Page 88 of Handle Me

The truth was that I didn’t want to get my heart broken again. Not when it was finally starting to heal. But I was here now, and I had to find a way to get out of this unscathed.

“Friends,” he agreed, but he looked away like maybe he didn’t like the sound of it.

This was going to be complicated.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

ANDERS

“Beautiful,” I muttered as I circled the car parked in my drive.

“What?” Lola called. She was carefully maintaining her distance. I just wasn’t sure what scared her more: me or the car.

“It looks good,” I said casually, and she bit her lip, something flashing in her eyes.

It looked a hell of a lot like disappointment. But Lola hadn’t come here to be called beautiful by me. Not when she had a fucking boyfriend who lived in the country. He sounded like a total wanker—an opinion I’d managed to keep to myself.

Besides, Lola wasn’t beautiful. She was in a whole different league than beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous. Cock-teasingly perfect. I couldn’t quite find the right words to sum her up. Maybe they’d never been invented. And maybe it was the time apart or the very definitive boundary she’d just erected between us, but I couldn’t stop myself from stealing looks at her.

She was dressed casually by her standards. A white T-shirt and jeans that hugged her ass in a way that made me believe life really had a meaning, and she quite possibly was it. She’d traded her heels for a pair of red trainers the exact shade of her lipstick and her new McLaren GT. Seeing her behind its wheel looking like that might fulfill every male fantasy I’d ever had.

And it was going to make keeping my hands to myself much more difficult.

It was for the best, though. I couldn’t afford to be any more distracted than I already was, not with Wilkes breathing down my neck about sponsors.

“How does it handle?” I asked her.

She shrugged, flattening her luscious red lips into a frown. “How would I know? I don’t drive, remember?”

“How did you get it here?” A terrible thought occurred to me. She had a boyfriend, and the wanker was important enough that she’d bought a car to be able to see him. That must be serious. She hadn’t even bought a car for me, and I was a professional driver. I glanced around, half expecting him to pop out of the bushes.

“I had it delivered, and I took the train down,” she said, laughing at my confusion. “You would have heard them drop it off earlier if you weren’t passed out at noon.”

“It’s Saturday,” I said with a slight growl, even though I was pleased that the new boyfriend wouldn’t be joining us. “I was up late.”

“Oh?” Lola’s laughter died down, and her curious eyes flickered over to me. “Out with someone?”

I tensed, aware of the question in her eyes. Was she asking because she was jealous? Or because she hoped I had moved on, too?

“Just went to the pub. It was a long week,” I muttered, trying to keep my voice steady but failing.

Lola smiled, her curiosity shifting to a coyness that made my balls tighten. “I figured. But I can’t resist winding you up.”

I grinned back, feeling the tension between us ease a bit. “Yeah, you definitely still know how to drive me crazy.” I held up the key fob. “Now, let’s teach you how to drive.”

She reached for the keys, but I closed my fist around them. Her hand brushed mine, and the contact sent a jolt racing down my spine.

“What do you think we’re doing?”

“Learning how to drive,” she said, sounding puzzled.

“I’m not letting you on the street here.” I laughed as her confusion turned to annoyance. “Simmer down, boss. I can’t let you mow down any little old ladies or kids.”

“Fine.” She marched over to the car and pulled up the butterfly door. I followed behind her and leaned in.

“First rule, boss? One step at a time,” I told her gently. “Now buckle up.”

She stuck her tongue out and made a show of pulling down her belt. I closed the door quickly before that tongue gave me any bad ideas. She was officially off-limits, and I needed to concentrate anyway. The last thing I wanted was to unleash an unprepared Lola onto the streets.