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CHAPTER 7
Muffy
“Are you driving me to the back edge of town to do all sorts of nefarious deeds to me? Should I call my roommate and let her know that I made the horrible decision to get into your truck and let you drive me into the middle of some isolated parts and hope that she can track my call to find our location? Should I say my goodbyes now? My family would really miss me too, you know.”
Okay, she was kind of kidding. Kind of. You never knew. If she let Alex know that she was into him right from the start, maybe he’d change his mind about anything he had planned for her. Maybe. Then again, maybe now that she’d said she knew what he was all about, he’d drive her somewhere else, steal her cell, and she’d never be heard from again.
Alex shifted his eyes from the wheel for just a second. He glanced at her briefly, brow arched halfway up his forehead. The action caused his brow to wrinkle adorably.
“I am definitely not driving you out of the city to kill you. That’s quite an imagination. Too many late-night crime shows for you.”
“Well, you never know.”
“I know you can never be too safe, but seriously? I work for- uh- well- basically I try to help people, not commit unspeakable crimes.”
“Isn’t that what they all say?”
“I seriously wouldn’t know. Do you want me to ruin the surprise?”
“Well, you did tell me that it was a surprise and asked me if I trusted you enough to take me for a ride out into the middle of nowhere, so I can’t say that you didn’t warn me.”
“Exactly. Would a killer say those things to you beforehand?”
“I don’t know. Probably. A lot of the times they’re really smooth talkers.”
Alex sighed. “Look in the back seat. If I was planning something horrible, I’d have some crazy looking implements back there. A knife set, some trash bags.”
“This is just getting creepy. And weird.” Muffy shivered.
Maybe it was a bad idea. She’d been a little too enamored after dinner and had taken Alex’s hand in the parking lot. It did something to her in all the right places, places that hadn’t felt right or womanly or shivery or much of anything in a long time. Maybe it was also a good thing Steve broke up with me. She had to admit, now that her rose colored glasses had more than just fallen off, that the sex with her ex had been pretty lackluster at best.
This though… maybe she was a little too desperate. A little overeager to feel something. Anything. Maybe she liked Alex. Even if his credit card declined at dinner. Money wasn’t an issue. It wasn’t like she had an abundance, but she certainly wasn’t struggling. She didn’t even care that his truck was bouncing and jostling and bumping along like the suspension had just given up entirely. It wasn’t that bad, nearly flying up to the roof and back down. It just made for a more interesting ride.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it to be creepy. This was supposed to be romantic. It was the only thing I could think of short notice. I- well- I don’t exactly want to ask you to take me out. I mean… well- everything costs money, except this. I have a full tank of gas and I haven’t given the old girl a good drive in a while. Not like this.”
“So really, it’s just an excuse to clean the carb?”
Alex shot her a look. His lips wobbled and he lost the battle and had to smile. “It’s not a diesel, but you get the idea.”
“Er… about dinner- don’t worry about it. It’s seriously not a big deal. I think women should pay sometimes. It’s the right thing to do. At least for herself. But- uh- don’t- well- maybe for the guy too. I think costs should be shared equally. I’m not one of those super forward liberal female people but I don’t expect someone to provide for me either. I think when you’re with someone it should be like, a partnership.”
“That’s nice of you to say. It makes me feel a little less like I just handed in my man-card.”
“Man-card? No! It’s not about money anyway. I like this. The drive. It’s nice. I haven’t been out of the city in a while.”
“Nice, other than the whole fear of being murdered thing, you mean,” Alex deadpanned. “Which I am seriously not going to do,” he tacked on. “I know you don’t know me but I seriously am a decent guy. Never even road raged before.”
“I don’t think you actually could in this. You’d have to chase them down most of the time and I’m not entirely sure that would work out.”
“Easy there,” Alex said, forcing a mock wounded note to his tone. “Don’t hurt Ol’ Bonnie’s feelings. She has to get us home, you know. It would ruin whatever romance there was in this if she broke down and left us to walk when it’s so cold.”
