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“I have a credit card I can give you,” he said. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, and I smacked it out of his hand.
“No!” I mouthed as if I yelled it. I fumbled for his wallet and when he reached for it, I rammed it beneath me and sat on it.
“Yes, I can hold. Thank you.” His lips pressed together, and he shook his head. “Don’t think I won’t shove my hands under your ass.”
My mouth dropped open. “You wouldn’t.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Sure, but only if we can use Monopoly money, because that’s all I’m going to have after this.”
A devious smirk appeared on his too handsome face. “I don’t need the card. I have the number memorized.” Something that sounded like a growl rushed past my lips.
“You can pay me back,” he said.
“No… I… Ugh.” I flung the flap of my crossbody bag open and dug out my card holder. I plucked out three credit cards. “I have seventy-five on this one. And a hundred on this one. Oh, and this one I have like a hundred and twenty-five.”
Nero’s eyebrow arched toward his perfect hairline. “Are you crazy?”
“This is my fault. I don’t need you paying because—” My words broke off as his hand cupped my tightened jaw. His thumb brushed lovingly across the clenched skin. I inhaled, a sense of calm floating through me from his simple touch.
“We’ll figure it out, but if you think I’m going to let you max out three credit cards to get a tow when I can take care of it, you’re out of your damn mind. Let me do this.” His thumb brushed again, his dark blue eyes holding my gaze.
“Sir?” the person on the other end said, but Nero didn’t answer.
“Please,” he mouthed to me.
I closed my eyes, savoring the warmth of his touch, and nodded.
“Yes, I’m here.” His hand fell from my face, and I wanted to grab it and press it back to my cheek. When he looked at me like that, it made me think the two of us were a possibility. But then I reminded myself he just wanted to get home, and the longer I argued and refused his help, the more time we wasted.
He ended the call and settled into the seat, his head still staring at his phone while his fingers moved across the screen. “They’re sending a truck. Said he’s out grabbing another car, so it could be a while.”
“How long is a while?” I asked.
“Two hours.”
“Two hours!” I exclaimed. “At this rate, we’re not going to be home until eight.”
“Actually, we’re not going to get home until tomorrow.”
My head went full on Exorcist. “Excuse me?”
I didn’t have any other cakes to be made this weekend or picked up. I spent most of my time on this one. But I had a few potential customers coming in to do a tasting. I couldn’t cancel on them. Not when people waited months to meet with me. Shit. The cakes were already made. I was going to have to get in touch with Austin, and he was going to have to manage for me, broken wrist or not.
I sent a quick text, telling him what had happened and begging for him to open for me tomorrow. I noticed Sherry replied to my earlier text, and sent a funny GIF in response.
“They can send the tow, but then can’t look at the car until the morning. I thought about calling Laurent or Rhone to come get us, but then we’d still have to drive back here in the morning to get your car. So it’s easier to stay the night.”
“Stay the night? In the car?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He put his phone down. “I booked a hotel. Check in is in an hour. We can grab something to eat, wait for the tow, then go to the hotel.”
Thoughts raced through my head, and I couldn’t manage to get a single one to flow into my mouth. A hotel? With Nero? Overnight? What in the hell was happening right now?
“You can go then. There’s no reason for you to stay.”
“Absolutely not. I’m not leaving you in a city that you’re unfamiliar with alone.”
