Page 69 of Oblivion

“Nope.”

I arched a brow while opening the trunk, only for both eyebrows to pull low when she headed in the opposite direction—toward her Mini.

I jogged to catch up. “What are you doing?”

“Taking these to my car.”

“You’re riding with me.”

“Ha! No chance. I’m takingmycar.”

My eyes cut to said car, then to the licence plate. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I had to go and open my big mouth.

“Mini Penny, huh? Cute.”

“Seriously, are you still here?”

Christ, she sounded wild. One glance in her direction showed me just how so.

I let out a rushed exhale and pointed to the largest case. “Let me put the big one in my trunk. It’s not going to fit in there.”

“It’ll fit.”

“Babe, trust me, it ain’t gonna fit.”

Hands met her hips and anger lit her eyes. “And I say that it will.”

I raised my hands. “Fine. Be my guest. I’m just telling you that you won’t get both of those into Mini Penny.”

“Stop making fun of me!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Echoes of her outrage reverberated off the buildings around us, and drew attention from random pedestrians across the street.

“I’m not!” I bit back defensively. “That’s literally what it says on the plate!”

“But you don’t need to say it likeI don’t think you’ll get both of those into Mini Penny,”she ridiculed, dropping her voice to mock mine.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, willing composure and all things zen. It’d trained for war until I literally reenacted it in my sleep. This, however…thiswas a situation I had no experience with.

“Okay, look. If we’re going to make this work, we’re both gonna have to ease up a little. It’s going to take a little time to get used to the situation.”

Penny lifted her chin. “You need to stop being so controlling.”

“Contr—”I cut off the growled retort when her glare intensified. “Okay, fuck.Fine!I’ll try to be less ‘controlling,’ as you put it.” I air-quoted thecontrollingpart. “And you need to stop being so damn pedantic and demanding.”

She popped a hip. “I’m not pedantic.”

Otherwise remaining mute, I implied all I needed to by simply lifting my eyebrows.

Penny let out an exasperated huff, then opened the little trunk of her Mini.

I didn’t say a word, not a damn one as she lifted the big case and got it halfway into the trunk before realizing there wasn’t a snowflake’s chance in hell of it going in. Muttering under her breath, she set it back on the asphalt and reached for the smaller suitcase. As predicted, it went in with ease while leaving the larger one needing attention.

Her gaze sought mine, and I’d have been a fucking rock if I remained unaffected by the flutter of her pretty lashes. They were designed to hit me right in the soft spot, and they did exactly that.

Unfortunately for Penny, I refused to cave. I hummed and waited for her to outrightaskfor assistance. It took almost a minute of staring stubbornly at each other for her to finally roll those beautiful baby blues in resignation.

“Do you mind taking this case for me? Please?” she added when I didn’t react.

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