Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
He was right. I couldn’t go back for my car. “That’s true. I’ll rent one here. That’ll save some time. I’m going to go. Good luck with your flight.”
I turned and started to weave my way back through the terminal toward the exit. I dreaded driving half a day on the highway, but I dreaded the thought of living in Texas even more.
Luckily, I caught the Air Tran to the rental car center just as the doors were starting to slide closed. In the center, I picked the agency with no line.
“I need to rent a car for the day for a one-way trip to Los Angeles?”
The woman typed into her keyboard. “What size car are you looking for?”
“Whatever is the least expensive.”
“I have an economy available. It’s a Chevy Spark.”
“That’s fine.”
“Actually,” a deep, familiar voice said next to me, “can we get a full size, please?”
My head swung to find Bennett standing next to me.
He extended his driver’s license to the woman behind the counter and graced her with his signature, charming smile. “And put it under my name. I’ll be driving. I can’t take five and a half hours of listening to her drive.”
The woman looked between the two of us and then addressed me. “Would you like me to change it to a full size, ma’am?”
I addressed Bennett. “Did they cancel your flight or something?”
“Yep.”
I thought about sharing a car with Bennett. Six hours of him being mean to me or giving me the cold shoulder was worse than driving alone.
I looked back at the rental agent. “I’ll take an economy. Mr. Fox can rent a full size if he wants.”
“Seriously? I’ll pay for half. It’ll cost you less than an economy car by yourself.”
“It’s not a matter of money. The company will pay for it anyway. I just think it would be better if we drove separately.”
He looked perplexed. “Why?”
I looked at the agent, who raised her brows and shrugged, as if to say she’d like to know why, too.
“Because you’ve been a jerk to me. I don’t want to deal with that for the long drive. I’d rather be by myself.”
Bennett’s face fell. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought hearing me say that made him feel bad. We stared at each other. I could see the wheels in his head turning as he mulled over his response.
The muscle in his jaw clenched, and his eyes darted back and forth between mine. “Fine. I apologize.”
This man ran so damn hot and cold. “And you’ll be nice for the entire trip?”
He sighed. “Yes, Annalise. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
I looked back at the agent. “We’ll take a mid-size car.”
I caught Bennett’s mouth opening to say something in my peripheral vision, so I nipped that in the bud. “It’s a compromise.”
He shook his head. “Fine.”
And just like that, I was about to take a road trip with the Beast.
Chapter 16
* * *
Annalise
I didn’t argue over who would take the first shift driving—only because I really hate driving anyway. But I did use Bennett’s wanting to be behind the wheel to negotiate that the passenger had control of the radio.
We’d been on the road for about two hours now, and our conversation had been limited, mostly polite small talk about work. He seemed to be off somewhere else, although I wasn’t sure if he was lost in thought or maybe he liked quiet to concentrate when he drove. I figured I would follow suit on the limited talking in case it was the latter.
“There’s a rest stop in about a mile,” Bennett said. “I’m going to stop to use the restroom. But they also have a Starbucks if you want coffee or anything.”
“Oh, that’s great. I don’t have to go, but I’ll definitely grab a coffee. I need more caffeine. Want me to pick you up anything?”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Whatever dark roast they have with cream, no sugar.”
“Okay.”
At the rest stop, Bennett went to the bathroom while I waited in a long line for coffee and scrolled through my emails on my phone. Earlier I’d emailed Marina to let her know about our change in plans. I knew some airlines canceled your return flight if you didn’t show up for the first leg of the trip, so I’d asked her to contact Delta and make sure we stayed booked on our return flights. Her response was interesting.
Hi, Annalise. You’re all set. Since your flight hadn’t taken off yet, they let me convert it to a one-way ticket without a change fee due to their delay. Your itinerary number is the same. But since Bennett’s flight had already taken off, his return was automatically canceled, and I had to book him a new one way and apply for a refund on his outbound. He has a new itinerary number: QJ5GRL