Captivation

Captivation Part 8

"To the airport?" Jared asked as they pulled out of the car park and onto the main road. Well this certainly was a turn up for the books. He was driving away with a woman he had gone to great lengths to keep at a distance. Just about summed up his evening, he thought as he put the car into gear and joined the sporadic traffic.

"If you take me home, I'll get changed and then head for the airport." Caitlin's mind was already on what needed to be done. Pandering to one arrogant male did not feature in her plans for the rest of the evening. Of course she was grateful for the ride home, but she wasn't going to fawn all over the man just because he was demonstrating some humanity.

"Sure." He'd forgotten that they were still in evening gear, and while he could discard his jacket and tie and tone down his attire, her eveningwear would look out of place at an international airport. Not that her tone of voice suggested that she cared about what he thought. She sounded as if she was miles away. She gave him directions to her house and they drove in silence for about ten minutes before he glanced over at her and asked bluntly, "Why didn't you tell me you were set up?"

Her mind was still on what needed to be organized once she got home, so she answered frankly and briskly. "It didn't occur to me." Caitlin replied off handedly, and snuggled deeper into the seat. There was so much that would need to be arranged. And if things were as bad as she imagined, there was going to be a lot of emotional baggage to deal with as well. So the last thing she wanted was to add to her current frame of emotional baggage.

Another short silence greeted that.

Jared decided he ought to make amends for his part in this evening's debacle. Apologising wasn't his forte. But he figured a straightforward direct apology would suffice. "I'm sorry for my part in the debacle this evening." He apologized, and she heard the sincerity.

Caitlin shrugged, "It wasn't you who created it." She replied matter of fact. It was one of her better traits. She was fully aware that as far as her current driver was concerned, she was nothing more than nuisance value. But that did not mean that she did not know that he wasn't the person who initiated this evening's debacle. In addition in the grand scheme of life, and given what she was about to deal with, this man's arrogance was of no real importance.

"But I certainly stirred it up." He acknowledged, cast her a quick glance before returning his focus to the road. She seemed to be handling it well. Even if she seemed somewhat distant. It was as if she really couldn't care less about what happened this evening. She shrugged again. "I imagine when word gets out that I took you home, it could get interesting." He threw in with a smile in his voice.

Caitlin groaned in dismay. That was the last thing she needed, more gossip. When had life become so complicated? Usually she attended these things, on a sporadic basis, and to keep her dad happy. But it never resulted in anything interesting happening. Tonight might not be the kind of interesting she wanted, but at least the evening had not been dull. "Interesting?" Then she smiled to herself and murmured. "Oh what the hell." Life was too short to over stress, that was Caitlin's motto. It was a motto she lived by to a certain extent. She took what was dealt out and just got on with it.

Silence descended again.

Jared figured he ought to make some attempt to converse with her. Maybe use the opportunity to find out a bit more about her. Though why he was suddenly interested was in itself of interest. It wasn't that he was attracted. He figured she was not his type. Too timid. Too mundane. Too conservative. But still, no harm in making conversation, especially if it helped pass the time.

"What is it that you do exactly?" He glanced across at her again, and was surprised to see that she looked relatively relaxed.

Most of the women in his life were on high alert. They were either primping or sprucing up their appearance, or attempting to hold court and keep his attention. The woman in the passenger seat of his car appeared to be totally immune to the fact she was currently with him. It was as if he was nothing more than her taxi driver! That nearly had him snorting, until he realized that was exactly what he was at the moment. Nothing more than her chauffeur. Most of the women in his life spent much of their energy trying to get him to be at their beck and call. This woman had managed it without even trying. That had his lips kicking up at the corners. He glanced across at her before he told her what he knew about her employment.