I was dying of embarrassment. "My stuff, actually."
"Do me a favor," he said. "Get back in the car. We'll figure it out."
From somewhere down the street, a car horn sounded, making me practically jump out of my skin. I turned to look and realized that the line of cars behind us had grown considerably. Meanwhile, the line of cars ahead of us had moved further forward.
I gave Jax's car a worried glance. "You should probably get moving, huh?"
He flicked his head toward the passenger's seat. "Get in, and we will."
We?I glanced around. "But don't you have someplace to be?"
"Yeah. I do," he said. "But I'm not moving 'til your ass is in that seat."
I stiffened. "What?"
"I’m not leaving you here," he said. "So get in." He paused. "Please."
Was it the "please" that did it? I had no idea. I didn't like bossy guys, but Ididlike him, probably more than I cared to admit.
Plus, I'd caused him more than enough trouble for one night – so without any further comment, I did what he asked and even fastened my seatbelt as he climbed behind the wheel, fired up the engine, and drove forward until we'd caught up with the other cars.
And that's when he made me the strangest offer.
Chapter 7
I stared at him from the passenger's seat. "Excuse me?"
"I'll pay you," he said. "A thousand bucks."
I felt myself swallow.A thousand dollars?In my world, that was a ton of money. And yet, Isodidn't want to contemplate what he expected in return.
We were still in traffic, inching along behind the other vehicles. At the same time, my mind was racing a million miles a minute. He'd just asked me to be – in his own words – his "girlfriend" for the night.
What the hell?
It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was getting at. I considered how we met and what kind of impression he'd obviously gotten from that whole sordid scene.
I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to five. Part of me wanted to slap him. The other part reminded myself that he'd already done me a huge favor, several favors actually, including assaulting someone on my behalf.
Could I honestly blame him if he thought the worst of me?
No. I couldn’t.
And yet, I did.
My eyes were still shut when he said, "Is there a problem?"
I opened my eyes and turned my head in his direction. Traffic had stopped, and he was looking at me with that penetrating gaze of his.
His eyes were amazing, and I couldn’t help but think that if he hadn't just offered to buy me – or was it rent me? – for the night, I'd probably be falling under his spell, even now.
But I wasn't. "Thanks for the offer," I said, trying not to sound as insulted as I felt. "But I'm not for sale, actually."
He frowned. "I didn't think you were."
"Well, obviously you did, or you wouldn't've asked me that."
He leaned back against his seat. "Listen, I did a sorry job of phrasing it, but it's not what you think."
