Page 70 of Deal with the Devil

Nevaeh walks to the door, poking through. “You guys want to eat in or out?”

“Dealers choice,” Tav says, and she smiles that smile at him.

Then she says, “Out.” Before poking back inside. I watch as she loads Ian with the nachos and guac, standing with Tav to help.

When the table is set and everyone is fixing their taco’s, Tav frowns across the table at her. “Are those pickles?”

“Mmhmm.” Nevaeh nods, sucking juice from her thumb.

“On your tacos?”

“Yep.” She takes a big bite of her pickle dressed taco and smiles at him around it. “Yummy.”

Tav lifts a single brow but asks dryly, “What kind of psycho puts pickles on tacos?”

She laughs, sharp and abrupt. “Dad.” She takes a long drink of her lemon water. “He’s always put pickles on his tacos, and it became a thing.” She lifts a shoulder. “I hear it took Mama a while to warm up to the idea, too. You should try it.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on.” Nevaeh pushes, that smile playing at her lips. I want to kiss that smile, claim it. Devour it whole for myself.

I’ve got issues.

Tav refuses. “I’ll stick with jalapenos.”

Ian leans forward, grabbing a handful of the cut pickles and dropping them on his tacos. “I’ll give it a go for ya, Nev.”

She beams at him. Even though I have the sense to know better, my gut tightens, and I can’t deny the urge to slide my hand to her thigh under the table.

Ian takes a ginormous bite, nodding, but says nothing.

She waits, but clearly can’t handle the suspense of it because she demands, “Well?”

“Not bad.” He keeps chewing. “Not bad at all.”

I grab a handful for my own taco, taking a bite to see what all the fuss is about. Then I agree, “Huh.”

“Right?” Nevaeh lands that beam on me and I think my heart starts to melt.

“It’s good.”

“And you lot question my cooking skills.” She harrumphs dramatically, tossing long caramel hair over her shoulder with a cheeky flourish. “Silly men.”

The guys laugh, indulging her as she starts to chatter on about how men are the inferior species, andthey need to learn better tactics for consuming the wealth of information women have to offer them.

I think I fall deeper in love with her with every ridiculous thing she says.

The woman has me hooked.

twenty-nine

Nevaeh

The hotel is stunning. No joke, it’s something to die for—and the man at the door accepting an order of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries is quickly becoming my everything.

It’s not how this was supposed to go. I was never meant to fall for him. It wasn’t my intention when I collided with him months ago in my attempt to escape Antonio, and it wasn’t my intention when I accepted his crazy proposal to fake marry him. It definitely wasn’t my intention the first time he fucked me, or all the times after, even.

I’d tried to hold my heart back from it all, because Kane Volkov is a lot. He’s intense, and every time I getin one of my moods—they usually happen after I get one of those prickly little realizations that I’m falling for him—I don’t know why I do it, but IGooglehim.

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