Page 18 of One Night Stand After Another
“I would drive hours for the pleasure of eating a perfect thing in the place of its origin. For Philadelphia, that’s cheese steak. I’ll get a great sandwich out of this.”
“Seriously?”
“Don’t you have a passion, a hobby? Are you still knitting?”
“Mostly crocheting,” she corrected, sounding surprised.
“Is there a difference?” he asked.
She finally looked at him. “A huge difference.”
“Well, have you ever gone a long way out of your way to buy yarn?”
A small smile tipped the corners of her lips. “Yes, I have.”
“How far?”
“I’m going to plead the Fifth on that one.”
“More than two hours?” he asked.
She laughed. “Definitely.”
“Okay, then. I promise to eat myself sick on Philly cheese steak. Now, will you please let me drive you to Philadelphia?”
She looked at him for so long he felt the prickle of sweat under his arms. “Fine—but I’m paying for gas.”
As if.
“Let’s hit the road.” He just hoped two hours would give him enough time to convince her to give him a chance.
He texted Pete to find out where his truck was parked, grabbed his extra key fob, and they were on their way out of his apartment in three minutes flat. Traffic was relatively light, for Manhattan. He dropped her off in front of her hotel and circled the block instead of trying to find a parking spot.
On his fourth loop, Zane spotted Clara waiting for him in front of the hotel.
He pulled into the loading zone and threw her bags in the back.
“You’re a fast packer,” he said when they were buckled in and headed for the Lincoln Tunnel.
“No time to waste. I still can’t believe you’re doing this,” Clara said for the third time since they’d left his apartment. He was beginning to wonder if her friends never did nice things for her and if all her boyfriends had been total assholes.
Casually, he reached over and took her hand. He’d barely touched her since she’d sprung out of his bed. Something settled inside him as soon as their fingers linked.
He felt her gaze on his face.
“Zane? I don’t think holding hands is a good idea.”
“Really?” He covered his disappointment by injecting surprise into his voice. He loosened his grip but didn’t let go. “It feels pretty great to me. Why don’t you stop thinking and take a nap or something?”
“I’m not sleeping while you drive.”
“You don’t trust me? I’m hurt.”
“I trust you, or I wouldn’t be in the car with you, but it’s not fair to snooze while you have to stay awake.”
There was zero chance of him nodding off with her in the seat next to him. “I’d understand if you were exhausted. You didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Her breath caught.
