welcome, Miss Mind. Always willing to help a lady in distress.”
Not that she’d been in distress, but she supposed she could have been if another car with not such a nice driver had shown up on the deserted road. Now that she was safely at the gas station, Celeste could appreciate the thought.
He started to walk out, but stopped at the magazine rack. Instead of leaving, he picked up a magazine and started paging through it.
Celeste fished through her wallet while she spoke to the young attendant behind the counter. “Is there any way I could trouble you or any of the other staff for a ride back to my car? I would be happy to pay for the inconvenience.”
“Sorry, lady,” the young clerk replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Like, I’m the only one here, you know, and I can’t lock up and leave. My shift just started. If you need a ride I’d be happy to oblige you, but you gotta wait for my shift to end and Josh to get here.”
Celeste contemplated her options. A cab would cost more money than she could afford, but she didn’t have anyone she could call to come and get her. She certainly wasn’t going to wait seven hours at the gas station for a ride.
Adrian appeared at her side. “I’ll gladly give you a ride back to your car. What would it take to convince you that my intentions are indeed honorable?”
She stared up at him. Her mind went blank.
“I know…” His voice trailed off as he dug into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Here.”
Celeste automatically accepted what he gave her. It was his driver’s license and a credit card.
“This proves I’m who I say I am. It’s a bad picture, but that’s me. See?” He frowned and closed one eye slightly more than the other to imitate a typical bad driver’s license photo. “And that’s my signature, right there. Besides, everyone at the gas station has seen us.”
Celeste somehow doubted that mass murderers gained the trust of their victims with photo I.D. and a major credit card.
She smiled politely, resigned to her fate, while she read the information on the driver’s license. The walk back would surely kill her anyway, even if Braithwaite, Adrian Andrew, single male, age twenty-nine, 185 pounds, six feet one inch tall, dark-brown hair, hazel eyes, didn’t. “You win,” she mumbled, trying to sound gracious. “I would be forever grateful if you could give me a ride back to the car.”
They walked in silence to his car, where in gentlemanly fashion, he opened the passenger door for her, then closed it firmly when she was settled in her seat. When he entered the driver’s side, Celeste pressed herself against the door and watched his every move.
He sighed as she continued to watch him. “Please, don’t be so nervous. Let me show you I really am a decent human being.” Instead of starting the car, Adrian reached between the seats, pulled out an envelope, and handed her the paper from inside. It was a phone bill.
“That’s my mother’s phone number. See how often I call her? You can even phone her yourself.” Triumphantly, he retrieved the cellular phone from under his seat and offered it to her again.
Celeste scanned the bill, showing a number of charges to the same number. “This bill is overdue.”
Adrian’s smile faded as he snatched back the paper. “No it’s not.” He studied it further. “That’s an old bill. See where I tore off the bottom part to mail it in?”
“How do I know it’s your mother? I only have your word for it.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “So then phone your mother.” He handed her the phone, then reached in front of her and flipped open the glove compartment, revealing a jumble of papers stuffed so tightly she didn’t know how the small compartment hadn’t exploded. He pulled out a plastic envelope, quickly pushed the papers back, and slammed the door shut. “Here’s my vehicle registration. You’ve already seen my driver’s license. Phone your mother and tell her who you’re with so if you go missing the cops will come and arrest me.”
As she pressed the power button and waited for the phone to locate the signal, she could feel his eyes upon her.
Celeste didn’t raise her head, only her eyes, and blatantly stared back. The privacy and confined quarters of his car allowed her to study his face closer than she had inside the gas station. He didn’t turn away. He only smiled, openly inviting her scrutiny.
Even with him looking right back, she couldn’t stop staring. Up close, his hazel eyes seemed more than friendly. They radiated sincerity and kindness. While he wasn’t exactly movie-star handsome, he wasn’t bad.
Summoning all her self control, she forced herself to quit staring and switched her attention to the phone. Quickly, she punched in her mother’s phone number, then held the phone up to her ear until it made the connection. While she waited she looked back up at Adrian.
He hadn’t moved. It suddenly occurred to her that while she had been studying him, he had been studying her. As soon as their eyes met, he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, almost as if he could tell she needed more space.
Despite the fact that he’d been nothing but a perfect gentleman, her insides still quivered and she remained tense, ready to open the door and run.
“It’s busy. I guess I’ll just have to trust you.”
While Adrian started the engine, Celeste reminded herself that although it had taken hours to walk here, they would be back at her mother’s car in approximately ten minutes. However, by the time they reached it, Celeste was filled with guilt at having been so rotten to him. He had remained with her to ensure her safety, and now he was going out of his way to help her again.
He watched from a respectable distance as Celeste stood beside the gas cap and fumbled with the opening to the gas can.
She didn’t raise her head as she spoke. “I really appreciate all your help,” she mumbled, “especially after I was so rude when you were only trying to be nice.”
He answered her with a humorless smile. “Don’t worry about it. I understand. I’m glad I was able to help. You must be tired after that long walk.”
“Yes. Pride has its price.”
After a few chugs and a puff of black smoke, the car started. She rolled the window down and leaned out. “Thanks again, Adrian,”
“You’re welcome. Any time.”
She pulled onto the highway and watched in the rearview mirror as Adrian drove behind her. She stopped at the same gas station she’d just been at minutes ago, and waved at Adrian as he continued past.
It took so long to fill the car’s large gas tank that Celeste nearly fell asleep on her feet. However, when the pump clicked off to indicate the tank was finally full, the amount of money on the display jolted her to full wakefulness.
As she walked into the building once again and waited in line to pay, she tried to calculate how much more her mother’s sorry excuse for a car would cost while her mother was gone.
“I see you’re back. Anything else you need?”
Celeste shook her head and pulled her wallet out of her purse. Since she didn’t have that much cash on her, she was forced to charge the amount. As she ran her fingers over the slots in her wallet to pull out her credit card, her hand froze.
Tucked neatly in her wallet were Adrian Braithwaite’s driver’s license and credit card.
Chapter Two
In the privacy of her kitchen, Celeste surveyed Adrian’s driver’s license.
Even though she hadn’t lived in the neighborhood very long, she recognized his address as two blocks east and three streets north from her own rented duplex. Before she’d moved in, she’d checked out the neighborhood. She had probably even driven past his