Driving Stick (Bride of the Billionaire)

Did that really happen?

Did I just do that?

Did I really just have my first kiss?

And who is that guy, anyway?

Despite all those thoughts fighting for their place in my mind, there’s one that continues to win out every time: will I ever see him again?

It’s not that strange of a thing to think. He is attractive. There’s no denying that…and attractive would be putting it mildly. He’s incredibly good-looking. Probably the handsomest man I’ve ever met.

No. Not probably. Definitely.

So wanting to see him again could just come down to a natural, biological attraction, right? Nope.

There’s something more to it. He’s mysterious and I want to know more. What does he do for a living and how it is he can afford to live where he’s living?

I’m all ready to tell my mom about the encounter when I get home, but as I step inside, I find her sitting at the kitchen table, crying, with a piece of paper in her hand. She sees me and forces a smile – the one she always gives when she’s trying to act like nothing’s wrong.

“Hey, honey! How was your drive?”

Ugh, how can I even begin to tell her what just happened now?

I set my purse down and pull up a chair. “What’s wrong, Ma?”

Usually when something bad has happened, Ma finds a way to break the ice to me by throwing in a joke or making things seem like they’re not as bad as they are. But this time, when she looks at me, tears pour out of her eyes.

“Honey, I am so sorry,” she cries. “But...we’re being foreclosed on.”

My heart shakes. I know we’ve been having some money problems lately, but I didn’t know they’d gotten this bad. The bills from dad’s cancer treatment piled up after he lost his insurance coverage. He’s been gone six years now but we’re still paying off his medical debt.

Mom got laid off from her accounting job a few months ago and has been working at the local plant nursery but they don’t pay much. I thought between the two of us that we’d be able to survive. I guess I was wrong.

“When?” I ask. My heart’s breaking – for my mom. She’s tried so hard to keep our lives together, and I know this must be killing her.

“We have until the end of the month.”

Three weeks.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” I say as I go over and put my hand on her back. “We’ll get through this.”

Honestly, I don’t know how, but I’m doing my best. If I falter now, so will she, and then everything will be one big mess. But as my mom wipes her tears with a napkin, a thought springs into my mind.

Caleb’s offer…

“I am not joking. How’s ten grand a month sound?”

But I can’t. Maybe I don’t know much about men (aka anything), but I know enough to know that Caleb doesn’t just want me behind the wheel of his car. He wants to be behind me.

Did I just make a dirty joke to myself at a time like this? What is wrong with me?

“Come on, Ma,” I say. “Let’s have some ice cream and watch Netflix. We have all the time in the world tomorrow to worry about this.”

Ma glances up at me as she wipes her tears and smiles. “It’s nice to know I have the best daughter in the world.”

I wake up the next morning to the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. I glance at the clock: 10:38 AM. Ma should already be at work, so unless she forgot something at home and has come back for it, there’s someone else outside. Brushing my hair out of my face, I listen, and seconds later, hear a heavy knock on the door.

A man’s knock.