Page 4 of The Shake Off

The window lowered, and the driver leaned out with what could only be described as an entirely devilish look on his face.

My first thought – whoever at PlayStation got his eye color wrong had to be blind. They were the shade of clear New York skies in the dead of summer. Or the Caribbean Seas. Or Blue M&Ms.

My second – I couldn’t blame the girls lining the fences, or gates, or anywhere really. And that moustache definitely added… something.

“Hello there.”

I raised an eyebrow, determined not to let out the sigh I always did. Knowing my luck, it would come out as more of a desperate moan. “You’re not my Uber.”

“No, Babycakes, I’m better.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

“I like to provide a more personal service.” He turned away, returning a second later and thrust his hand out of the window. “Mint?”

I held my lips together as best I could, and put all my energy into not showing my amusement, but I knew my mouth was curling at the edges. My eyes were definitely creasing. Instead, I looked down at my phone screen, to see my Uber was now circling the block in the other direction.

Fucking Uber.

Ace tipped his chin to the box in my hands. “What’s in there?”

“Birthday cake.”

“Whose birthday is it?”

“Mine.”

“What are the chances?” A deep smile spread wide across his far too handsome face. “I’m obviously your birthday wish come true.”

I’d been at the Lions ground dozens of times, but this was the first time I’d ever met Ace Watson in person. Looking at him now with his thick, light brown hair flopping to the side, and his eyes twinkling in amusement as his bicep bulged from the way he propped his chin on his fist while he waited for me to stop focusing on the Uber app, I was amazed Beulah and Lowe got any work done at all.

I wouldn’t.

In fact, if Ace Watson was anywhere in my vicinity, I’d get approximately zero work done. The only job I was currently trying to do was get home, and that was proving to be far harder than it should. He was entirely distracting.

“Who said I made a wish?”

“Why else would I be driving past the exact spot where you were looking all lost? It’s fate.”

“I don’t look lost. I’m waiting for my Uber.”

Ace leaned out of his car and peered around. “I don’t see an Uber.”

I glanced down at the screen again to find the Uber was now even further away.

Fucking Uber.

Fucking New York one-way systems.

“He’s on the way.”

“Cancel it,” Ace ordered, with all the confidence of a twenty-something who rarely heard the word ‘no’. “I’ll take you where you need to go, and you’ll have a much better time. I promise.”

If my arms weren’t full I’d have crossed them. As it was, I pinned him with the same look he’d given me. I wasn’t about to let those batting lashes sway me that easily, no matter how much his gaze laved every inch of my body, heating it up until it tingled.

“You want me to get into a car with a strange man?”

“Hey, I’m not strange. This city loves me. My face is already everywhere.” He pointed over my head, “see?”

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