Page 42 of Inception

“My phone?”

“Yes your phone.”

I took it out from my handbag and handed it over.

“If anything happens, or you need something…” He looked at me strangely. “A ride orwhatever,” he added, tapping the screen in rapid succession. “You have my number.”

“Okay.” I took the phone back apprehensively.

He looked over Dominic once more as though sending him some sort of silent warning and then nodded at me before walking off into the kitchen. I immediately saw Nikki jump up from my peripheral and take off running after him.

Just perfect.

She must have been gawking at us the entire time, and if she just witnessed him giving me his number, there was no doubt in my mind she was about to go tear him a new one. And, God only knows what she was going to have planned for me.

The night was still cloaked in a thin layer of dew when we left All Saints. The sky, a rich, dark indigo, was free of any blemishes and gleaming with a million little blinking lights of reassurance. Ironically, it was shaping up to be a picture-perfect night, despite everything that had transpired.

I followed Dominic alongside the building until he stopped unexpectedly in front of a Matte black Audi R8. He pulled something out of his pocket and pushed a button. The car responded on all fronts.

“What’s this?” I asked him, surprised, my eyes darting back and forth between him and the wicked ride.

“This would be my car.” His smile went up a notch as he moved to the passenger side and opened my door. “I thought it appropriate seeing as you don’t enjoy walking very much.”

“Walkingat night,” I quickly corrected, shrinking inward. I knew he would think I was lazy for protesting the walk home the other night.

“Isn’t that what I said?” he grinned seductively, blurring out the rest of the world with that one little gesture.

I bit down a smile and climbed into the car.

The smell of expensive leather mingled in the air with Dominic’s tantalizing cologne—a chocolaty musk—and enveloped me like a luxurious blanket. I barely had a chance to buckle myself in before we were zipping out of the parking lot and tearing down the blacktop road towards the main boulevard.

“So tell me more about this incident,” he asked casually as though he were asking about the weather in passing.

I examined him as he drove.

“You seem to be quite incident-prone,” he continued when I didn’t answer. “I’m beginning to question your safety.”

I too was beginning to question my safety.Daily.

“I’m fine.” I forced a smile. “If it’s any consolation, I plan on making use of that whole buddy system from here on out.” That part was the truth. I had no intentions of going anywhere alone at night, ever again. The thought alone made me shudder.

He stole a glance before returning his eyes to road. “You don’t have to pretend with me, Jemma.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, caught off guard.

“You put on a brave face, and a beautiful one at that,” he said without averting his eyes from the road. “But I have a feeling you would not have left work in the middle of your shift had the incident been as uneventful as you would like me to believe it was.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a hunch.”

“You seem to have a lot of those.”

A slow spreading grin appeared. “I’m very intuitive.”

I couldn’t help but smile. He was definitely charming. “Really, it was just a slow night,” I explained, choosing my words carefully. “Plus, Paula the other waitress was there, and they really didn’t need the both of us.”

“I see.” He shifted in his seat.

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