Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“Casually.”
Her mind raced as she thought about her wardrobe. There was barely anything in it. What if he was taking her out to another nice restaurant? She’d prefer to be halfway decently dressed. And have some cash. Shoot. She needed to raid her emergency stash.
Standing, he turned her toward her bedroom door. “Go get ready. Or I’ll get you ready myself.” A slap on her ass sent her scampering into her bedroom.
Damn, that smack had her entire body tingling.
Twenty minutes later, after about ten changes of clothes, she stepped out in a flowing sundress. She’d finally managed to brush her teeth and hair. She’d even managed to cover up some of the bruises with the tiny bit of makeup she owned.
Heat filled his eyes as he ran his gaze over her.
“Fuck, baby. You look gorgeous. Come here.” He crooked a finger at her.
She moved over to him, her heart racing. Did he really think she was gorgeous? She wasn’t sure she would ever tire from hearing him say it.
Wrapping a hand around the back of her neck, he drew her into him. “So fucking lucky that you want to be seen with my ugly mug.”
That was absolutely ridiculous. Ugly? And if anyone was lucky, it was her.
After kissing her until her insides melted, he took her hand in his and led her down to his truck.
She didn’t even bother to try and get in by herself. This had become his thing, lifting her in and doing up her seatbelt.
“So, you’re not going to tell me anything about where we’re going?”
“Nope.”
She bit her lip. “But what if you’re taking me to do something that I’m allergic to?”
He glanced over at her as he downshifted and turned into the parking lot she indicated.
Great. There was her car. Part of her had hoped it might get stolen. Then she could at least claim insurance.
She sighed. Not that what it was insured for would get her much. But could it be much worse than what she had?
“You got any allergies?” he asked.
“Um, no.”
“Then I think we’re safe. This yours?” He eyed her vehicle critically.
Gracen felt herself shrinking back into her seat. It got her from point A to point B, and that was the nicest thing she could say about her beaten-up, rusty old car.
“Yeah.”
She waited for him to comment on how crappy it looked, but he just nodded. “Will you be all right driving it back to your place? I’ll drive behind you. Unless you want to drive my truck?”
“Uh, no, I really, really don’t want to drive your truck.” Knowing her luck, she’d wreck the darn thing.
He raised an eyebrow at the vehemence in her voice but didn’t say anything. Getting out, he walked around and opened her door. After lifting her down, he walked over with her to her car. She unlocked the door and he helped her inside, fastening her seatbelt. As if he was worried she wouldn’t do it up on her own.
Still, it was kind of sweet.
“Meet you there.” He closed her door.
She started up the car, wincing at the loud noise it made. Frowning, he knocked on her window, and indicated that she should lower it.
There was just one problem with that . . .
She opened her door. “Sorry, my window doesn’t open.”
“Your . . . your what?”
“My window doesn’t open,” she said louder, thinking he couldn’t hear her over the noise her car was making.
“Your window doesn’t open,” he said slowly. “You can’t drive a car when the window doesn’t open.”
“Um, well, technically, you can. It’s really okay, the others work.”
He rubbed his hand over his face.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked with concern. He looked a bit gray.
“Not sure. Have you had that noise looked at?”
“What noise? Oh, the car. No, I haven’t had a chance to take it to a mechanic yet.”
“We need to get onto that. Don’t drive too fast, follow all the laws.”
“I always do.”
He gave her a very skeptical look.
When she got back to her apartment, she climbed out and locked up. Although why she bothered locking it, she didn’t know. She was pretty sure that no one would steal the heap of junk.
Victor lifted her into his truck, and they set off.
“Did you have to leave last night for work?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Was it an emergency?” she asked.
“No.”
“You still haven’t told me what you do.”
“Thought you were guessing.”
“Hmm, good point. You’re sure you’re not a doctor?” She stared around curiously as they drove out of the city. Where were they going?
“Pretty sure.”
“Vet?”
“Nope.”
“I know, an orthodontist.”
“An orthodontist? What sort of orthodontist works at night?” he asked.
“I don’t know. There might have been a tooth emergency. Maybe you’re an orthodontist to movie stars or something.”
“Movie stars have orthodontists?”
“They have teeth problems too.” She grinned over at him. Then she clicked her fingers. “I have it!”