He sat up holding an ankle weight. He attached it to the bottom of the steering wheel. “The car wants to feel the weight of my hands on the steering wheel, so when I’ve got to do other things, I put this on it.”
She tried to quell her alarm. “Is that safe?” She’d only ever driven beater cars. Hers didn’t even have a backup camera.
“Perfectly safe.” He turned to her with a soulful gaze. “I’d rather look at you than at the street.”
“That’s nice, but I think we should look at the street because I just met your car, and I don’t trust it not to kill me.”
He reached for her hand. “You’re hilarious. And beautiful. I think I’m in love.”
“You’re just drunk. I’m told the feelings are similar. You’ll probably regret both in the morning.” His hand on hers no longer felt soothing. It felt distracting and intrusive.
He scooted closer. “I want to kiss you.”
Her eyes kept darting to the street. “Bad idea. Can your car effectively drive when there’s a weight attached to it? That has to slow its reaction time, doesn’t it?”
“It’s fine.”
Was it, though?
If a console hadn’t separated her from Nick, he would’ve already been in her seat. Since she was leaning away from him, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. Then kissed it again.
Dude, read the room. Her gaze went to the street again. “Sorry. I can’t feel romantic when I’m worried about dying.”
This date was becoming surreal. Her mind still hadn’t fully processed what had happened with Snake Man and was now inventing scenarios where she suddenly woke up at a crash scene and had to explain to the paramedics why she’d thought it was okay to let an ankle-weight drive the car.
A stern-faced EMT would peer down at her and say, “You must have realized your date was drunk. Why didn’t you stop him from attaching gym equipment to the steering wheel?”
Nick moved closer, undeterred. “We can go somewhere else if you want.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Before she could answer, her attention was drawn to flashing lights that had just turned on behind them. A police car was following them.
Well, this night just kept getting better.
Nick swore and returned to his side of the car. He ripped the ankle weight off the steering wheel, tossed it under the seat, and slowed down, all the time watching the lights in the rearview mirror. “What does he want with us? I wasn’t speeding.” Nick turned into a gas station parking lot and stopped.
Riley hoped that the police car would drive past them, that it had been heading somewhere else. But it didn’t. Of course, it didn’t. It followed them into the parking lot and pulled up behind them.
Riley pressed her hands together in silent supplication that Lucas Clark wasn’t the policeman in the squad car. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
Apparently, yes, it was.
Lucas stepped out of the car and sauntered up to them.
CHAPTER 4
Riley sat perfectly still and hoped the darkness hid her face. Nick, on the other hand, perked up when he saw Lucas striding up to them. Nick rolled down the window, letting the cold seep into the car. “Lucas, my man. Long time, no see. I assume you pulled me over because you want to get a better look at my ride. Pretty sweet, huh?”
Lucas leaned down to peer into the car at Nick. “Very sweet. Can I have your license and registration?”
Nick squinted at Lucas. “You already know who I am. We went to high school together.”
Lucas regarded him patiently. “I have to run your license to see if you have any outstanding warrants, not because I don’t recognize you. It’s policy.” It was then that his gaze moved to the passenger seat. His eyes fixed on Riley, first startled, then disapproving.
So much for the darkness hiding her identity.
Nick didn’t reach for his wallet. “Why’d you pull me over? I know for a fact I wasn’t speeding.” He tapped the steering wheel. “Self-driving. She’s programmed to obey all of the laws.”
“Someone called in your license plate,” Lucas said. “Were you just at Legends?”