Page 8 of Test the Ice
He chuckles before shutting my door.
I’m tempted to just drive away, because I’ve been alone with this guy for two minutes, and he’s already managed to make me laugh.
Sure, he’s a little arrogant, and I’m certain his gentlemanly tactics pull girls into his bed like some sort of siren call, yet I find myself staring into his eyes for a second too long, which is never good.
Not to mention, I need the money.
I start to set up the Uber ride on my app when the passenger side door opens.
Malaki sits nonchalantly in the front seat, and I can’t help but snort.
He glances over at me. “What?”
“Nothing.” I busy myself with the phone, but I can still feel his gaze lingering on the side of my face. “It’s just–” I peek at him and roll my lips together. “Most people sit in the back.”
Malaki, with his wide shoulders, turns and glances at the backseat.
Thank God I took Charleigh’s car seat out.
“Looks small back there,” he notes.
It is. If I could afford an SUV, I’d get one. The bigger the car, the more money I’d make.
I run my gaze over his large frame and shrug. “You’d fit,” I say.
He would be super cramped back there, and I’m pretty sure there’s a wafer stuck to the seat from attempting to appease Charleigh earlier when she was getting antsy from our trip to the store, but it’s fun to act unimpressed by Malaki and his sturdy body.
His ego could surely afford a few hits.
“I’m over six feet,” he argues.
I purse my lips and openly gawk at him. “Oh, you looked much shorter than that.”
He huffs, and I turn away to hide my amusement.
After getting the Uber drive set up, I have him tell me his address. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that he lives in the same complex as Daisy, and I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m pretty certain he’s Kane’s roommate.
“I think you just don’t want me next to you,” Malaki says. “Because you and I both know that I tower over your tiny frame.”
“I am not tiny,” I argue, putting the car in drive.
He grunts, and I glance over at him. He’s staring out the passenger side window, but even from the glimpse of his profile, I can see his lips twitching with humor.
If only he knew that I had a baby nine months ago, and my body isn’t quite the same as it used to be. I’m still thin, mostly because I don’t have time to eat, and even when I do, healthy food is much more expensive than junk food, but my belly isn’t as tight, and it’s hard to fit my hips into those skinny jeans I wore a year ago.
“You are tiny,” he says. “But you’re also mighty.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Mighty? What makes you say that?”
Our eyes catch when I stop at a red light. I ignore the way my stomach flips, becauseabsolutely not.There is no time or place in my life for a smooth talker like Malaki, even if he has made me laugh more times in the last twenty minutes than I usually do in an entire day.
“I don’t know...” he drags his words out while simultaneously running those blue eyes over my body.
The light turns green, and I silently thank it for giving me a reason to look away. Being under Malaki Young’s scrutiny gives me hives.
“You just seem…independent?”
Okay, so he can read people.Big deal.
