Page 78 of Hidden By His Side

Sometimes the memory of him pushing inside of her, making her orgasm over and over, seemed like a fever dream. One with an unhappy ending.

“Stop trying to distract me. I came to ask if you’d mind if we didn’t go home right away tonight.”

“Do you have a job?” Summer asked. “You can just drop me off at home, or I could—”

He pressed his lips to hers again, the sensation spiking inside of her as he took her words.

His breath brushed against her lips. “I have nothing to do but spend time with you. Wanna go for a drive?” His brown eyes looked so warm when they clung to hers the way they were doing. “I used to do that a lot on Friday nights and have missed it.”

“You don’t have to keep coming up with things to do on Friday nights.” She forced a smile, something that was hard to do whenever she thought of that last girls’ night. The Friday before, he’d picked up her favorite Thai food and picked out a movie for them to watch. It’d almost seemed like a date, but he’d studied her with that careful expression he got sometimes, as if he knew how sad she was feeling.

“I don’t miss hanging out with my neighbors,” she reassured him. “I like to be with you.”

“I know you do.” Ramiro used his grip on her chair to tug her a little closer. “And I’m not doing this for you. I really do miss taking a drive.”

“Oh.” Summer felt a twinge. He loved his cars. She’d been taking him away from that. “I understand. I’ll be fine alone.”

Ramiro crouched, his finger sliding along her bottom lip. “I’m not asking for time alone. I want to take you on a date, Summer.” He hummed in his throat, that sound he got when he was thinking. She’d always wanted to feel that sound, to press her lips against his throat and let them tingle with the vibration.

The word ‘date’ rang in her ears, making it too hard to move.

“Cars aren’t your thing, though,” he said. “Would you rather go out to dinner? Would that be better?”

She didn’t like that idea. All the men she’d dated took her to restaurants. She pictured the sunset glowing on Ramiro’s skin as she watched him from the passenger seat. Imagined him parking somewhere and leaning over to kiss her. “I’d like to go on a drive.”

His brow creased as he searched her eyes. “It doesn’t have to be what I want to do. What would make you happy, baby girl?”

She reached out, brushing her thumb over his worry lines. “That would make me happy.”

His smile was back. “All right. But you pick the music.”

They closed up the office, and he opened the passenger door for her. “It’s not the same as the Bugatti, but it’ll have to do,” he muttered, waiting for her to tuck her legs in before closing the door.

After getting in, he handed her his unlocked phone. A music streaming service was already up. “Pick something.”

Nerves twisted in her stomach. At least the app had the last things he’d listened to. That should make it easy.

“Don’t pick any of my usual stations. I want to know what you like.”

Summer bit her lip. What did she like? She listened to music when she was cleaning, but those songs had a fast beat and were kind of girly, more about the energy they gave than the music itself. Ramiro would hate that type of music. He’d probably hate anything she liked. His tastes were much better than hers.

“Hey.” His hand settled on her arm, rubbing lightly. “It’s okay if the first station you choose doesn’t feel right. This choice isn’t set in stone. Let’s try some new things, see what we like.”

New things. That made it a bit easier. If he didn’t like what she picked, she could pretend it was new. She started scrolling through the popular list, but her hands itched to type in an artist.

She liked an indie singer she’d come across in a video. His voice was deep and kind of bluesy. When she used to wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, she’d put it on. Her eyes slanted to Ramiro as he pulled out of the parking lot. Would he like the music she did? The idea of it was tantalizing.

Before she could decide, he surprised her by pulling into a fast-food drive-through. All he ordered were fries, giant paper containers of them, and soft drinks. Grinning, he handed her some fries, placing the drinks in the cupholder.

“Fries taste better in the car.”

She balanced it between her legs carefully to free her hands. Ramiro kept his car so clean. She couldn’t make a mess.

His smile looked slightly guilty. “I don’t always eat like some young kid while I drive.”

She couldn’t keep her giggle contained, and pure joy took over his face, his eyes sparkling back into hers.

“Music, baby girl,” he reminded her, facing forward to pull out.

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