AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was the slightest edge of steel in her voice.
“If it’s a problem—”
“No problem,” she cut him off and slid behind the wheel.
His stomach sank as he settled into the passenger seat. He’d really screwed things up.
“I’m so sorry about … before. It was a mistake,” he told her.
She fastened her seatbelt and started the engine.
“Yeah, you said that already.” She bit off the words.
“Sparky, look at me.”
She whipped her head toward him with fire in her eyes and venom in her voice. “Don’t call me that. I don’t want to discuss your poor judgment in kissing me. Or anything else, for that matter. Just sit there quietly and I’ll take you back to work.”
He clamped his mouth shut. She shifted the car into gear and peeled out.
He waited until they’d left the paddock and passed the guardhouse at the gate. Once she turned onto the ribbon of road that led from the driving club to Potomac’s campus, he tried again.
“Leilah, listen to me. What I did was inappropriate. I know that, and I understand if you can’t forgive me. Omar’s my closest friend. I’ve known you since before you could read. You’re like a sister to me and—”
“That was not a brotherly kiss.”
He stared down at his hands in misery. “I know. I’m sorry. My emotions were running high.”
“Right.”
They lapsed into uncomfortable silence, and she took a curve at high speed. He flicked his eyes to the speedometer. Eighty.
“You know the local police have a contest to see how many speeders they can nab going to Potomac, right?”
She kept her eyes on the road as she corrected him. “One, they actually only compete to see how many Potomac employees they can catch. And two, this road is privately maintained through a joint agreement between the club and Potomac. The police can’t ticket anyone here.”
“Really?”
“Ask Trent. Or look it up in one of your law books if you don’t believe me.”
He reacted to her heated tone. “I’m not doubting you. I just didn’t know that. Are you planning to stay mad at me forever? I’ve apologized. Twice now. I’m not sure what else I can do.”
She shifted her gaze to his face for a nanosecond, and he could have sworn her big doe eyes were watering. Then, as they approached a stretch of road popular with the deer that populated the woods between the two facilities, she eased off the accelerator. Porsche versus stag would not be a pretty contest.
Three deer stood under a copse of trees and watched them pass.
She sped back up, and the indicator hit ninety. She was clearly eager to get him out of her car as quickly as possible.
“I’ll tell you what you can do. You can stop worrying about what Omar would think. He’s not my keeper. I don’t answer to him.”
“What?” He shook his head dumbly. “That’s not what I—”
“—What the devil is this?”
He glanced up, expecting to see a deer through the windshield, but the road ahead was clear.
No, not clear. A long steel barrier sat across the middle of the road.
“What the heck? That wasn’t there this morning. Is Trent running drills?”
