“And this doesn’t give you reason to do something about it now? Knowing that she could seriously hurt you doesn’t scare you into taking measures.”
“I want it all to be legal, Evan. I do want her out of my life as soon as possible, and if I can give her what she wants then I’ll do it. I’ll give her the money she wants and they’ll all be out the house,” she insisted.
“That house is not worth your life!” he said incredulously.
A horn honked from the street and they both looked at a dark new updated custom Ram pickup. A Caucasian man sat behind the wheel his face was a mask of confusion but did not detract from his soft blue eyes and long pitch-black lashes. Immediately she noticed the broad shoulders and lean frame -this was a very handsome man
Evan moved slightly in front of her protectively. “Can I help you?” he snarled.
He had made a weird U-turn and was on their side of the street. He leaned to the window slightly from the driver’s side and said, “I’m looking for an apartment over in this area and have become a bit lost. Could you please help me?”
“No!” Evan sneered.
“Yes,” she said at the same time.
Evan looked back at her with ‘are-you-crazy’ look and moved in front of him. “What street?” she asked the guy.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked. “I can hardly hear your soft pretty voice, ma’am.”
She smiled and moved closer. Evan was on her ass like white on rice as if this man was going to jump out and kidnap her. She doubted it, because he looked too friendly for words, although looks could be deceiving.
“My name is Paul,” he said. “I’m from Harper Woods, and I haven’t traveled this far into the city in years.”
Shane could tell he was telling the truth. He looked worse than a fish out of water. “You’re looking for what street, Paul?” she asked, coming closer to the truck.
Evan put a hand on her arm protectively and eyed the man warily.
Paul looked down at some directions on a piece of paper and then said, “Elmhurst. Someone told me to take this street straight down until it ends, but I haven’t seen anything.”
“Well, you can always wait until the morning,” Evan suggested. “If you call the western district police office, they’ll be happy to help you.”
“I wish it were that easy, but I need to get there tonight, sir,” he said politely to Evan and then looked back at Shane searching her eyes desperately for help.
“If you go down this street to Wyoming, take a left, and then take a right on Grand River.” She spoke slow and precise noting how attentive he watched her speak, while writing down what she was saying. “On that street, you’ll take a right to Livernois, then make a left and go down until you see an old police precinct.” Yes, he was definitely looking her up and down as if making an assessment about her. Even though it was cold outside, Shane felt hot under the collar. “At the light before the precinct, you’ll make a left and that’s Elmhurst.”
He looked down at the instructions he had written and when he looked up at her he still looked confused and harried.
“You have a good night,” Evan said, trying to draw Shane away.
She stuck her ground and asked Paul concerned, “Do you think you can find it?”
“Honestly?” he asked. “No, but what if I give you a hundred dollars, will you personally take me there?”
“No!” Evan said emphatically.
This was a stranger, but he looked lost and desperate. Still a bill wouldn’t get her close to her fifty grand. Although every little bit helped.
“I’m sorry, Paul, but I shouldn’t. You are a stranger,” she said.
“Five hundred,” he offered taking the money out his wallet and holding it up.
She gasped seeing that amount just fly out of his wallet as if it were pocket change. Reaching in the cab, she pushed both his hand down. “Don’t go flashing that kind of money around these streets!” She almost called him an idiot, but bit her tongue.
By the way he act, he hadn’t been in the city a very long time.
He used this opportunity to take her hand in his and look deep in her eyes. She felt some erotic connection instantly as if he were caressing her soul with just his eyes. “Please,” he said in a very low voice that Evan couldn’t hear. “I won’t hurt you.”
Her lips had suddenly gone dry. That she had allowed him to touch her for so long and not draw her hand away was alarming in to her. That her comfort level did not become bothered by his proximity was alarming two- fold. Looking over her shoulder at Evan, she saw his look of complete disapproval and withdrew her hand with reluctance from Paul’s touch. “I-I don’t’ think I should.” Yet the money was tempting.”
“This is crazy, Shane,” Evan said.
She sighed. “Wait a second,” she told Paul and stepped a few feet away from the truck to have a private word with Evan.
“I’m not going to let you get in that car with that man!” Evan said. “I’ll go with him”
She shook her head. “I don’t think he trusts you, Evan. I mean you’ve been giving him dirty looks since he pulled up. He’s from the suburbs; you think he’s going to trust you?”
“And you think he trusts you?”
Looking at Paul who nervously tapped the wheel, she said, “Yes, I think so.”
“Crazy men come to the city and slice up pretty girls all the time,” Evan sneered.
“He’s not crazy.”
“This is about the stupidest thing you could ever think of doing, Shane.”
