leg. “You have to be freakin’ kidding me!”
My words echo around the parking garage as I stare down at the flat tire I have.
“Things couldn’t go right for more than one week, could they?” I mutter to nobody but myself.
It’s a Sunday and all the repair shops are closed, which sucks because of course I never replaced my spare from the last time I had a flat tire.
I toss my head back with a groan.
Normally if something like this were to happen, I’d call River, but since she’s at work covering my shift…well, I’m screwed.
I can call Patrick and let him know I can’t pick up Sam early, but he’ll just be a dick about it, even though I’m the one doing him a favor.
“Well, that’s a bummer,” comes a smooth voice from next to me.
I slam my eyes closed and take a deep breath, wishing I were anywhere but here.
“What are you doing down here?”
“Was gonna take a drive.” He jingles his keys in front of him. “Been cooped up in the apartment too long and need a breather. Didn’t feel like walking, wanted to roll the windows down and cruise.”
I nod, understanding him more than he knows.
Eager to have a reason to get out of the apartment this morning, I was a half hour early to meet River, and that never happens.
“Do you have a spare?”
“No.” I sigh. “I’ve been meaning to replace it, but I just…haven’t.”
“It’s a good thing we don’t live too far from stuff then.”
He’s right. His apartment is in a popular shopping district and pretty much everything—including Sam’s school—is within walking distance. So even if I have to wait a few days to get the tire changed, I’ll be fine.
Except for right now when I need to be somewhere.
“Do you want a ride?”
“No.”
He laughs. “Let me rephrase that. Do you need a ride?”
I want to say no. I want to be able to walk away and take care of my own problems.
But I can’t.
Again.
“Are we talking all of a sudden?”
He doesn’t answer right away, and we stand there staring at the flat tire for several quiet seconds.
“We’re not not talking.” I smile at his non-answer. “Is that a yes on the ride?”
“Please.”
He nods, then leads the way across the parking garage to his truck. It annoys me when I see he’s backed into the spot like some show-off.
We climb into the big vehicle and Nolan fires up the engine.
“Where to?” he asks, peeking over at me.
“White Wing Estates. I have to pick up Sam from his father’s.”
“Ah.” He nods, throwing the truck into drive and inching out of the parking space. “I thought his father had him until this evening?”
“Patrick had a work thing come up.” There’s a tic in his jaw, though I’m not sure what it means. I have a feeling even if I asked, he wouldn’t answer. “If you’re serious about the ride, you can drop us off at Making Waves for my shift.”
His thick, dark brows slam together, and his lips that I know are softer than they look twist up. “Why would you need to take him to work with you?”
“Because otherwise he’d be at the apartment with you pretty much all day.”
“And you don’t trust him with me?”
“No. I just know you hate kids.”
He sighs, his grip tightening on the wheel as he grits his teeth. “If I didn’t want your son at my apartment, I wouldn’t have offered up my rooms to you, okay?”
I’ve never heard him so frustrated before.
But I guess I don’t understand him, don’t understand why he’s offered up his place to a single mom when he doesn’t like kids and clearly doesn’t want me there.
When I don’t answer him, he glances over at me.
“Okay?” he presses again, his voice and eyes softer this time.
“Okay.”
“Good.”
He flips on the radio, and the sounds of seventies and eighties rock fill the silence.
Even though we’re not spending much time together, the sexual tension between us is still palpable.
He looks at me, and I look away.
I glance at him, and he does the same.
Back and forth and back and forth.
It’s exhausting, and I want things to not be awkward again. I don’t want this silence stretching between us now to last the whole time I’m in his apartment. I can’t stomach it much longer.
When we trek closer to my old neighborhood, I steer him through the streets until he’s parking in front of Patrick’s two-story house.
“I’ll leave the engine running.”
With a nod, I hop out of the car,