ack around to her side and sliding in, slamming the door shut. She hi

all over her cloth seats, his fac

hrough the rain-streaked window. Seeing nothing more than a stalled car with two occupants, he seeme

e she'd been holding. The immediate dange

d space with a complete stranger she w

diated an energy that was both intimidating and magnetic. The air was thick with th

aving a puddle

k and grabbed a small, faded towel she kept for emergencies

, were deliberate and surprisingly graceful as he dried his hai

r of her eye, her suspicion warring

n drive. "You can get out." She started to pull the car

he sheets of rain lashing against the glass. "Get

simple, yet it hung in the air bet

said, stating the obvious. "Go

, his tone was flat, stripped of his earlier arrogance

ave a home

th surprising force. She turned her head to loo

exhaustion etched around his eyes. There was no deceit there, no cunning act. J

table, something like empath

ense of place, of belonging, had been

ice softer now, her inner prosecutor still

licked road ahead. "Right now," he said, a

warm air into the chilled space

screaming at her. Push him out. He's a stranger. He cou

, couldn't do it. She couldn't leave another human being stranded in a storm,

She saw the ruined pack of cigarettes. S

ender, she made a decision that she kne

ur name?"

ised by the que

fully onto the street, merging with the sparse late-night traffic. "Listen, Andrew.

t out loud. I'm going to le

of her new apartment. That place that only s

this angry, suspicious woman had suddenly changed her mind, but he wasn't goi

d his eyes, the relentless tension that had grippe