Page 92 of Drive

“What are you going to do about the ugly front man?” Nate asked.

I felt the residual tug and tamped it down. “It’s not always the front man.”

He shut off the main light in the office, leaving us in pitch dark.

We walked toward the moonlit lobby as he set the alarm.

“Nate?”

“Yeah?” he said, punching in the security code, his back to me.

“Nothing.”

He walked us out of the front door and locked it up with me on his heels.

“’Night.”

“No ride tonight?”

I shrugged. “Roomie is working.”

“Come on. I’ll take you home.”

“I’m good,” I said.

“Not with the camera in your backpack, you aren’t,” he scorned as he walked us toward the parking lot.

“To hell with me, right? As long as the camera’s safe.” He unlocked the passenger door and then nailed me to it with his stare alone. “What do you want to hear, Stella?”

“Huh?” I asked as he closed the space between us, swallowing hard while he hovered. He searched my eyes under the streetlight and then bent his head. “Stella.”

“Uh huh?” He smelled amazing, and I couldn’t stop myself from breathing him in. I was tempted to grip his broad shoulders and pull him closer. It would be so easy to touch him, an attempt at a little reprieve from the ache. Bury the handle so I could never find the shovel again. But I’d bounced from one man to the next and got eaten by curious flames. And everything inside me told me that Nate’s blue fire would stir up those ashes and mold them into something unrecognizable.

“You’ve got to step back so I can open the door.”

“Okay.”

I took a step back. He hesitated and then opened it for me.

He was quiet as he took the streets toward my apartment. I watched him bite his lips, his shoulders rigid, and his eyes straight ahead. There was a reason I rebuked every attempt he made at something more between us.

Reid.

He’s your boss.

Reid.

Your future could depend on doing well at his paper.

Reid.

And just like that, I was under water, stifling the flames.

“Hungry?” Nate asked as I caught myself staring at his profile.

“Starving,” I said as my stomach rolled.

“What are you in the mood for?”