Strangely she wanted to go. Not because she just wanted to help him out or she desperately needed the money, but because she wanted to explore the odd feelings that were aroused inside of her. Why did she have the sensation when he touched her? What was it about him that made her feel so relaxed? “Look Evan, you and I both know to pass up money like this is crazy. He can give you half and I’ll take the other half. I’ll get his driver’s license information, while you sneak to the back and take down his plate. If anything happens to me, you know where to go. I’ll let you keep the two-fifty and we’ll call it even. No one has to know and I’ll call you as soon as I get to my house.”
“You think they’ll let you use the phone at your house?” he asked, knowing the negative answer to this question before she could even answer it.
She snatched his cell phone off his belt and put it in her jacket. “I’ll be fine,” she assured him and then went back over to Paul. “You give him half now and when I get you there you can give me the rest.”
He looked surprised that she was agreeing to come with him, but then quickly nodded. “Sure, sure.” Keeping his wallet low, he took the money out and handed it out the window to Evan who snatched it away.
“Wait!” she said to Paul before he put his wallet away. “I need to see some ID.”
“You can hold it,” he said, giving her his ID.
Shane warily took it and watched in her peripheral vision as Evan checked out the license plate. “I’ll call you,” she promised Evan.
Evan only nodded and watched as she went around the truck. Paul unlocked the doors and leaned over and opened it for her. He took his cap off his head in courtesy as she entered the cabin. As soon as the light came on, the long thick legs that led up to a lean muscular body and an even more surprisingly handsome face for a white guy caught her off guard. Obscure midnight blue eyes from the shadows peered down from pitch-black hair that was cut short in the back, but came down long over his forehead near his eyes.
“Hi,” she said rather breathlessly.
He smiled a wide reassuring grim. Evan cleared his throat, the sound breaking their intense eye contact.
“If you hurt a hair on her head,” Evan sneered at Paul. “I’ll personally find you and break every bone in your body.”
Paul only nodded, but respectfully didn’t break eye contact with Evan until he felt Evan was only a little assured he had turned his friend over in safe hands. She slid
in the passenger seat and watched as Paul carefully gripped the wheel with one hand and waited for her to close the door ensconcing them in darkness. He put the truck in drive and pulled away from the corner. Her eyes carefully watched as his strong arms took control of the wheel and guided the large truck into the midnight somewhat busy traffic.
Shane wondered would this night change her life. Would she see Evan again? And would she figure out her strange attraction to Paul?
Chapter 3
Plymouth, the street they traveled down, was pretty busy at night at night. Many of the good all night Coney Island’s nightclubs were on this street, as well as other popular after party venues.
Shane could have kicked herself for being stupid enough to get into a car with a complete stranger. Evan was probably kicking himself as well and she gripped the phone tightly and forced herself to breath calmly.
Cutting her eyes toward him without moving her head, she studied him in her peripheral vision. He was nervously tapping the wheel and this put her at ease a little. He was just as apprehensive as she was.
The first light they stopped at, he said, “Thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem. I had nothing better to do tonight, but sleep,” she teased relaxing a little.
He looked over at her and frowned. “Did you hurt yourself?”
Shane turned away ashamed so he wouldn’t see her eye that much. “Yeah, I’m pretty clumsy.” By now the black eye had become a slight scar under her eye, but it was going away.
“An ex-girlfriend of mine use to say that about her father too,” he said more under his breath.
Shane didn’t respond, but pretended interest in the light.
After the light changed, he asked, “Will you let me know your name?”
“Shane,” she answered quietly. “What’s so important this late at night, Paul?”
“Business. My father left a building to my brother and me on this side of town. The property manager died and there was a small fire this morning. My brother went to check it this afternoon and get the fire report, plus determines the damage. Someone stole his truck and he’s been stranded for the past three hours while I’ve been trying to find him.”
She would not admit she had heard very little of what he had said, because for some reason she couldn’t take her eyes off his lips. Thin yet sensuous, he spoke as if every word mattered. Did he know he did this or was this just a natural way he exuded his attraction to women?
Her throat went dry and she jammed her hands in her jacket pocket to find the hospital’s petroleum jelly she always carried with her. Clearing her throat, she forced her eyes to look straight as they hit another red light. She became very aware that they were an arms length of room between them and nothing to stop him from sliding over and…
“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly.
She looked at him frowning. “What for?”
“I’ve made you uncomfortable with my staring, haven’t I?” he assumed.
Shane felt she was the one who should apologize. She had a feeling it wouldn’t have mattered if Paul were black, there was something about his persona that she found… attractive. “No reason to be sorry.”
“I just haven’t had the experience of…” He stopped himself.
“What?” she asked now very interested in what he had to say.
He stopped himself and actually flushed, bringing a boyish charm to his face. I’ve never had the pleasure of personally conversing with a woman of your color,” he admitted. “It’s mostly business and impersonal.”
She was amused at his round about way of speaking. “If I didn’t know better, you just said you don’t know a lot of black people.”
H nodded as they came to another light. “So do you?” he asked, looking over at her.
