Page 18 of Come Ride With Me
She shivered as she spoke and began moving past him to the driver’s side door.
“Earl,” Nash replied.
He’d followed her so that now he was holding the door as she leaned in to put her purse and briefcase on the passenger seat.
“I don’t understand your question. I told you before, I’m working to find the financial solvency of this company. Once I do that, I’ll be preparing a forecast which will undoubtedly reshape how this place is run and hopefully increase profits,” she told him. “But I’m not sure what you think Banyon has to do with that.”
Sure the guy was the general manager, but he was also a controlling jerk who she planned to knock down a few notches in the very near future.
“So you have no idea what Earl’s up to?”
He sounded as if he didn’t believe her. Mica didn’t know if she should be insulted or not. What she did know was that it was too cold to continue standing out here arguing with him.
“Look, can we talk about this in the morning, or rather Monday morning, I guess?” she asked, remembering that it was Friday.
On Fridays Mica and Pam used to head to the local bar where Pam’s boyfriend played in a band. Earlier today Mica thought about this and the fact that she had no idea what she was going to do tonight. For the past couple of weeks she’d spent her weekends cleaning and rearranging things in that big house that now belonged to her. But she missed going out and socializing even if she’d only done it once a week back in Paris.
“Are you heading home? I can follow you and then we can talk,” Nash asked.
She was about to say yes but caught herself in time. “Ah, actually, I was going to head into town to look for something different to eat for dinner. Kind of tired of the grilled cheese sandwiches or fried eggs that I’ve been having.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” he said. “And before you start overthinking it, this is not a date. I just want to talk to you about something without any interruptions. So, if you follow me back to my place, I can do a little better than grilled cheese and eggs for dinner.”
Follow him back to his place?
Warning bells immediately sounded in her head. She’d only known Nash for a few weeks and other than what she’d learned of him during the ride and lunch they’d shared, she had no clue about what type of man he truly was. Going to his house where he could do who knew what to her, wasn’t a smart idea. Except even with the little she did know about Nash she knew she wasn’t afraid of him.
Then there was the fact that she was still attracted to him. The memory of that kiss they’d shared was as fresh in her memory as if it had just happened yesterday. She’d recalled every delicious second of his lips on hers multiple times a day and every moment she lay in her bed at night that sleep did not claim her. Thinking about him had become an obsession, wondering what it would be like to have his mouth all over her, his muscled body on top hers, him inside of her…she sighed heavily.
Both of those factors could lead to a very lengthy debate in her mind, she could go on and on making the case that going to his place was not a good idea. Yet, she couldn’t dismiss the fact that Nash was the shop manager at the dealership and he had just asked her about the general manager and what she suspected were Nash’s suspicions about the man. As her entire reason for being here at this point and time revolved around Bellamy Motors, there was no other answer Mica felt she could give to Nash’s request.
“Sure. I’ll follow you to your place,” she said before getting into her car.
Nash closed the door behind her and walked across the lot to where she watched him climb into the cab of a red Ford F150. Mica shook her head at her new automotive knowledge. After weeks of studying bikes, she’d also done comparison research on automobile dealerships and trends. As she backed out of her parking spot and switched on the heat in her car, she figured Nash had left his bike at home in lieu of a warmer mode of travel.
Twenty minutes later she followed Nash’s truck into an apartment complex parking lot. He was out of his truck and on his way over to her car by the time she’d grabbed her purse and opened the door. Nash stood on the sidewalk in front of her car, his keys jingling in his hand.
“I’m in the building down here. I think all my neighbors get off work between three and four in the afternoon because by the time I get home all the spots in front of my entrance are taken,” he was saying as Mica stepped up onto the curb and began walking beside him.
“It looks like a nice, quiet place,” she said as she surveyed her surroundings.
It was already beginning to get dark, but she could see the three-story brick structures coordinated into a ‘U’ shape with a small area of grass and a couple of benches in the center, pretty clearly.
“I guess you had to find an apartment when you came here too,” he said and then opened a glass door, holding it until she walked in first. “Where are you staying?”
His question came as she waited for him to come inside and take the lead once more.
“Me?” she asked, wondering how best to respond. She couldn’t tell the truth.
“Yeah. You’re new to Destine, right? Since you didn’t know about the diner where we had lunch.”
Nash had begun walking up the stairs. This was after he’d stopped to unlock one of the mailboxes on the wall just inside the door.
Mica walked behind him, again wondering what to say. She hadn’t known about Lola’s Diner, but she had remembered how good the meatloaf was there and had actually taken a ride back to the place last Sunday for dinner.
“Yes, I am new to Destine. I, um, had relatives here so there was no need for me to find someplace to stay.”
That was true enough. But was it informative enough or would Nash press further? She’d already noted that Destine wasn’t a big city, so she figured there was a good chance that lifetime citizens here would know just about every other resident.
