Page 36 of The Vow

His nostrils flared, the silver in his eyes burnishing black. “Do you promise?”

“That’s not a no,” I said flatly and pushed through the doorway past him, ignoring the heat that licked my skin like hot coals where my arm brushed his chest.

My heels clicked on the floor, up the stairs, almost as annoying as the fervent strum of my pulse knowing Damon was right behind me. Instead of the distance he’d kept dullingmy reaction to him, the desire I felt only intensified. My nipples pebbled instantly against the silk. My core clenched, and I grew wet just from the stroke of his gaze along my bare back.

“Patrick,” I greeted the large Irishman with a smile but only earned a grunt in response as he opened the back door of the black Mercedes.

I climbed inside, sliding as far over on the leather seats as possible as Damon settled in behind me.

“Did I do something to him?” I wondered once the door was shut, trying to distract myself from how he filled the space, his leg so close to mine no matter how far I scooted next to the other door.

Damon grinned. “He doesn’t like that you’re better at his puzzle than he is.”

I gaped. “That’s his puzzle?”

Here I thought it was Damon’s, not the large, reticent bodyguard.

“Pat loves his puzzles.” Damon ran his long fingers along the rim of his hat, the subtle, seductive movement catching my attention. Even in a tux, my husband was never without his fedora.

I hummed. “Well, I guess you’ll have to apologize then.”

“Me?” His head cocked.

“Well, it’s certainly not my fault I was left in a house with nothing else to do but his puzzle.”

His nostrils flared. “I could give you plenty of things to do, Robber.”

When I turned and glared at him, he had the nerve to wink. And that wink had the nerve to have a direct line straight down my chest, through my stomach, and right to my clit, a burst of pleasure arcing through me.

“I prefer activities where my clothes are on.”

He chuckled. “On or off…I don’t recall you having a preference before.”

I clenched my legs and directed my stare out the window, forcing my mind straight past the tempting detour down memory lane. “That was fifteen years ago. A lot has changed—everything has changed since then.”

“You still put hot sauce on everything.”

I gritted my teeth. “Are you doing inventory?” I always put the bottles back in the exact same spot I found them in the cabinet, but it was hard to hide their use when I was the only one using them.

His deep chuckle bounced through the back seat. “Nonna was…distraught.”

I grimaced. I added hot sauce to almost every meal she made, and I tried to do it discreetly so she wouldn’t think there was something wrong; there wasn’t. Her food was amazing. I just liked things spicy. And I couldn’t bear another look of disappointment from her grandmotherly face. It was bad enough she didn’t hide her dismay every time she saw me wearing the clothes I’d arrived in.

“I’ll tell her?—”

“I already did.”

My mouth snapped shut, my hand tightening on my knee in irritation. “You don’t know me, Damon.”

“You still get Chinese food from the same restaurant we used to. Your same order, according to the owner.”

“Liking the same food is trivial.”

He shifted, his body angling toward me in a way that was too welcoming to be anything but threatening.

“For the last decade, you’ve run a covert ring of information in the city, employing maids and janitors and housekeepers and dog walkers, taxi and Uber drivers, bellman and waitresses and working girls, all feeding you valuable pieces of intelligenceabout the city’s legitimized criminals so you can deliver vigilante justice.”

A shiver trickled along the length of my spine like he’d just dragged an ice cube down my back.

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