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Chapter Five
Vance snapped a picture of her license too, but didn’t make a big deal out of it. Just casual like, and she appreciated him not commenting on her photo or her birthday or anything else. And then he was typing away for a few minutes before handing over his laptop.
“There. Super basic, would never hold up in court, but we’re not going to end up in court are we?”
If he’d been serious she would’ve throat-punched him. She’d had every opportunity to behave badly and hadn’t. Just because she was homeless didn’t mean she was a monster or some sort of slovenly gremlin. But he wasn’t serious. He’d made a little joke, and it just happened to be tinged with that stomach-clenching daddy energy that made her want to crawl into his lap and assure him, “No, Daddy.”
But fuck no was she going to hand that part of herself over to this guy, so she glared at him, making it clear she thought he was a condescending jackass.
“No.”
“Anything you want to change, add?”
She read over the short document, blinking at some of the big words.Basic my ass.
“What are you, a lawyer?” she muttered.
When Vance cleared his throat, she could swear there was a pink cast to his cheeks above the line of his beard. “Uh, yes, actually.”
Of course he was. That would explain the contract, the money. Must be nice. And now she’d be extra careful because lawyers were the worst. Although what was he going to do, sue her? She had nothing to lose.
“This is fine,” she told him, handing the laptop back and picking up her water again.
There was a funny noise that had her brows creasing—oh, there was a printer churning to life. Right, she’d noticed there was a printer on the desk but no computer.
Vance rose, looking like a blond, preppy bear, and yawned into the crook of his elbow. A needle of guilt poked at her. He’d been pretty kind to her so far—except for briefly holding Flaps hostage—and seemed legit like he was going to let her stay here for free for as long as she needed which was wild.
She’d broken into his house, was definitely ruining the long weekend he’d no doubt planned. Clover City wasn’t close, like maybe a two hour drive? Dude was tired and that she could sympathize with. Driving while exhausted was as bad as driving drunk, and she didn’t want him to wreck on his way home. Like, at all, because she was a decent human being, but also because things could get real awkward real fast for her if he kicked the bucket.
He came back to the couch with two copies of the contract, yawned into his arm again and shook his head before producing a pen from his shirt pocket. Vance scrawled a signature across the bottom of each page and then handed everything to her. After one last look, she signed them too and handed him back his pen and a copy of the contract.
Vance clapped his hands on his knees and pushed off the couch looking completely wiped. He might be a pencil pusher with too much money but she didn’t doubt he worked hard.
“I’m going to get back on the road now. Feel free to use the washer and dryer, help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen. Just make a note if you use the last of something. I’ll call in a couple days to check in. Send me a text or give me a call if you need anything.”
He shook his head, rubbed his temples, and then shoved a hand in his pocket, jangled the keys inside. “Oh, there’s an extra set of keys in the drawer to the right of the fridge. I think that’s everything, but text or call if you need anything.”
Vance shook his head again, blinked, and gave a massive yawn. He wasn’t faking. She was well-versed in dudes faking tired to get an invite to sleep over or “falling asleep” to cop a feel, and this wasn’t it. He seriously looked dead on his feet.
“I just said that, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn. Okay. Uh, it’s late. Go back to sleep. I’ll talk to you later.”
She could be mad because men she didn’t know telling her what to do usually made her want to cut a bitch, but this guy was zonked and he was still concerned about her? A stranger?
Well, fuck.
He picked up his stuff and laid a hand on the doorknob, and there was no way she could send this guy on his way to possibly wreck what she was sure was a very expensive car. Even though it made her queasy because hi, she’d met men before, and a man was the reason she was in this situation in the first place, she had to saysomething.
“Um, Vance?”
He turned around, looking so tired his features were almost smudged.
“Yeah?”
Not a note of irritation there even though she knew he was in a hurry to head out. Okay, she could do this.
