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“Yes.”
“I could grab you some food while you do that and bring it up to your apartment. Save you some time.”
The way he said ‘up to your apartment’ made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. How did he know I didn’t have a house or stay in a hotel? “You know where my apartment is?”
“Shouldn’t I?”
I swallowed, wondering if I should listen to the internal clanging of my alarm bells. He was so solicitous, though, and seemed earnest about his willingness to be sent away. I really could use some food I didn’t have to scrounge up for myself. It would save time, and it would be nice to have company that wasn’t going to talk shop for the few minutes I had before I went to bed.
“Who told you where I live?” Valor wouldn’t have done that no matter how much the idea of me and Loïc together excited him.
He shrugged. “I asked around. Do you want me to pick up food?”
My stomach growled.
It would be weird to ask him to come to my place, right? Or was I being a prude? Many of my friends went home alone with strange men they met online or at clubs, but I’d been with Valor for so long I’d never had to take that kind of risk. This was hardly the first time Loïc and I had met, though. He seemed nice enough, and Minnow and Rodrigo hadn’t tried to warn us off. Minnow would have mentioned if Loïc was a creep, right?
“Sure.” I grabbed my purse and opened the door, feeling him behind me. The trailer door locked automatically as we left, making me think some more. “How did you get into my trailer?”
“When you look like I do, people go out of their way to be helpful.”
This guy was an entire color guard’s parade of red flags, and yet here I was letting him come back to my place.
Just for food, though. That was it.
“So why are you in town?”
“To see you.”
He had to be joking. I gave a weak laugh. “You didn’t come all this way to see me.”
“Why else would I be in Prague, Tarryn?”
No way.
I tried not to be flattered, but failed utterly, even though I doubted he was telling the truth.
My car unlocked as we approached, and Loïc steered me to the passenger side and opened the door, settling me in before he went around to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel. He pushed the button to start the ignition, and put the car in a slow prowl through the lot.
Jan, the security guard, glanced at us before he opened the gate, but didn’t even raise a brow. Apparently, hot guys could also get away with abducting women from their places of work.
Unable to help myself, I asked, “Do you have business in town?”
“No, I’m here for you. Honest. I’m retired, so I don’t have business anywhere. I have nothing to do except chauffeur beautiful women to their apartments and hunt down the Thai food they’ve been craving all day.”
Jeez. How did he know what I wanted to eat? Being low-key stalked, if that’s what this was, could be damned convenient.
Loïc walked me up to my apartment, then left to get food.
When I called, Valor’s phone rang until it went to voicemail. It was the middle of the afternoon in LA, so he was probably in a meeting with the ringer switched off.
“Hey, it’s me,” I said after the beep, wondering what on earth to say. “Sooo…Loïc just showed up here unannounced. He’s gone to pick up food while I shower off some of this makeup and hairspray. Um…I know we talked about me potentially seeing him again without you, but this is really sudden, and I’m feeling like we should talk before he gets back. Call me soon, please?” My voice had risen alarmingly. “I love you.”
As soon as the last three words were out, I felt chilled. What if that was the last message I ever left for him? What if Loïc came back, killed me, and ate my eyeballs?
How did a girl date a stranger and not feel like she was taking her life into her hands? It didn’t help that as strangers went, Loïc was pretty fucking strange.
It was too late to worry about that, so I turned my mind to the problem of what to wear after I showered—there was no way I’d soak in a bath with a man in my apartment. I opted for flannel pajamas so Loïc didn’t get the wrong idea. Although I could have thrown on a dress, or even jeans, he was imposing on my limited time to relax, so he got what he got. I didn’t exist to be eye candy if I wasn’t at work.
