Page 7 of Keep Me Safe
As her gaze went to the rain splattered windows, I could hear the thoughts going through her head. She’d never get a cab in this weather. She glanced at my umbrella, but before I could offer, she pushed her way through the door and out into the slashing rain.
I grinned, followed her, and popped open my umbrella as I strolled onto the sidewalk.
As soon as I was next to Kara, her under my umbrella’s protection, she gave me a sideways look. Annoyed. Relieved. Begrudgingly grateful. Her gaze then moved to the street to survey the sporadic yellow cars that passed by. Every one with the light on top unlit.
“This is mine,” I said over the loud rain beating down on us. I gestured to the black limousine as it pulled up. “I’m happy to give you a ride, but full disclosure, it comes with strings attached.”
Her blue eyes locked on mine, and her shoulders lifted as she sucked in a breath. Maybe she’d think I meant lunch. Or that she’d have to agree to have dinner with me the next time she was in Munich.
She would be wrong.
If she got into my car, she’d give me permission to continue my pursuit of her. My brother had loved chasing fugitives, but for me it had always been women. It was so obviously clear she wanted me, so I didn’t understand why she resisted it, but it was more exciting this way.
She shook her head adamantly. “No, thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” The disappointment that ran through me was surprising. “Auf Wiedersehen.”
I took my umbrella and left her at the edge of the street, the rain pouring down on her. When I opened the limo door, I glanced back over to see her, glaring at me like the bastard I knew I was.
3
KARA
The cold rain drenched me,but it did nothing to cool the fire inside me. This was ruining my shoes. Shawn had left me with no umbrella and absolutely no choice.
When I slid into the dry back seat beside him, he didn’t bother to look up from his phone. I set my laptop bag between us as a buffer but doubted it would stop him. It probably wouldn’t even slow him down.
“You’re kind of an asshole,” I said.
“Didn’t your sister warn you?”
Yes, she had. He put his phone away, leaned forward, and told the driver we were ready.God, ready for what?
“Where are we going?” I asked in an even tone as the car pulled out into traffic.
“Lunch.”
Was that all I had agreed to? I relaxed into the soft leather of the seat and wiped the rain from my forehead. Yet an evil half-smile crept across his face, and it filled me with unwanted excitement.
“That isn’t the strings attached, is it?”
“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”
Whatever it was, I suspected I wasn’t going to like it . . . or that I might like it a little too much. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want me.”
His evil smile widened into a full ear-to-ear grin. “But I do want you. Have I been unclear about that?”
God, no, he’d made that perfectly clear, whereas I was probably guilty of sending him mixed signals. I’d had six months to firmly shut him down, to close the door. So, why the hell hadn’t I?
Probably because I hadn’t been desired in what felt like forever. At the end of our marriage, Paul wouldn’t touch me. He’d barely even look at me. Now my sex-starved body hungered for Shawn like he was a four-course meal.
The longer he stared at me with lust in his eyes, the harder it became to breathe. All the air in the car vanished. Why was he like this? He had his pick of women, and, from what Laurel had told me, he’d tried them all. The last thing I wanted to be, I told myself, was Shawn Dunn’s plaything.
Even though the idea caused unexpected heat to flare inside me.
