Page 3 of Forbidden Bond

My eyes find his, and our gazes connect. “Why are you so sure those things are worse than you?”

A smirk this time. “I’m not.”

He walks to his car and opens the door. After one last look at me and a small wave, he gets inside, and a few seconds later, he’s gone. It isn’t until he leaves that I realize that my heart had been racing. It slows down a little with his departure, but now I’m considering the consequences of chasing away someone who had been perfectly willing to help me.

I try to order a cab again but there’s none anywhere close to here. This road is practically abandoned this time of the night.

Twenty minutes roll by and now I’m actually regretting chasing away the handsome stranger. Right when I’m gearing up to start walking, headlights flash in the direction the stranger left from. His car rolls to a stop right in front of me and he rolls down his window.

“Hate to break it to you, princess, but I don’t think your Prince Charming’s coming to save you. Looks like you’re stuck with me.”

I stare at him in surprise for several seconds. “Didn’t you leave?”

“I did. I was about ten minutes away before my conscience started to kick in. My mamma always told me to be a gentleman and help a woman in need. So I stopped and waited for a bit in hopes that your friend would show up. He did not,” he states.

Embarrassment prickles at my skin. But I’m also kind of touched he went to all that trouble to wait.

“You promise you’re not a serial killer, or a rapist, or a terrorist…?”

“You have a pretty wild imagination, don’t you?” he asks.

I shrug and he grins.

“I promise to cause you no bodily harm. Or any harm at all.”

Satisfied with that, I head to my car and grab my bag, locking it behind me as I walk to the passenger seat of his car. I’ll come back for my car in the morning. His scent surrounds me as soon as I enter. Sandalwood mixed with spice mixed with Arabian scents. It’s heady and throws me off for a second, I almost forget to breathe.

“Seatbelt, princess,” the man rumbles, and the smell-induced haze in my head clears.

I put on the seatbelt and he starts the car. “What’s your name?” I ask.

He smiles softly. “Probably a question you should have asked before getting into a car with a stranger.”

“You practically forced me in here,” I remind him.

He chuckles. “You have a weird way of saying thank you, Princess.”

“Katherine,” I correct. “My name’s Katherine.”

“Nice to meet you, Katherine. I’m Topher.”

Topher. I say his name over and over in my mind. There’s something almost familiar about it, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. I decide to let it go.

“So, where am I dropping you off tonight, princess?”

I don’t comment on the fact that he’s still using the nickname.

“NYU campus, please,” I tell him.

He looks to the side for a second before looking back at the road. “You go there?”

“Yeah, last year of college.”

“Hmm,” he says.

“You?”

“Nah, I’m done with college,” he tells me.

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