Page 16 of The Pretender
“How did you get them to the airport?”
He flicks his hair off his shoulders dramatically, a coy smile on his face. “This face card never declines.”
I sputter a laugh. “I don’t suppose it does.”
“Chivalry isn’t dead. At least not for me.”
“You can play the damsel in distress when needed?”
“Like an Academy Award winner.”
“I’m sure that comes in handy.”
“I doubt your face card gets declined either, but you probably use it differently.”
“I do alright.” As we head to the doors, I check the signs for transportation. “Do we want to grab a rental?”
“Nope. We have lots of vehicles on the estate we can use. We’ll just grab an Uber.”
“Okay.”
Deo pulls his phone out and taps on the screen—ordering a ride, I assume.
“Is it a long drive from here?”
Deo nods. “About forty minutes.” He glances up. “Car is three minutes away.”
“Great.” I pull my collar up around my neck. “What’s the temp?”
Deo taps on his phone again. “A balmy twenty-one.”
“Damn. You weren’t joking about the cold.”
“Nope. The high yesterday was only eighteen.”
“A good opportunity to find ways to warm up, then.”
Deo grins, stepping forward until our chests bump together. He lifts his chin, and I admire his stunning features. There are worse ways to run away from life.
“You are a gorgeous one.”
He smiles, smoothing the lapel of my wool coat. “We look pretty good together, I think.”
“I agree.”
A car pulls up next to the curb and my immediate reaction is to tense, until I remind myself where I am and that Gio would never drive anything that isn’t expensive and European.
“That’s ours,” Deo says, already walking that way with his luggage.
I follow him, assisting the driver as we load it all into the back of the SUV.
“Robin’s Grove, huh?” the driver says as we all take our seats inside the vehicle. “I don’t get out that way much.”
“Why would you?” Deo asks, grinning. As the driver navigates pulling into traffic, Deo scoots a little closer to me. “This okay?”
“Yes.” I drape my arm around his shoulders. “Are you an openly affectionate person?”
He nods. “Disgustingly so. I could never live somewhere that wasn’t liberal enough to handle it. The city was cool because literally no one paid attention to anyone but themselves.”
