“That’s none of your business,” she says with a deliberately strained look. “Thanks for stopping by. You can go now.”
I can’t take my eyes off her. She takes my breath away. She’s so beautiful, so feisty, and I love the way she’s so desperately trying to hide the fact that her life is a train wreck right now. I want to cause the wreck. But I also want to fix the wreck, in my own perverse way. I want her to do as I tell her to do without me having to ask her twice. It’s so wrong, but so right at the same time.
I’m going to destroy this girl and I’m going to have fun doing it.
“Will you just get in the damn car,” I demand.
She shakes her head and water sprays around her shoulders. “No.”
“Give me one good reason why?”
Her gaze jumps from my mouth to my eyes and her frown descends even further. She looks genuinely confused as if she doesn’t understand the question. But I know for a fact that she does understand me by the way her throat just jumped a little.
“I could give you a dozen good reasons why. You’re an arrogant asshole who thinks he’s God’s gift to women, being the first one that pops to mind.”
“Fine, have it your way.” I shrug my shoulders, revving the engine.
I slide the window up a fraction of an inch, and move forward toward the street. I don’t have to sit here and listen to her talking shit about me. I’m just trying to be nice… well, you know what I mean. I may have an ulterior motive, but what do I care if she stands out in the pouring rain all day? I’ll get to her some other way. I’m willing to bide my time with this one.
“See ya round, Tink.”
I accelerate away from her.
“Wait!” she calls out.
I slam my foot on the brake and wait for her to catch up to me. I look at her through the sliver of open window. “May I help you?”
She chews her lower lip for a few seconds, licking the rain off her lips, and just like that, my cock twitches to life.
Fucking traitor.
She’s staring at me, weighing up her options. When I rev the engine again, making it clear I don’t have all day to waste while she makes up her mind, she takes a hesitant breath and then moves cautiously toward the Jeep.
“You’re not going to murder me, are you?”
“I’ll try my best,” I grunt.
Brinley glares at me with narrow eyes, and I don’t really blame her. I think there’s a part of me she’s genuinely afraid of. But it’s that unknown part that intrigues me the most. She seems to consider her options for a few more seconds.
“Okay,” she finally says hesitantly. “But just so you know, I really don’t want to. I just have no other choice right now.”
“Or…thank you. That’d work too?” I lean across to open the passenger door. “Put your guitar in the back. And try not to drip water all over the interior. I just got it back from the detailer and I don’t want you ruining it.”
Brinley does as I ask, surprisingly enough, sliding her guitar on the back seat, though she does shut the door a little firmly for my liking.
Climbing into the front seat, she turns to put her seat belt on, and despite the way I could wring her fucking neck for what she’s doing to me, I can’t help but notice just how soaked through she is.
I’m not a monster, after all.
I turn up the heat, turn down the radio, and then press my foot on the accelerator again until I’m out on the street and headed west across the city.
I close my eyes for a brief moment at the traffic light, inhaling the sweet apple scent of her shampoo, a heady mix of smells that makes my mouth water.
Brinley, on the other hand, makes a point of looking around inside my Jeep, front and back. She takes a deep breath, inhaling through her nose as if she’s smelling something herself, and then makes a kind of scoffing sound that does nothing to hide the mockery in her tone.
“What?” I ask.
“You drive an enormous, jacked-up black Jeep.”