Chapter Eight
JULIE
Had I offended him? He looked bemused, but busied himself with starting the engine, and getting the heating on. The cool air that hit us at first made us both gasp, and we rushed to angle the blowers away from us.
“Sorry. It’ll warm up in a minute. I need to wait for the ice to clear from the windscreen.” Wow. He was right. There was a fine film of ice on the windows. For the short time that he’d been parked here, that was really damn scary. I hated this freezing time of year. Winter sucks, when you’re small like me. It’s damn near impossible to stay warm. You know, without a huge bear of a man to snuggle with.
Spoken like a true slut. Just keep whoring yourself out to any older man who’ll have you.
I shivered under the recrimination of my own thoughts. Once again, he misunderstood my behaviour.
“Bloody hell. You’re freezing. Don’t you have gloves?” I rubbed my hands together, shaking my head.
“Left them at work, in my rush to get out to see Mr Clarke.”
He reached out. “May I?” I didn’t know what he was asking, but it was still a huge yes. I nodded, and he took my hands, pressing them together between his own. His hands were quite a bit warmer than mine. He rubbed them gently over mine.
“Wow. How are your hands so bloody warm?”
He shrugged, shooting me a grin. “I’m just warm and cuddly, I guess.” I had this burning urge to climb into his lap, and let him warm me with his entire body.
“So… you called me a big bad something. Can’t be that awful, since you’re trusting me to hold your hands. More than that, you’re trusting me to drive you home. To know your address.”
I suddenly realised what a stupid, moronic thing I was doing. I tried to pull my hands away and he groaned, tightening his grip.
“I wasn’t trying to scare you. Please. Don’t panic. I’m really not someone you need to be afraid of. Ask anyone who knows me. Actually, don’t do that. Most of them scare me.”
I giggled, feeling strangely comfortable with him again. “So you’re not a big bad biker then?”
He smirked. “Well… I have a fucking awesome motorcycle, and a leather jacket… but no, I think I’m more of a midlife crisis kind of man. I… it was part of a fresh start.”
There was a story there. That much was certain. I wanted to know everything.
He cleared his throat.
“Uh… the car’s warming up. Not bad for the crappy old bag of spanners that it is.”
I smiled. “You say the funniest things. It seems like a really nice car.”
It wasn’t, but I was raised to be polite. Courteous.
And yet somehow, you turned into a pathetic whore.
I felt a wave of shame at that thought. Maybe that was true.
“Hey. Whatever upset you about the car, don’t worry. It’s a bag of shit, and as soon as it stops running, it’s scrap metal. Normally I’d use the bike, but it was too icy to risk it. Especially after a beer earlier.”
I felt a chill almost instantly, as he suddenly released my hands, and ran the wipers, checking the windows were clearing.
“Looks like we’re good to go.” He reversed out of the parking space, and then put the car in drive, and eased forward.
“You know, my psychic powers are on the fritz right now.”
I frowned at him, his profile looking so fucking manly and protective.
“I don’t understand.”
He coasted to a halt, at the entrance to the car park.