Page 52 of Tell Me It’s Right

Finally, he pulls his hand away from my leg to rummage around in his pants pocket. “Do you smoke?”

My eyes flick from his pocket to his face. “I—no.”

“Do you mind if I do?”

My mouth hangs open. I know very well he’s not talking about a cigarette. Not that I’d appreciate that either. “While you’re driving?” My voice comes out small and high-pitched.

He laughs, removes his hand from his pocket—sans joint—and rests it back on my leg, higher up on my thigh this time. “I’ll take that as a no. You got it, boss.”

The clock on the dashboard says it’s 10 PM. It took about thirty minutes to get here, and we’ve been in the car for, what? I’d like to say ten minutes, but realistically, it’s closer to five.

God, I hate the way I want to cry right now. I was so excited for tonight, and now I’m counting down the minutes until it’s over.

His fingers dig into my inner thigh as his thumb makes light strokes. My stomach flips, and not in a pleasant way. I don’t know how to ask him to stop, but I also don’t know if I can take this for twenty more minutes.

How can he honestly think something is going to happen? Or does he see nothing wrong with how dinner went?

“So, are you still living with your family?” I ask because apparently I am incapable of not filling the silence.

I cross my legs.

He doesn’t take the hint and leaves his hand there as I do.

“Oh no.” His smile is too wide and full of teeth. “Don’t worry. I got my own apartment in town.”

I realize too late how that question came across.Fuck.But I should wait to confirm he’s taking me to Leo’s house until we’re closer, right? So I don’t make it awkward?

“You know, Miles, I?—”

“Hold that thought, gorgeous.”

I brace my hand against the door in surprise as the car slows and pulls off onto the gravel shoulder. My eyes widen as I turn to look at him.

“Is there something wrong with the car?”

“Oh! No. No. Sorry to worry you.” He squeezes my leg and chuckles as he shifts the car into park. His grip is starting to get uncomfortably firm, and his fingers somehow managed to climb a few inches higher. “It’s just been such a nice night. Thought maybe we’d make it last a little longer.”

It takes everything inside of me not to let my thoughts show on my face.Such a nice night?Were we on the same date?

“You’re so different from the other girls around here, Gracie. It’s refreshing.”

Now my eyes are really threatening to bulge out of my head.

I’m so different? How would you know? You haven’t asked me a single question about myself!

Not knowing what else to do, I laugh. It comes out awkward and forced and too high, but like everything else this evening, Miles doesn’t notice. He unclips his seat belt and starts leaning toward me.

Oh my God. He wants tohook upin his caron the side of the road?

I turn my head and try to laugh it off. “I’m not really a kiss-on-the-first-date kind of girl.”

He stops a few inches from me, close enough that I can smell what he had for dinner, and snorts. After he searches my face for a few moments, his smile dims. “Wait, you’re serious?”

I nod.

The smile snaps back into place. “That’s just because you haven’t seen how good of a kisser I am yet.” He leans forward, undeterred when I turn away again. “And I’ve been told I’m quite good at a few other things.”

The reality of my situation starts to trickle in. I’m in his car in the middle of nowhere. He’s twice my size. And he’s clearly not picking up on any subtle hints.

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