Page 91 of Keeper
I bristled. “Galleria?”
Nothing against the Galleria—it’s a decent enough mall. It just wasn’t what I had in mind when I tried to give her my credit card and told her she could buy whatevershe wanted.
“Yeah,” she said, “it’s got a Gap and an Old Navy. Heck, I’ll probably find most of what I need in clearance—I just need a few basics, really.”
I chuckled. Ainsley was proving extremely difficult to spoil, a fact that I was surprisingly disappointed by. I guess there was a certain irony that, after all the years of puck bunnies and club girls, I finally found the one girl who wasn’t after my money—and now Iwantedto open my wallet and spend big on her, but all she wanted to shop for were sales at The Gap.
“Ooh, perfect!” she squealed, clutching at my leg with excitement. “The Galleria’s got an indoor ice skating rink, too!”
I chuckled. “It does.”
She read my lack of excitement. “Hm. But I guess you probably get to skate enough as it is.”
“Yeah, let’s save the skating for another time,” I said. “I’ll take you there sometime. But I’ve actually already got a place in mind where we can shop.”
Her head tilted with interest. “Where?”
I knew better than to tell her where we were going, because she’d surely look the plaza up and immediately veto the suggestion.
“You’ll see,” I said wryly.
“Hmmm.” Her eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. “Not sure I like this, Tanner.”
“Nah. You’ll love it.” I stood and grabbed my ball cap and shades. “You wanna go soon?”
“Sure!”
She scooped Cujo up and out of her lap and we headed for the door.
***
I’d kept our destination a secret until we arrived. The Aventador still turned heads, but a Lamborghini wasn’tquitean exotic sight here in Highland Park Village.
Ainsley stared out her window and rattled off the storefronts as we prowled past, in search of parking.
“Carolina Herrera … Christian Louboutin …Hermès.” She whipped around and faced me. “Uhhh, Tanner?”
I hid a sneaking smile under my hand. “Yeah, babe?”
“We’re not going to find The Gap here, are we?”
I laughed and shook my head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Tory Burch … Fendi … Dior.” Gasping beneath her breath, she clenched at my thigh. “Tanner! These are all really,reallyfancy stores.”
“Welcome to Highland Park Village,” I said as I pulled into a parking spot.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were tryingto spoil me.”
“Huh. Strange,” I said as we climbed out of the car. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
She joined my side and we strolled through the outdoor plaza hand-in-hand.
“Crazy,isn’t it?” she quipped sarcastically. “I’m starting to think I should’ve taken that credit card from you after all.”
“Why, so you could shop at The Gap?”
“And save a few hundred dollars? Yeah, exactly!”
