Reluctantly, I reached around behind us and unlatched the car door. I stood close and she slid into the driver’s seat, and because I couldn’t not touch her one last time, I reached in to buckle the seatbelt around her.
“Drive safe,” I whispered and kissed her temple.
She sighed, and my gut tightened.
I watched her car until the taillights disappeared. One of these days, sooner rather than later, I wasn’t going to have to watch her drive away. She was going to be with me.
The distinct sound of heels clicking across the pavement broke into the spell Roxie had cast. I watched as someone familiar seemed to materialize out of the shadows along the side of the building.
Parked off to the side was a car I knew all too well, a car I paid for.
“The ink is barely dry on the divorce papers, and here you are, working on wife number five,” my ex said bitterly, stopping just several feet in front of me. “Are you going to stand there and deny you want her even after what I just saw?”
Aww fuck.
And tonight had been going so well.
11
Roxie
I could kiss him forever.
It was late. The roads were dark and practically empty as I drove home from the club. Everything was still wet from the heavy rainstorm earlier, but I barely noticed.
I couldn’t even worry about the guy who sat in the club tonight, the one whose stare seemed to burn a hole right through my back. All night it was hard to shake the feeling I was being watched. Every time I was out on the floor, taking orders and delivering drinks, the little hairs on the back of my neck would stand tall.
My eyes kept going to the man sitting alone, drinking beer. Every time I glanced his way, he appeared to be engrossed in his cell phone, but I had caught him once. Caught him staring at me, the intensity in his gaze making my skin crawl.
But then he went back to his phone, and I was left wondering if I was just being paranoid.
I’d seen him a couple times at the club, and each time he creeped me out. But he’d never done anything to make me think he was dangerous. In fact, he’d never even spoken to me.
But whatever. The creepy man in the bar was the last thing on my mind because everything in my head paled in comparison to Adam. I couldn’t stop reliving the kiss.
The. Kiss.
It played such a prominent role in my head I felt like it needed a title of its own. I had been so keyed up when I left his office that it took the rest of the night just to breathe normally again.
And then he walked me to my car.
And kissed me again.
I should have been scared out of my mind. Scared of my reaction to what happened between us tonight.
I knew better than to get tangled up with a man who would probably only hurt me. True, Adam had never been anything but good to me since I met him, but his track record told a different story.
He’d been married four times. Four. If he would marry and then divorce so easily, then it didn’t bode well for any kind of relationship we might have. And sure, if I were in any other kind of place in my life, maybe a casual fling would be okay.
But I wasn’t in that frame of mind. Hell, who was I kidding? I never would be. I put everything I had into my relationship with Craig. I made excuses for him, I blamed myself, and I basically tried way too hard to make it work with him even when I should have walked away.
Deep down I was a relationship kind of girl. Deep down I craved that one person who would always be there. That one person who would always love me no matter what.
While my heart whispered—hoped—it might be Adam, my brain told me to get real.
It was so hard thinking with my head when my heart was involved.
A pair of headlights bobbed in the rearview mirror, momentarily distracting me. I glanced at the car that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
It was red.
It looked sporty.
I thought about the gas station before work, about Craig and the car I’d seen him drive away in. A funny feeling unfurled in my gut, making my nerve endings sizzle with warning.
It couldn’t be.
All thoughts of Adam, our kisses, and my final dance earlier tonight fled my brain. Adrenaline began to flood my system. I knew I shouldn’t be scared. I was probably overreacting. But I couldn’t help it. I was out alone in the dark, the road was almost empty, and a car that looked suspiciously like the one Craig had been driving was following along behind me.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel, squeezing until it was almost painful. My back stiffened and my legs locked up, squeezing together from the knees up. As I drove, I glanced in the rearview mirror almost obsessively.
The car was just driving along behind me. It wasn’t tailing me. It wasn’t driving erratically. There was no reason for me to believe I was in danger.
I came to an intersection up ahead. On impulse, I braked and swerved into the left turning lane. This wasn’t my road; it wasn’t my turn or my neighborhood. But I could go down this road, then loop around and catch this main street again to take me on to my apartment.
My blinker seemed incredibly loud as I made the turn onto the street.
The red car followed.
As it turned, I got a better glimpse at the vehicle. It was a two-seater sports car. The dark shadow of a single driver in the front made my pulse spike.
“Shit,” I muttered. “Don’t panic,” I told myself.
Then I laughed.
I was totally panicking right now.
I went down the street, passing darkened houses and businesses already closed for the night. As I neared the back of a lit-up gas station, I glanced up to see the car still just behind me. It was closer than it had been on the main road. Close enough that if I slammed on my brakes, he would hit me.
Impulsively, I swerved into the parking lot of the gas station, my tires making a loud screeching sound on the pavement. As I furiously spun the steering wheel and pointed my car into the front of the lot, I glanced out the back window.
The red sportster halted completely, having overshot the turn into the lot. The car reversed and then turned to follow me.
Okay. He was totally following me.
I hit the gas, ripping through the lot, a nearby car blaring its horn at me as I sped, but I didn’t slow down. Instead, I pulled out in front of an oncoming car and back onto the main street. My place was only minutes away. Maybe if I sped and drove crazy, he would back off.
And if he didn’t…
Well, then I’d get pulled over by the cops and that would totally scare him away.
I made it out onto the main road and through a nearby light without any sign of the other car. I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back into the seat, relaxing just a little. My arms and legs began to shake from the adrenaline that had flooded my body.