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“Thank you.”
“Do you want to come hang out with us?” he asked. “I’m here with a few friends. I’m happy to introduce you around.”
“Thanks, Carter, but I’ve had about as much as I can handle tonight.”
As if on cue, Mark brushed past us and made his way out of the bar, teeth gritted and cursing under his breath. He didn’t even make eye contact with me. Not that I needed him to.
“How are you getting home? Did you drive here?” he asked.
“No, I Ubered. I’m calling another now.”
“I can take you back.”
“No, it’s fine. You’re here with your friends.”
“They’ll survive without me for a few minutes,” he insisted.
Letting Carter drive me home from this awful date sounded a lot better than making small talk with some random stranger while obsessing about how I was going to deal with Mark first thing Tuesday morning.
“I mean… if you don’t mind.”
“I wouldn’t offer if I minded,” he said. “Let me just tell the guys where I’m going.”
I watched as he had a short conversation with his brother and set down his mostly full pint glass before returning to me
“Are you okay to drive?” I asked.
We walked out of Rook’s into the cool night air and I took a deep, refreshing breath, loving how the breeze hit my bare shoulders.
“I’m fine,” he answered. “That was my first drink. We just got here.”
I looked around for his car, expecting to see the same black sedan from his driveway parked nearby, but I didn’t.
“This way,” he said. He pointed towards a motorcycle.
My eyes widened. I hadn’t been on the back of a motorcycle since I was a teenager and my first boyfriend had one. Back then, I loved it. But this was different. I wasn’t a teenager who thought I was invincible as we sped down the highway. I was a cautious thirty-four-year-old who drove responsibly so that she could come home to her son in one piece.
Plus, I wasn’t exactly dressed for a ride on a motorcycle. I didn’t have on jeans and a leather jacket. I was wearing averyshort dress.
“I rode the bike tonight so I’d make sure I didn’t drink too much,” he said. “Responsible, huh?”
“Yeah. Totally.”
Carter seemed to sense my hesitation. “I’m a safe driver, Zoe. No tickets. No accidents.”
“I believe you.”
And I did. I didn’t know how to sayyou kissed me, ran away, and now you’re going to let me wrap my legs around you.So I just nodded awkwardly.
“Zoe, should we talk about… the other day?” he finally asked.
“I mean… you ran out of there so fast, I…”
“I know. And I’m sorry.” He ran his hands through his hair. “But your son was right there…”
“He didn’t see anything.”
“Still…”
