eyes and hoped he would go away though I knew that was unlikely. Despite his harsh words to me last week, he was a good man.
“It’s not duty, Minx.”
“All the more reason for you to continue on your journey home.”
I heard the heavy footfalls of his boots walk away, but I realized he wanted me to hear him walk away. Any other time the man moved with the stealth of a ninja, but now he sounded like an old woman with a cane and a bad cough. I waited but the loud roar of the motorcycle never came. He was still here.
Damn him.
Finally, the AAA driver arrived and hooked my van up to the tow, promising it would end up at Mick’s place just as I had requested. “You got a ride?”
“If you could just take—”
“Yes, she does.” His words had the desired effect on the skinny gray-haired driver who shuffled back into the truck and pulled into traffic.
“I told you I don’t need your help. More to the point, I don’t want it.”
The bastard smiled. “Well, it looks like you’re stuck with it now. May as well agree to dinner, too.”
“I don’t need to agree to anything since you’re making all the choices, do I?” This. This was why I’d been keeping my distance from men. This loss of control left me feeling shaken and vulnerable, two things I fucking hated more than I hated the bitch who orchestrated my kidnapping.
“Minx.” I kept walking toward the bike, and he followed on my heels. “Minx, come on.” He sighed heavily, but I didn’t turn to face him because I didn’t want him to see how close I was to losing my shit. “If that’s really how you feel then.”
“Then what,” I asked without turning. “You’ve sent away the only other ride I had, so just forget it. Come on.” Fifteen minutes later the bike came to a stop again. Dinner, I guessed by our location. We both dismounted the bike and headed inside the greasy spoon diner that looked like a shithole compared to Black Betty’s. It was just called ‘Diner’, and the green pleather booths were more ripped than whole. Half the chairs were missing from the counter, and everything was covered in a layer of dirt. The thing I’d learned about these kinds of places was that they’re hit or miss. Despite the shitty outside, the food might actually be good.
“Hungry?”
“I guess.” We sat and Cash tried to catch my gaze, but I refused him. Not because I was mad, which I was, but because I needed to break this strange hold he had over me.
“You plan on being mad at me all night?”
I shrugged. “You’re a long way from Brently out here.”
He laughed and shook his head. “You know I do things other than sit around the clubhouse all day, right?”
I didn’t know, actually. No one ever told me shit. Hell, lately I hadn’t even been getting hours at the bar so no, I didn’t know. “Like what?”
“Me and a few buddies have a partnership in a franchise of dispensaries up and down the state, and we take turns providing security for the money runs.”
“An entrepreneur. Impressive.” I knew some of the club guys like Mick had businesses outside the club, and I assumed they all knew this shit could fall apart at any moment. Magnus had learned that lesson the hard way.
“Does it make you more interested?”
“No. But it makes me think that maybe I misjudged you.” We placed our orders with the middle-aged waitress, and I tried not to think too hard about his knees brushing against mine or the way his helmet had given him bedhead that only made him look hotter and sexier.
“You thought I was just some dumb biker”