Page 88 of Savage Cravings

Her eyes moved about the space in the parking lot. She couldn’t see me where I was parked, considering there was nolight above my car. I started the engine and turned on the headlights.

She turned my way, squinting against the intrusion of the light, and waited patiently while I drove the car closer to her. I rolled down the passenger-side window. She looked in, her eyes rounded in surprise when she saw me.

I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to get inside.

Wordlessly, she climbed in. “Were you waiting here long?”

I made a noncommittal noise in the back of my throat.

She turned forward but made no move to put on her belt.

“Sorry. We had a group of people come in late.”

I didn’t care that she was late. I didn’t care about the apology. It made no difference to me.

She still hadn’t put on her belt. Letting out a small sigh, I reached over. She sucked in a sharp breath, her body tensing when I grabbed the belt buckle and stretched it across her body. My arm brushed against her nipple, and she tensed further into the seat. Fuck me, but I wondered if her nipples had grown hard from the simple contact. I shifted in my seat.

I paused. The freckles across the bridge of her nose stood out strongly against her pale skin. I vowed then I would know theexactnumber of freckles she had.

I didn’t say anything when I clipped the seat belt into the place, the click loud in the silent car, making her jump. I didn’t move away from her. Somehow, even after working a six-hour shift at the restaurant, she still smelled fucking amazing. Some floral, girly scent I’d never bother noticing on anyone else.

“Are we going to go?” she asked, her voice set in whispers.

I smiled. “Why are you whispering?”

She cleared her throat and turned her face to the side window. I closed the gap between us by just a centimeter. Judging by the harshness of her breathing, I could tell she noticed.

“I’m not,” she said, louder now.

My smile widened before I pulled away. I stifled a laugh when she sighed with noticeable relief at the distance between us again and narrowed her eyes at me.

“You enjoy this,” she said as I pulled out of the restaurant lot.

“Hmm.”

“You enjoy making me feel uneasy.”

I laughed. It hadn’t been my intention to make her feeluneasy,as she put it, but hell if I wasn’t fucking amused over it.

“Is this all a joke to you, then?” she asked, and I couldn’t determine how she was feeling based on her voice alone.

“No,” I answered seriously, meaning it. This wasn’t a joke. Never mind that I had a feeling that if there was ever anyone who could be our downfall, it would be her. The repercussions of taking her back to Chicago with us—as Silas wanted to do from the beginning, not as some sort of revenge against her father, but because of an obsession—would be something I wasn’t sure I could prepare for.

It would undoubtedly cause contention among my men.

“Well, you’re certainly laughing at my expense,” she muttered.

“Oh, sweetheart, believe me, that is the last thing I’m doing.”

She didn’t say anything for a beat. Then, “You watched.”

The change in topic came so suddenly that I nearly swerved off the side of the road, and judging by the half smile on her face, I’d say she enjoyed that.

I shook my head.

She was playing a dangerous game.

“And you didn’t stop me.”

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