“Miss Granger. This is insane, you can’t walk all the way home.”
“Watch me!” she yelled, and started jogging again.
This was ridiculous!
“Well, if you insist, I’ll just have to follow you all the way home.” He closed his window and settled into his seat, fully prepared to crawl along at this speed right behind her as she walked home.
She turned and looked at him, her face contorted into an expression of clear confusion. Then she shook her head, rolled her eyes so wildly that he thought they might pop out of her face onto the floor, and started walking again. He continued to follow her.
Why the hell was he doing this?He had work to do. He had calls to make and people to see. But for some reason, he couldn’t leave her alone like this. This was partly his fault, after all. He called Ayanda again.
“Hi. Yes, Mr. Stark,” she answered immediately.
“If anyone calls for me, please give them my mobile number. I’m just in the middle of something and probably won’t be in the office for the next hour.” The voice on the other end of the phone sounded shocked. He didn’t blame her.Hewas shocked!
CHAPTERNINE
Poppy
I could feel his presence the entire time. The big black car crawled next to me as if it was stalking me. I tried not to look back, but every now and then I couldn’t help but steal a glance in his direction. And every time I did, he looked like he was busy talking away on his phone.
Truthfully, I wished I was in the car. I was exhausted, I was in pain, I was sweating, and my legs felt somewhat jellyfish-like. I’d almost given up a few times, thinking about that oh-so-comfortable seat, but I wasn’t about to give him that satisfaction! I was going to walk all the way home, come hell or high water. After all, I was a total nutter, wasn’t I?
I finally rounded the last corner before my house. I’d been walking for over an hour already, and I’d never been so happy to see my crappy, dirty apartment building before.
“I’m home!” I stopped walking and turned to look at the black car that was only a few feet away from me. “You can go now!” I gestured for him to leave. But he didn’t. Instead, the window came down and I found myself looking at him once more.
God, he was hot.Hot, but frightening as hell. It was an odd combination. Unnatural even. Like a cute snake that you’re just dying to reach out and pat. Something you would never do. It was venomous and would surely bite, much like this man in front of me.
“So, I’ll see you in the office tomorrow then?” He turned the engine off and leaned out the window.
“Huh? What are you talking about?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“We’ll write off today because of the misunderstanding, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. He expected me to work for him after he’d had me thrown out of the building—by security, no less? Clearly,hewas the insane one. Not me.
“No thanks.” I dismissed him and started walking away again. But this time, I heard a door slam behind me. I whipped around. He was standing right behind me and his sudden proximity gave me a fright. I stumbled backward and an arm shot out and grabbed me.
“Uh . . . thanks.” I looked down at his hand. It was wrapped tightly around my arm. His hand was so big that it almost covered my entire forearm. And he didn’t seem to be letting go. I continued to look at his hand, wondering if his fingers were ever going to loosen.
“Sorry,” I thought I heard him mumble as he finally let go and plunged his hand into his pocket. “So tomorrow, be there at seven again.” He started walking away from me.
“Look,” I called out. “I should never have taken this job in the first place. It was stupid of me. I have no way of getting to work. I don’t have a car anymore, and as it turns out, I’m not very good at riding a bike and even worse at chaining it up.”
“You rode a bike to work this morning?” He turned around, looking stunned.
“Well, I had an accident midway, which isn’t surprising since I don’t actually know how to ride one, and then I had to—”
“Wait!” he cut me off. “You don’t know how to ride a bike?”
“No,” I stated.
“You borrowed a bike and yet you don’t know how to ride one?” He looked at me strangely. Tilting his head to the left, and then to the right.Why the hell was he tilting his head like that?It made me want to snap it off his neck.
“Yes,” I said matter-of-factly. “I borrowed a bike when I knew I couldn’t ride one.”
“Well, that wasn’t a very well thought out plan, was it?” he said.
