Page 12 of When We Had Forever
It’s hard to say. Mostly, to climb into this car alongside a perfectly normal human, albeit one with a distractingly firm body and nice eyes.
I did not expect to feel like I’d strayed too close to a downed power line, or like Michael Drake makes an entire car’s worth of air sizzle just by existing. I didn’t expect him to use words likealtruist, or remember details about me most people never would’ve noticed in the first place.
“Someone less...arresting, maybe?”
“Arresting?” His eyes spark. “You think I’m arresting?”
Well. To hell with it. “Yep. I’m pretty sure that’s the exact word I’m looking for.”
He flashes me a look of appreciation. “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me that before.Arresting. I might like that as much as I like your name.”
“In that case, you’re welcome.”
He smiles sidelong, as if confirming something he already suspected. “You know, it’s funny, because when we met yesterday, I could’ve used the same word for you.”
I give him a narrow look. “Are you teasing me again?”
“When did I tease you the first time?”
I lower my brows and glare, which earns me a spirited laugh.
“Okay, okay,” he says. “But really. When you walked by me yesterday, it was like...I don’t know. Something I’ve never felt before. This tingle started in my head, then went down through my chest. It was almost like I recognized you. Or like I’d been terrified about your safety for a long time, then saw you walking down the street, perfectly fine. It was that sense of relief, almost, the kind that goes so deep it’s like your bones sigh. Seeing you was this overwhelming experience that had nothing to do with what I was looking at. It was...disturbingly powerful, actually.Arresting.”
My jaw slackens. He delivers all this like he’s telling me about something that happened at the grocery store. No hesitation or coquettishness. Just utter, transparent candor. “All that happened just when you looked at me?”
“Yeah. I mean, I was listening to what you were saying, too, which might’ve had something to do with it. But whatever that feeling was, I knew I had to talk to you. If you hadn’t stopped at the booth, I would’ve left Ben’s great-aunt hanging and chased you across the fairgrounds covered in pie.”
A stilted laugh erupts. I have no idea what’s happening, only that Sarah was wrong about one thing. This guy definitely didn’t want to drive alone today.
He doesn’t really seem like an asshole, either.
“And then what?” I hear myself say. “What would you have said to me?”
“The same thing. That I wanted to take you to Seattle. Though I probably would’ve had more explaining to do, in that scenario.”
I shake my head. “Are yousureyou weren’t looking at Kate while all this was happening?”
“Kate? Who’s Kate?”
“My best friend. The runway model you got into a catfight with.”
“Oh.” The warmth in his voice fades. “Right. She’s pretty, I won’t lie. But I wasn’t looking at her. I was looking at the dark-haired writer who’s willing to move to Greece just for the hell of it. The one who knows exactly what ‘aid and abet’ means.”
“Wow.” I stare. “You really were eavesdropping.”
“Shamelessly.” He steers the Audi through a tight curve with enough speed that my back melds with the leather seat, but he seems so sure of his ability that I end up feeling sure of it, too. When the g-forces loosen their grip, Michael looks over again.
The touch of his eyes burns a path down into some eager, uncharted part of me. Heat flickers and flares in my belly.
I jerk my gaze away. It’s entirely physical, I tell myself. The inevitable reaction to sharing a car with someone so striking. So what if that someone also happens to function with a degree of openness I’ve never encounteredandappreciates my vocab—
Nope. I steer my thoughts back into their lane.Patrick. Rosalie. I have a job to do. A foreign country to get to. A life to go live. In three hours, I’ll leave this unexpectedly arresting man behind, and after that, in all likelihood, I’ll never see Michael Drake again.
Which is fine.
Totally, completely fine.
I fiddle with my purse strap until the sparkle in my blood dissipates, then retreat to the bland, superficial topics strangers usually default to.
