Page 34 of Perfect Praise

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, and I need you to be okay. I need to go find an apartment so my sister can have all the sex before her baby is born and she becomes a mommy zombie. Just give me a win. I love you, and I’ll never hit you again. Please start.”

I close my eyes, pray to the saint of engine mechanics, and turn my key one more time only to get such a low guttural churning sound that I think the engine might fall out from the bottom of my car.

I groan and scream, “Fuck!” at the same time I lift my head to see Locke standing directly in front of my car.

My face flushes immediately, and I hope there’s somehow a reflection bouncing off my windshield that prevented him from witnessing that. Maybe if I’m really still he won’t even notice I’m sitting here.

He rolls his eyes after a second.I know you’re in there, he mouths.

Right, the entire golf course heard my traitorous car.

And I can see you,he adds.

I scream anotherFuck!in my head.

“I’m just going to get an Uber,” I say after I open my car door, stand, and stretch in that way you do when you’re uncomfortable and you just need to make your body move, which always turns into the most unnatural thing ever.

He blinks. “You’re not getting an Uber.”

“I’ve got things to do. Lots of stops. It will take a while,” I say, waving a hand and going back in for my purse.

He waits patiently while I dig around in my glove compartment, my center console, under my seat. I check some random knobs, even though I have no clue what they do. I can’t think of anything else to do to stall.

“Done?” he asks, amused.

“Yeah,” I mumble as I unlock my phone to see if he’ll finally leave. I can’t afford a million Ubers anyway, so I’m going to shamefully have to call my little sister to pick me up in her nice new BMW.

“If you think I’m letting you get in some stranger’s car to drive you all over the city, you’re insane.”

I pick my chin up and challenge him back. “It’s not like they’re going to murder me.”

“I wouldn’t let you take the slightest chance.”

Coincidentally, I’d probably take the chance on someone murdering me before inconveniencing Locke.

“Let me?” I scoff, then promptly blush at the thought that I was asking him to call mehis, turned on by his possession of me, when he had me pinned against a wall and his erection pressed against me.

God, don’t look at his crotch,I think as soon as my eyes hit the zipper of his pants.

Locke’s eyebrow dips, one dark eye narrows below it. “Besides, we need to talk.”

He turns like he expects me to follow him—which I do because that paints one hell of a compelling picture.

Locke Hughes wants to talk.

Not that I particularly want to talk about it. I can’t even keep myself from melting into a puddle of embarrassment when I harbor my own thoughts, so I have no idea how he expects me to say words out loud about this situation.

His car is large and black, and I have to practically climb into the front seat.

I’m delighted to find seat warmers, which Locke quickly condemns me for. “It’s not that cold outside.”

“I like my butt toasty. And if I’m going to sit in this car, I’m going to get the perks.”

Locke smirks. “Where do you need to go?”

“Oh,” I say, “home is fine.”

I’m not about to bring him along to look at the cheap apartments I can afford. I can’t imagine what Locke’s house looks like. He just got one of those huge checks that you hold up for the cameras, and it had two commas in the number.

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