Betting on the Zebra Chapter 13

For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 13

Getting herself as comfortable in the passenger seat as she could Lenny let her head tip back and lean against the headrest. If there was one thing these guys knew how to do it was get comfortable rental cars. She supposed that they had to since they spent so much time in them plus so many of them had special requirements. She winced as she thought about Paul Wight trying to get comfy in one of these cars. That was one guy that she didn’t envy at times like this. As soon as she had that thought she had to bite at her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. Thinking about the Big Show had almost instantly made her think about Kevin, he was so tall too that he must have had his own special needs when it came to the travelling thing. God, she had to get the guy out of her head. She had no idea how he had managed to get his way in there but thoughts of him popped up at the weirdest times. If she was going to keep her head here then she had to stop with the strange thoughts.

“What are you thinking about?” Paul asked with a small smile on his face. He had just happened to look at her out of the corner of his eye and had noticed this little lip chewing thing that she had going on. If he didn’t know any better he would swear that she was trying not to laugh.

Jerking her head around at the sound of his voice Lenny smiled slightly. “What makes you think that I have anything going on in my head at all?” She asked him right back. “After a show my mind is usually pretty much filled with just getting to the next town.”

“Well that’s interesting ... because you looked like you were trying to stop yourself from bursting out laughing.” He pointed out to her. “Since you’re trying to tell me that you were only thinking about the journey to the next town I have come to the conclusion that perhaps you aren’t all that enamoured with my driving.”

Her eyes felt like they were about to bug out of her head. “No! Did you hear me say that?”

“Well no but that’s the only reason I can come up with for the laughter.” He said lightly and had to hold in his own smile. “I feel so fatally wounded.” He deadpanned as he took one hand off the wheel and pressed it to his chest.

But she just shook her head. “Nope. It’s a rare treat to have someone else drive me anywhere apart from insane for once.” She said and was pleased when she heard him laugh. “In fact if I closed my eyes I’m pretty sure that I could just fall asleep right here.”

“Uh, no way.” Paul said quickly. “You know that’s banned.”

Frowning she turned towards him as much as her seatbelt would allow. “Hello? What’s banned?” She asked feeling more than a little confused at the turn that the conversation had taken. “Is there a problem with me catching a little shut eye ... it’s not as if I’m actually at the wheel here buddy.”

“God there is so much that you don’t know.” He laughed. “I keep forgetting that you’re still pretty much a newbie to all of this. Plus this is the first time that you’ve travelled with anyone else so I guess that I can cut you a little slack for almost making a severe mistake.” He laughed a little harder as he realised something. “Though it might have been fun if you had actually fallen asleep. Then you would have been at my complete mercy my pretty.”

She blinked a couple of times as she tried to take in what he was saying to her but no it still wasn’t making any more sense than it had the first time he said it. “Ok now I’m sure that this conversation has just tipped over into the surreal.” She waited but he didn’t say anything else. “Oh you know that you have to explain yourself and I mean right now Paul.”

“Ok, ok, calm down.” He said and smiled widely showing his teeth. “It’s just an unwritten rule that when we’re on the road, when we’re travelling that everyone in the car stays awake.” He shrugged. “It may be a little bizarre but it’s just the way that things are done. Besides having you sitting over there drooling and snoring isn’t exactly fair to me as the driver now is it. If you’re awake at least we can have a conversation.”

“For your information I do not snore.” Lenny mumbled as she rearranged herself in her seat once more. After all, what was the point of being comfortable when she couldn’t take advantage of that fact?

He pulled a face as he changed lanes. “But I notice that you didn’t have a problem with me saying that you drooled.” He pointed out.

“Hell I’m human ... everyone drools in there sleep ... don’t they?” She asked suddenly feeling unsure.

He shrugged slightly. “I don’t know.” Then he smiled again. “But there is one way to find out.”

“Oh this is going to be interesting.” She muttered. “Enlighten me.”

“If we woke up together then that would definitely be a way of finding out the answer to that question.” He said and laughed as she hit him in the arm. “Hey, hey watch the physical violence there! I am behind the wheel of a deadly weapon here.”

Shaking her head Lenny realised that she was laughing too. “Why am I not surprised that that is the answer that you came up with.” She said through her laughter. “That’s something that I can definitely say for you Paul, always predictable. And I can assure you that your little scientific experiment will not be happening any time soon.”

“But I’m noticing that you didn’t say that it wouldn’t be happening at all.” He said with a definite smirk in his voice. “And be assured that I am never predictable baby.”

