Page 149 of Just This Once

She still seemed hesitant. “And I left Lucy at Archer House.”

“Lucy?”

Who the fuck was Lucy?

“Yeah. The Lucid Air,” she explained.

My lips parted. “Oh, you didnotjust name my car.”

An immediate smile lit her face. “Oh,yes, I did. And I thought it wasmycar.”

“Our car,” I countered. “And I refuse to call it Lucy.”

“That’s fine. You don’t have to call her anything. ButI’mstill calling her Lucy. We should probably pick her up soon, too, so Alec doesn’t worry about something being wrong.”

“Her?”

Before we could get into an argument about Hope gendering the car, I quieted her with a long, sweet kiss and then drifted my finger down her jaw as I pressed my brow to hers. “So we call a ride to take us to the car, then we’ll driveLucyto the surprise, and on the way, you can contact your brother and check in.”

Hope’s lashes fluttered as she looked up into my eyes. “Why do you make it so hard for me to disagree with you sometimes?”

I only smiled, knowing I was going to get my way on this one. “Because I’m good like that.”

Less than an hour later,we’d picked up the car from Archer House, and then we had to stop by Hope’s apartment so she could change clothes, and finally I drove us to the university.

Since it was the weekend, the campus was quiet. We only passed one or two people as we crossed the quad.

“Thisis my surprise?” Hope asked skeptically as I opened the door for her to enter the library ahead of me. “What’re you going to do? Read me a story?”

“You’ll see. Almost there,” I assured her with a wink. Then taking her hand, I led her across the main entrance to the reference section, where I turned her down a row and took her to the other side of the shelves to a nondescript door. After pushing it open, I entered a stairwell that smelled strongly of paint.

“Parker?” she asked uneasily. “Are you sure?—?”

I glanced back at her and chuckled at her uneasy expression. “Just a little bit further.”

“I swear,” she warned, lifting a stern eyebrow. “If you take me to a torture chamber to?—”

“Jesus, Langston,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Paranoid much? I was just going to introduce you to Dugger’s mom.”

“Keene’s—?” She stalled short on the steps behind me, and I looked back to see her blinking in shock. “But?—”

“What?” I lifted my eyebrows in question. “Did Alec not tell you about her?”

“Of course he did. She’s haunting the campus library, but—” Her lips parted, and her eyes widened. “My bucket list.”

Nowshe was catching on. “Number six,” I encouraged.

“To meet a ghost. Oh my God! Parker…” She shook her head, stunned. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”

Seeing her pleasure made the whole trip worth it. “Surprise,” I murmured as we reached the base of the steps.

“Holy shit,” she gasped, throwing herself at me so she could hug me hard. “Who knew you were so damn sweet and considerate?”

“Whoa. Hey.” I pulled back to point threateningly. “You take that back. Right now.”

Mischief entered her gaze. Then she smiled slyly and whispered, “So…freaking…sweet.”

“Oh, you’re going to pay for those words,” I warned, shaking my head with a disgusted sigh as I reached for the door to lead us into the basement stacks.

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