Page 10 of Not Made to Last

“I don’t?—”

“I’ll give you all the cash in my wallet.”

“As if you carry cash.” That was not what I meant to say.

What I meant to say wasno.

As in…hellno.

“I do.” His smile is almost wicked—as if he can somehow sense my temptation. “A lot of it.”

“How much?”Ugh. I could do with “a lot” of cash, and I’m sure his standards of measurement are far greater than mine.

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this. “For how long?”

He pulls out his phone and, at lightning speed, sends out a text. Almost immediately, there’s a response. “One thirty.”

I check the time: 11:45.

I check my tank: empty.

“I’m low on gas.”

“So go fill up. I’ll cover that, too.”

I take in a sharp breath, then rest my back against the door, eyeing him. He stares right back. But the flicker of light in his eyes is gone, and he’s no longer the cocky boy who brazenly dropped trou in the middle of the waiting room. Now, he seems smaller somehow, less… confident, maybe? “You’re really desperate not to go home, huh?”

His voice is quiet, almost a whisper when he says, “You could say that.”

“Want to tell me why?”

He shakes his head, eyebrows lowering. “It’s not anything that would warrant your concern.”

I stare into his eyes and try to seek the answers there. He watches me back, his gaze moving from my eyes to my nose. My mouth.

“What do you say,Cheeks?”

“Cheeks?”

“I like your cheeks,” he replies. “They’re… pinchable.”

Heat rushes to said cheeks, and I attempt to hide it with a scoff that sounds more like a snort. “You want to pinch my cheeks?”

“Why?” That cocky smirk is back. “You going to let me?”

Circles. That’s what we seem to do every time we talk. Go around and around and around in circles. “No, I will not let you pinch my cheeks.” I sound like an indignant snob.

“Fair call,” he says, so nonchalant—and I don’t know why it’s getting under my skin. “So… what do you say? Feel like getting paid to spend the night with me?” He shakes his head, chuckling. “I didn’t realize that would come out so creepy.”

Surprisingly, I find myself laughing with him. “Until one thirty,” I confirm. “And then I take you home.”

“So that’s a yes?”

I suck in all the air my lungs can handle, release it slowly. “I’ll do it on one condition.”

He blinks.

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