Page 153 of Heart of Stone

“That’s it,” he said, looking pointedly at me. “Now, we can do one of two things. Either remain sitting here at the curb so that you can continue with this unwarranted cross-examination, or you can pick out music for the drive. You choose.”

“I didn’t mean to sound like I was giving you the third degree. Just go ahead and pick out a song. Something upbeat,” I conceded. Until I could wrap my head around the events of the day, it was better to just let it go.

A punchy drum pattern combined with a bluesy guitar riff filled the quiet space of the car. Alexander tossed me a roguish smile before pulling out into traffic.

“You can never go wrong with The Black Keys. Cause, baby – I’m howlin’ for you!” Alexander said and then followed up with a long wolf cry.

I busted out into a fit of laughter.

“You’re crazy!” I exclaimed. Alexander grinned and rapped his thumb on the steering wheel to the beat of the music.

“Angel, you bring out sides of me that I never knew I had.”

I laughed again, and then sat back to appreciate the tune that was sure to lighten my dismal mood.

When the car came to a halt a short while later, I was surprised to see that we were in front of Alexander’s penthouse.

“Why are we here?” I asked in confusion.

“You’ll need to change. You can’t go to the club wearing jeans and a sweater,” he paused to give me a devilish look. “And I have just the thing for you.”

****

Krystina looked nothing short of amazing in the outfit that I had bought for her, and I was glad that she didn’t protest over wearing the black leather pants and emerald green silk halter. The thin top was cut low in the back, forcing her to go braless. When she moved the right way, I could see just a hint of her nipples swaying beneath the shirt, something that was sure to drive me insane with lust for the rest of the night.

She had taken it upon herself to touch up her makeup, darkening her eyes and donning siren red on her lips. Although the shades were darker than what I was used to seeing on her face, I couldn’t say that I didn’t like it. In fact, she was downright sexy as all hell, with her mane of curls cascading down her back. I had half a mind to turn the car around and bring her back to my place.

However, I noticed the way she kept looking at her reflection in the side view mirror as we made our way to the outskirts of the city. It was if she wasn’t confident in her appearance. Her hands hadn’t stopped fidgeting since we got back into the car, and they would move up to needlessly rearrange her hair every thirty seconds. She seemed nervous.

“You look beautiful, angel,” I told her. “Just relax.”

She gave me a small smile.

“Am I that obvious?” she asked wryly.

“You can’t seem to sit still.”

“I’m just anxious, that’s all,” she admitted. “I’ve been pushing you about this, but…”

“But what?”

“It’s nothing. My imagination gets the best of me sometimes. I’m just hoping that this place isn’t too terribly scary,” she admitted with a halfhearted laugh.

“You’ll be fine.”

I hope.

We pulled up to a black iron gate, and I lowered the car window to insert my key card into the access slot. The gate opened and we drove through.

“What’s with the key card?” Krystina asked.

“It keeps out voyeurs.”

“Voyeurs?”

“Yeah, you know – Peeping Toms. Everyone who comes here has to go through screening in order to be allowed admittance,” I told her.

“What about me? I haven’t gone through any sort of screening process.”

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