“Yes, I know a lot of black people,” she teased.
Paul flushed again and chuckled getting her sense of humor immediately. “That’s not what I meant, Shane. Do you know a lot of people like me?”
“Nervous and lost? No, but white? Yes. He’s a good friend of the family.” She really didn’t want to go into the lawyer bit, because then she knew he would probably inquire about her trust and so forth. A discussion she hated speaking about – her family.
“I’m not the talker as you can see,” Paul admitted. “My brother is the talker. He could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. I’m more of a doer. I do business, while my brother relates to the clients and customers.”
“That’s okay, Paul.” She was refreshed by his honesty in himself.
“What’s a nice girl like you doing out on a night like this?” he questioned.
They arrived at Wyoming, but she decided they could get to Elmhurst faster if they went another route. “Don’t get in the left lane,” she ordered. “We’re going straight.”
He frowned with a little wariness in his eyes. “According to your directions we’re supposed to turn.”
“Let’s just say we’re taking the Batman route.”
Paul followed her directions and stayed straight. If she had other intentions, he decided he would trust her still.
“I work part-time at the McDonald’s from where you picked me up,” she said answering his prior questions. She opened her jacket to show off her uniform.
“Why don’t you look like a McDonald’s type of person? And you certainly don’t act like someone who works there.” He winced. “I’m doing it again.”
“What?”
“Putting my foot in my mouth.”
“It doesn’t look so bad there,” she teased.
He smiled. “Like I said, I’m not the talker.”
“What do you do, Paul?” she inquired.
“My brother and I own real estate. Plus, we head up a liquidation firm in Harper Woods. Our house also works sometimes like our secondary office. You’d like it.”
What was the chance of her possibly meeting a real estate owner in the middle of the night on the way home from work? Obviously a good possibility since he was sitting next to her. She frowned a bit disarmed. “How would you know what I like, Paul?”
“I wouldn’t dare to do anymore presuming, Shane. I don’t think I can get my foot any further down my throat,” he quickly said.
It was her turn to laugh and be put at ease. Although she still found it strange that he happened to be in the real estate business, she figured maybe this was her lucky day.
“My brother does all the real estate basically,” he explained. “Like I said, he works with the clients and customers, while I’m in charge of the business end. I go into homes of the deceased and liquidate the items in the house. We also do businesses as well. I get the best price for everything, and then after we take out our percentage, we give a check over to the person’s relatives or the business that took over the estate.”
Shane could tell Paul enjoyed his job and took his business very seriously. She had a feeling that anything attacked with complete focus and determination.
He seemed to radiate his enjoyment for his work as he spoke. From his hands to his lips, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Quickly, she caught herself staring before he noticed. She determined he was naturally sensuous. A rare quality in a man, yet could he incite sensuality in a woman? In her?
Shane blushed to herself. Never in her life had she had such thoughts about any man – especially a complete stranger! Opening up her jacket a little bit more, she looked to see if the heat was high in the car. It was not. Yet she felt like her temperature was rising all over.
The next light was a three way street. Giving him instructions on how to get through the maze of roads, they stopped at the longest light.
Paul looked at her and even though it was dark she could feel his eyes searching her face. “Can I ask you a favor?” His voice had gone peculiarly deep.
“Depends on the favor,” she said, mildly curious.
He seemed to lean over to her. “Can I touch your face?” Before she had a chance to protest, he quickly add
ed, “I want to see if you skin is as soft as it looks.”
With words like that she found her senses clamoring in alarm. Her own fascination with him grew ten times and the thought of making that connection made her mind swirl erratically. “Yes, Paul.”
Paul was surprised she had agreed to the request, but immediately raised his hand and slowly let the back of his knuckles touch her left cheek. He glided the tip of his thumb under her chin turning her face towards him. Her eyes closed partially as she could not only feel his physical touch, but there was more. A soul stirring sensation that brought to life a spirit buried deep inside of her. His thumb rubbed her other cheek and his fingertips briefly caressed her now parted lips as they moved up over her nose flowing over to her forehead, then his palm cupped her cheek.
The movement had been so fluid and detailed as each stroke seemed to ignite the spirit inside of her. Shane leaned into his warm soft hand and turned her mouth towards his palm pressing her lip against his flesh.
Gasping, she jerked away and grabbed his hand as if it had hurt. Meeting his eyes, she was surprised to find pure fascination filling his gaze.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked concerned.
She could only shake her head and looked away trying to control her breathing because she didn’t want to show how much he had really affected her. “I didn’t mean…”
He cut her off. “Don’t apologize, Shane.”
Realizing she was still holding his hand, she released it and moved as far against the passenger door as possible. He had scooted over a little, but his body size was so impressive he could stretch quite far and make it seem close enough.
Drawing The Line (Mistaken Identity Series) Page 3