Pulling a face she looked at him surprised. “Well your use of the word ‘baby’ right then was definitely unexpected.” And that was when she realised that he had pulled off the freeway. “And where the hell are we going?”

“I’m being unpredictable.” He said trying to shrug the muscle cramps out of his shoulders. “Just bear with me, you’ll like this I promise.” He shot her a look quickly and took in the way that she was trying to work out where they were and where they were going. “And calm down Lenny ... trust me.”

“Said the spider to the fly.” Lenny muttered hearing him laugh again. But that didn’t do anything to ease the slight panic that she felt building in her chest. Why had she decided that travelling with someone else would be a good idea? Oh yeah because she had decided to take on board one of Kevin’s suggestions. Maybe he was right and she should have travelled with one of the other women.

-o0o-

“So ... was I right ... or was I right?” Paul asked smugly as he sat back and just watched her for a few moments.

Lifting her head sharply Lenny scowled at him. “Yeah, you were right.” She answered as she took a swallow of the smoothest coffee that she had ever tasted. “But not loving the smug version of you.” Then she smiled at the man sitting almost analysing her on the other side of the diner table. Damn talk about going from zero to one hundred in fewer than sixty seconds. Just a few days ago she was silently bemoaning the fact that she had not one single eligible man in her life and now she was going out to eat with two different men on two consecutive nights. Pity that it was all just work related. But then ... there could always be a late change. She thought about that and didn’t even realise that her lips were curving into a very definite cat that got the cream smile. Hell she was certainly getting ahead of herself. They were work colleagues and nothing more. “And of course the smug version of you just happens to be the one that you let the rest of the world see at all times. You really should take care of that you know, it’s not that nice for us regular mortal beings.”

“I never heard anyone complaining before.” He pointed out rather petulantly. “And you’re doing the smiling thing again ... not just a regular smile ... its more...” His words trailed off as he realised that he really didn’t have any way to explain the smile that she had just shown. It had more than a touch of the Mona Lisa about it – very enigmatic and he was finding it more than a little sexy too. “It’s just more.” He finished off pretty lamely but had no real other way to say what he wanted to say. Yeah he could show her but he was sure that Lenny would have a huge problem with him just grabbing her and throwing her down on the diner table.

She looked at him like he was crazy. She had never seen this guy lost for words before. If there was one thing he knew how to do it was talk. “I should make a note of this you know, I don’t remember you ever struggling for a way to finish of a sentence before.” She told him and then took another sip of her coffee. Yeah he had been right to take them off the highway to come here. She felt so much better now that she had something in her stomach. True a burger might not be the healthiest thing that she could have chosen but as soon as she saw it on the menu she had known that it was what she wanted. And it had been delicious. “And why the hell would anyone complain to you? They would never do that for fear that they would be buried just as soon as possible. You don’t have the friendliest reputation when it comes to work you know.”

“Well if anyone has a problem with the way that I act at work then that’s just it ... their problem.” He said and tossed his napkin on the table nonchalantly as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. He hated people pointing out the fact that when it came to work most of them thought that he had it easy right now. Damn it! He worked fucking hard to get where he was and now people just wanted to tear him down. Then he had a thought and leaning over the table he casually snagged one of her French fries. Taking a bite he shot her a look. “Besides, what makes you so different from everyone else? You don’t seem to have a problem telling me what you think.” He pointed out to her. “If anything with you it’s all brutal honesty and nothing but.”

She nodded tightly and shot him a sheepish look. “Yeah, that’s one of my problems. My mouth tends to get me into trouble.” She said and then shrugged, at least she was always honest ... well almost always honest.

“I can think of a way that it can get you out of trouble.” He said and arched a brow.

She threw herself back in the booth and just eyed him doubtfully. “Jesus Paul. James Bond you are not.” She said trying to act disgusted but pretty sure that she was falling short of the mark totally. “Not so much a double entendre as barely scraping the single.” She added as she tossed some money onto the table to cover her share of the check.

“Oh come on Lenny. You know that you love it.” He grinned as he did the same and put down some money beside hers. “I think that I’m going to just stop trying.” He lied as he shoved himself out of his chair.

She shot him a look as she grabbed her jacket. “Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you Paul.” She told him not quite sure where she was finding the courage. “You never know what you’ll miss out on if you do that.” She added as she walked past him towards the door. She was pretty sure that his eyes were following her every move and just hoped that her ass didn’t look too big in these pants.