~

“You need to ease back a little,” Dusty said as he stared ahead out of the windscreen and scowled like a man on the edge.

“Relax — geez — girl,” Paige tossed in his direction.

“Too close — too close — it’s not called a bumper because it wants you to hit something,” Dusty rushed out. “It’s not a damn call to action.”

“Okay, Miss Daisy — I’ve been driving for…”

“And how many accidents have you had in that time?” Dusty demanded to know. He’d bet a lot.

“None — you girl,” Paige tossed back to the sound of the sniggers that were coming from the back seat of her car. She flicked a dark glare over her shoulder at the vampire.

“Watch the road! Watch the damn road!” Dusty exclaimed and even offered her a helpful, pointing finger to remind her where it was as she seemed to have forgotten.

Paige offered him a look of disbelief as she turned her attention back to the matter at hand — driving.

“Oh — my — grandmother.” Paige gave a small shake of her head in disbelief. “Could you be any more of a passenger seat driver?”

“Well, I figure one of us has to drive the damn car, and it’s obviously not holding your interest,” Dusty grumbled back.

“I’m driving!” she snapped.

“Honey, if this is driving…”

“Don’t call me honey! Especially, when you’re berating me and acting like a girl at the same time.”

“Well, if you could manage to pay attention to the road and not everything else around you…”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she demanded as she turned a hard stare on him and ignored the road ahead.

“Looking at me — now, I know I’m irresistible, but if you could you look at the damn road…?”

“About as irresistible as a fart in an elevator,” she sneered back.

“The road! The road! It’s in an entirely different position from where I’m sitting…”

“Of course it is, stupid, you’re on the other side of the car. You think I don’t know that – like – der,” she snapped.

“Then why are you looking at me? You’re still doing it. Look at the road!” Dusty growled.

He wasn’t counting the seconds, but she’d been looking at him for an awfully long time, and he’d been playing eye ping-ping out of the windscreen and back at her just to make sure that they weren’t about to drive off a damn cliff.

“I can drive and hold a conversation at the same time, you know — it’s called multitasking — I know that’s an alien concept for you…”

“Look at the damn road woman!” Dusty snapped back. “Damn, next you’ll be mixing your hair and make-up.”

“A fear of death is a wonderful thing,” Raff put in from the back seat along with a chuckle that rubbed the mates up the wrong way.

“Who knew that a big, muscle-bound, beta wolf shifter could be such a girly girl?” Paige said, as she tossed a look back at the vampire over her shoulder and Dusty growled.

“Now you’re looking at him?” he grumbled, and Paige turned her gaze back to the road, and fidgeted to get comfortable in her seat once more as the beta muttered curses under his breath.

The man was making her jumpy. Not just with his passenger side nervousness and driving tips and demands, but with his whole stupid presence in the small car.

It wasn’t as if she’d begged him to get in the car with her. In fact, she’d told him to go and ride back to pack land with one of his brothers when he protested her driving in the first place.

Like she was going to let him drive her bloody car? Not in this life.

Now, he was grumbling a low growl in her direction, fidgeting in his seat, and she’d even seen his hand reach up from where it had been resting on his meaty thigh toward the steering wheel — if he touched the steering wheel, then she was going to zap him for all she was worth.

“Stop growling — it’s distracting,” Paige snapped at him.

“And heaven forbid you should stop concentrating on the road ahead,” he growled back.

“Seriously?” Paige snapped another look at her mate. She narrowed her eyes on him and looked as if she was chewing on a particularly vicious wasp, and contemplating murder.

“The road! The road,” he lifted a hand and motioned in front of him. “For the love of life, would you look at the damn road? It’s why they put glass in front of you in the first place,” Dusty growled.

“That’s it!” Paige lifted her foot and stomped down on the brake.

The wheels locked up as they ground to a halt with the shriek of brakes, and both men were thrust forward in their seats, only to be tossed back again. Dusty rumbled a growl as he muttered under his breath and rolled through the list of curse words that he knew.

“At least, we know the brakes work,” Raff offered unhelpfully from the back seat.

“Are you going to be male all the way there?” Paige demanded as she turned in her seat, dropped her chin toward her chest, and offered him a death glare from under her lowered eyebrows.

“I’m driving!” Dusty bit out.

“The hell you are!” Paige bit back.

“Woman…!” Dusty growled, biting down on another round of curse words.

“Fine!” Paige said as she turned in her seat, popped off her seatbelt, and tossed up a hand in frustration. “If you think you can do better, go for it – let’s swap places!”

“Oh, I can do better. It’s not like it’s a high bar to start off with,” Dusty growled back.

“Fine, get your big, male chauvinist backside over here and prove it,” Paige challenged him.

A moment later and Dusty was out of the car, and stalking around the back toward the driver’s side, grumbling curses and growling for all he was worth.

“Oh, this should be good,” Raff chuckled. “If only I had some popcorn.”

“Shut up!” Paige bit out as she lifted her foot from the break and stomped on the gas.

Raff was tossed back in his seat once more as the wheels spun and offered a loud screeching sound as she peeled away from her mate.

“Maybe I’m just that old, but I saw that one coming a mile off,” Raff chuckled.

“Maybe he’s just that dumb that he didn’t,” Paige offered back.

When she flicked her eyes to the rearview mirror, there was Dusty, chasing after the car like a sprinter going for gold in the Olympics.

A smile started to blossom on Paige’s lips, and the harder he pumped the air with his arms and ran after her, the more that smile grew. It was a moment or pure satisfaction.

“You have a wicked streak — he has a stubborn streak — damn, I don’t suppose your magic stretches to rustling me up some of that popcorn because I think this wooing is going to be one hell of a show?”

“Just be grateful that I didn’t put you out of the car as well,” Paige offered back. “Not a word about my bloody driving or I swear, I’ll magic your backside right out the back window,” she warned.

“As long as we don’t end up in a fiery ball of flames — I’m sure I’ll survive,” Raff chuckled.