open the back door of the rental car and toss the paper on the floor.
"Pull up over there," the officer says, pointing to a silver Audi that's parked farther up on the side of the road. It's the car the papers flew out of. The cop must've seen what happened and now the driver's in trouble and I'm the witness.
"Officer, can we just forget this?" I ask. "What he did was dangerous but I'm sure it was just an accident. And as you can see, my car is fine so there's really no need to fill out paperwork."
His brows draw together. "Ma'am, I don't think you're getting the point here. This isn't about your car."
"Then what's it about?"
"Pull your vehicle up, please," he says, walking off.
What is going on here? If this isn't about the paper hitting my car, then what's it about? I get in the car and pull up behind the shiny silver Audi with New York plates.
As I turn my car off, the officer goes up to the Audi. A guy gets out. He's probably in his early thirties, tall, with dark hair, wearing a black suit that looks very expensive. I bet he's some rich Wall Street guy driving up here for a weekend getaway that his girlfriend set up. Or maybe he's here for a wedding, maybe his own. I don't know why else he'd be in this tiny town.
"What's this about?" I ask, going up to the officer. I ignore the guy from the Audi but feel him staring at me.
The officer is holding what looks like a pad of tickets. "We take littering very seriously in this state. Hopefully next time you'll think twice before tossing your trash out the window. I'll need licenses from both of you, please."
"Trash?" I stare at him, completely confused as I take my wallet from my purse. "What trash? I didn't throw anything out the window."
He points back to the road. My plastic water bottle is on the side of it, resting next to the trunk of a large maple tree.
"Officer, as I told you before," Audi guy says, "I didn't intentionally toss the paper from my car. It blew out the window."
"And you didn't go back and pick it up." The officer takes the guy's license. "That counts as littering." He looks at me. "License?"
I hand it to him. "Officer, I didn't throw that bottle out. I don't even know how it got there. The paper from HIS car," I say, pointing at Audi guy, "flew at my windshield, blocking my view of the road."
"It was an accident," the guy says, giving me a slight smile.
Why is he smiling? Does he think this is funny?
"Is this all a joke to you?" I say, glaring at the guy.
"Not at all," he says, cool and collected, not the least bit worried there's a police officer standing between us, writing who knows what on that little pad of his. "I'm Aiden, by the way." He extends his hand to me.
Ignoring his gesture, I fold my arms over my chest. "Your so-called accident is getting me arrested."
"Not arrested," the officer says. "Just a citation." He hands the guy and me our tickets, along with our licenses.
"What does this mean?" I look over the ticket. "I have to pay a fine?"
"The judge will decide that. You'll need to appear in court."
"Are you serious?" I turn to the cop. "You don't understand. I live in New York. I don't have a car, and I work like 90 hours a week. I can't get back here. There's no way."
"Sorry, ma'am, but you'll just have to figure it out."
"I can give you a ride," Audi guy says. "I also live in New York. I assume you mean Manhattan?"
I glance at the guy, furious at him and this whole situation. This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend and now this happens.
"Here." The guy holds out his business card. "Give me a call when you get the court date."
"I'm not riding with you," I say, not taking his card. "I'll rent a car like I did today."
"Suit yourself." He holds up the card. "You sure you don't want it? In case you change your mind?"
"Trust me. I won't," I say, noticing his annoyingly beautiful blue eyes and the perfectly groomed stubble covering his extremely handsome face. He also has a really sexy smile. I hate that he's smiling right now. It's only a slight smile but still, why isn't he getting upset about this?