Page 100 of Love Me Reckless

“Everything is great,” Kirilee says.

The guard nods, but I can tell he’s confused.

“Can you let us through, please?” Kirilee asks.

“Oh, sure.” The guard presses the button, raising the gate. “Have a nice… I mean… congratulations.”

I raise my window and accelerate through the gate, half expecting it to come crashing down on my hood.

Kirilee gives a sigh of relief.

“Where to now?” I ask.

“I wish we could go back to that house on the lake. The one you rented with the McCabes. Everything felt good that night.”

I pause at the stop sign. “Why couldn’t we?”

She gives me a curious look. “It’s the middle of winter.”

“Not exactly prime tourist season.”

Her eyes light up. “Oh!”

I slide out my phone and pull up the rental property website. “See if it’s available.”

In the fading light, the bright screen illuminates her pretty face as she taps and scrolls. “It’s available! How many nights?”

“How many do you want?”

She laughs a full, hearty laugh. “Indeed. Hmm, maybe three?”

“Three it is.”

Her eyes widen. “I don’t have my wallet.”

I slide mine from my back pocket and hand it to her.

“You don’t have to do this for me.”

“Call it a wedding gift.”

She laughs again, filling my cab with sweet melody. “But I didn’t get married.”

I rub the back of my neck. Fuck, is this real? “I didn’t actually buy you guys a gift.”

“Good. One less thing I’m going to feel guilty for.”

I tuck this away for later, because I’m not about to let her feel one ounce of guilt for this. “Let’s go, princess. Before the angry mob catches up.”

She gives me that adorable scowl, but slides out my credit card.

I cruise through the stop sign and descend the hill toward town. The low sun is peeking through the cloud cover, sending thick sun rays over the foothills. Below us, the long lake is a smoky black, the surface scuffed by the steady north wind.

“Done,” she says as I pull into the lakefront neighborhood.

“Have you thought about how you, um, want to handle this?” I ask.

“I don’t want my parents to worry,” she says, glancing at me. She must have heard my grunt of disapproval. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to listen to them though.”

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