Page 56 of The Scandal You Started
It had been rather enjoyable watching Rayna converse with Cassie, Matt, and Hania so animatedly about something she was passionate about. It had made him want to cradle her in his lap and listen to her chatter away about historical events he couldn’t have cared less about.
But also, the idea of learning what the four of them knew of his time while sharing his own knowledge as if he’d studied it rather than lived it was intriguing.
While he wouldn’t do so until the following week, Dominic thankfully didn’t have to wait long for his next trip out into the world of the future. Though he had to admit, his first impression wasn’t great when he got out of the car in the dungeon of lined-up, parked vehicles underneath the store Rayna had called a“supermarket.”
He got a lungful of a distasteful smell that had a strong undertone of urine. It wasn’t anywhere near the worst smell he’d experienced, but for a second it transported him to the backstreets of the West End in his own time.
Breathing through his mouth, Dominic waited by the end of the car as Rayna locked it with a press of a button and came around to him.
“You do not need your bag, sweetheart,” he said casually as she adjusted the chain strap to sit between her generous breasts.
She glanced up with a sarcastic smirk. “Nice try. But I’ve already told you I’m paying, so stop trying to find a way around it.”
Irritation cracked his innocent façade immediately. “This is absolutely ridiculous, and you are very well aware of that, Rayna,” he grumbled. “I am a man. I ought to be paying for whatever we buy, and it is infuriating that you are trying to forbid it.”
“It’s not as if it’s coming out of my own pocket. I’m using my company card.” She patted his arm twice as if she were mockingly soothing him. “Come on. We need a trolley.”
She stepped past him. He rotated and followed by her side down the row of cars. “Do not patronise me, woman. And if you are paying with your company card, then what difference would it make if I paid with mine?”
“Exactly.” She arched an audacious brow. “What difference does it make if I use mine instead of yours if it’s the same thing?”
He clenched his jaw, annoyed she’d caught him in his own trap. “It is not the same.”
Rayna scoffed. “Yeah, because one satisfies your ego and the other doesn’t.”
Dominic gaped and stumbled over incoherent syllables. “How dare you suggest this is about my ego.”
“It’s not?” she asked in a dull voice that said she believed otherwise.
“Of course it isn’t, you maddening witch.”
He wanted to care for her. He wanted to provide her with everything she needed and more. Whatever she wanted.
It was already frustrating enough that he didn’t have access to his own finances in order to give her that, leaving him relying on the credit card he’d been provided with. But if that was all he had, then that was what he’d use. It didn’t matter that the money she was using came from the same source. It was about his principles, responsibility, and affection for her.
But, of course, that was completely incomprehensible to the stubborn woman.
Was that an issue only with her, or with all women of the future?
“I wish to care for you. That is what this is about,” he said as they stopped by two rows of metal carts with tall, wheeled legs and pram-like handlebars all tucked into one another.
She scoffed and began pulling out a so-called“trolley”with a few wiggles and clangs. “You can keep wishing, but it’s not happening.”
“Why not?”
He took the trolley by the handle away from her. He’d be damned if he let her push it around on top of being forced to let her pay. That would be adding far too much insult to injury.
She scowled, hands hovering in the air, until she lowered her curling fists to her sides. He tightened his grip around the handle, silently daring her to try to take it back.
“Because people will think we’re a couple,and we’re not,” she said sharply.
“Will they not also assume so if you pay?”
Her jaw visibly clenched as she went mute. He realised rather satisfyingly that this timehe’dtrapped her in her own web.
“Walk. Now.” She pointed across herself towards the wall of clouded glass at the other end. “Or I’m going to leave you in the car and go shopping by myself.”
Dominic pushed the trolley forward with a lopsided smirk. He bent into her as she matched his slow stride. “You threaten me only because I have pointed out a flaw in your argument.”
