I waited until the sound of the engine receded, then fanned myself. Whew. I had to stop getting hot and bothered like that, although I challenged any woman to stand in the vicinity of Nick Goldman for longer than twenty seconds and not lose a teeny bit of her mind.
Now, about the car. I had no intention of taking Nick up on his offer, but out of curiosity, I decided to take a walk out to the garage. What did he have in there? I’d only ever seen him drive the Porsche, so surely he had something more practical for chores? Maybe a station wagon? You couldn’t fit much shopping in the trunk of a Porsche.
Key in hand, I hurried across the yard. Billy loved cars, and he’d spent so long yammering on about his beloved Dodge Charger I could recite its statistics in my sleep. His daddy had bought it for him, of course, something to use as a penis extension which, let’s be honest, he desperately needed.
The lights flickered on automatically as I pulled open the garage door, and I gasped at the scene before me. So much for practicality. Surprisingly, there was no hint of junk in the garage—the cavernous space was pristine, painted a crisp white with a black stripe running around the walls at chest height. I took a step into the empty slot at the end—left for the Porsche, no doubt—and stared at the array of vehicles gleaming in front of me.
A metallic black Dodge Ram stood closest, intimidating even before the engine growled. What size engine did it have? Six litres? Eight? Next up was a fancy Ford in midnight blue, with silver go-faster stripes running over the roof. I trailed my fingers over the hood as my feet carried me to the last car in line. A shiny red Ferrari. Frick, its curves were a thing of beauty. Billy would have a wet dream if he ever set foot in here.
I leaned against the wall, hearing Nick’s voice in my head. He expected me to drive one of these? Was he nuts? I couldn’t do that! What if I crashed? The only car I’d driven recently was Missy’s Chrysler minivan, and that was ten years old. I doubted I even had the know-how to start any of these up.
Shaking my head, I backed outside and closed the door behind me, shutting the overpowering stench of testosterone back into the garage and pausing to make sure it was securely locked. When I got back into the house, I typed out a quick text to Nick. I didn’t want to disturb him with a call at work.
Lara: Thank you for your kind offer, but I’ve looked in the garage and there isn’t anything suitable for me to drive. I’ve made sure to lock the keys back up. Lara.
Five seconds later, my phone rang. Literally five seconds. Either Nick had me on speed dial, or his reflexes rivalled a teenage gamer’s.
“What do you mean there’s nothing suitable?”
Uh-oh. Nick didn’t sound happy.
“Well, all of your cars are far too nice for me to drive.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? Because you choose to have nice cars, I guess?”
“No, I mean why shouldn’t you drive a nice car?”
“Because I’m just a housekeeper.”
“So? Bradley’s ‘just’ a personal assistant, but Emmy gave him a fucking Lamborghini. Although don’t tell him I said that. He thinks he rules the world.” Nick sighed, and I heard the Corvette’s engine screaming in the background as Emmy put her foot to the floor. “I’ll buy you something different next week if you want, but for today, you’re picking one of those because I won’t be back until tomorrow and you’re not, I repeat NOT, taking the fucking bus home.”
“I’ll borrow the Ferrari,” I said hastily. I hated arguing.
“Good plan.”
The line went dead. What the heck happened? Did my bossy boss just force me to drive his supercar?
If that was his attitude then fine, I’d take the damn car. What was the worst that could happen? I could crash, and he’d fire me. Well, I’d already tried to quit once, and look how that went.
CHAPTER 17
SINCE NICK SAID he wasn’t coming back, I had a quick tidy up, and then left. Where was he going to stay? With Emmy? I couldn’t help feeling slightly jealous until I recalled how pushy he’d been on the phone.
With a little experimentation, I found the black box on the car keys worked the garage doors and the main gates.