He grimaced. “I was hoping for eight.”
“A.M.?” I had to feed my roommate’s cat, pack my bags, fuel up the car. Not that I was going to admit my lack of preparation to him. “I guess we could compromise. Let’s say ten.”
His mouth twitched, but he nodded his agreement.
“See you then.” I stepped away from him.
“Hey Cara,” he called and I turned back toward him. “All pistols are handguns, but not all handguns are pistols. A pistol has to have a particular kind of barrel. In case you ever need to know.”
I nodded slowly. “For that bank heist we’re definitely not planning.”
He laughed again. In that moment, I had the terrible realization I might actually like him. I mean, sexy as hell was one thing, but a man who made me feel like I was funny lit up a whole other part of my brain. And all of the same lady bits. But luckily, he and I both knew where we stood. I was too young for him. Or he was too old for me. Or something.
Oh, hell. I was beginning to regret changing my mind. I reminded myself I now had to set my alarm for 8 a.m. because of him, which helped me like him a little less. Now I just had to get through the next five—no, four—days without liking him enough to take Summer’s advice. I would definitelynotask Nick Roman to help me get over my ex.
CHAPTER 7
NICK
Iarrived in the Triple D parking lot at ten minutes ‘til ten. The lot was empty and the building looked deserted. I grabbed my duffle bag and toolbox out of the back seat of my Mustang. I would leave the keys for Mason, who had agreed to tool around town in it and maybe give anyone watching the impression I was still in the area. I stepped up onto the sidewalk in front of the bar and set my bag and box on a black metal bench.
A few minutes later, a beat-up pick-up truck pulled into the lot. Mason hopped out of the passenger’s side and thanked the driver, Tom, a recently discharged vet who was now Mason’s neighbor. I’d met Tom a few times. He had some issues, but with help from Mason and people like him, he’d find his way. Tom and I exchanged waves as he pulled away.
“Well, you’re early,” Mason said in greeting. “Excited to get your trip underway?”
“Ten minutes early is right on time.” I handed him my car keys. “And I don’t think excited is the right word.”
Then again, it was exactly the right word when I thought about climbing into a confined space with Cara. But hitting on my driving companion was not the mission. I had a feeling I’d be reminding myself of that constantly over the next few days.
He angled his head toward the front door. “Come in for a cup of coffee?”
I shook my head. “Cara will be here any minute. I wouldn’t want her to think I stood her up.” I ignored the fact that I’d made our meeting sound like a date.
Mason chuckled. “You know the whole world doesn’t work on military time, don’t you?”
I grinned. “You know you’ve gotten soft, don’t you?”
Five minutes later, when Cara should have arrived, Mason joined me on the bench and handed me a white ceramic cup full of strong, black coffee.
“How late do you think she’ll be?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No idea. But it gives us a chance to catch up. I wanted to say thank you for what you did last night for Mackey and his trivia team. He needed a win, even a small one.”
“Just doing my job as trivia MC. And the upside is it gave me a chance to apologize to Cara and buy her and her friends a round of drinks. Something in all of that made her trust me enough to agree to this road-trip, so wins all around.”
“Is that what changed her mind?” Mason asked. “And here I thought it was your sunny disposition.”
“I’m sunny enough.”
He laughed. “Sure, keep telling yourself that.”
I took a big swig of coffee and nodded appreciatively. “Damn, you make a good cup of joe.”
We shot the shit for several minutes, something we’d been too busy to do for far too long. The distraction kept me from glancing at my watch every minute. Finally, at fifteen minutes past the hour and our agreed-upon meeting time, a small, gold hatchback with a nasty engine ping slowed down and turned left into the parking lot.
Cara hadn’t been kidding about the size of the car or the fact that she wouldn’t be traveling light. The little box was packed to the gills. But I had a million things to worry about on this trip and car space wasn’t one of them. I’d packed efficiently, so as long as she’d left some floor space in front of the back seat, and even if she hadn’t, I would make it work.
The mechanical soundness of her car was another matter entirely.
