Page 35 of Shades of Ruin

“Nope. Never even had a driver’s license. I walked and took the bus like everyone else.” He pats the top of the dashboard affectionately. “I got this girl after Paris when I moved back.”

I stare at him, wondering if I misheard. “You call your car agirl?”

He flashes me a wide grin. “Look at her. She’s too damn sexy not to be.” Greyson has a hard-on for his Maserati, and I’m left feeling jealous of an inanimate object. “Don’t worry, though, Stella doesn’t mind sharing.”

The man named his fucking car. “Good to know.” I’m going to hazard a guess that car sex is definitely on the table, but he’d probably be quicker to clean offStellathan he would me.

“So, what are we eating tonight?” I ask, looking to change the conversation before he asks me to do something weird like pet the goddamn car.

“It’s a surprise.”

Greyson and surprises sound like a dangerous combination. “Do I get to help cook?” I know I’ll feel less out of my comfort zone with a knife or a pan in my hand.

“Of course. You can play sous chef tonight.” He glances over at me, his bright blue eyes beaming. “Consider it your second promotion in twenty four hours.”

God, the way those crystalline eyes send my pussy fluttering. “Thank you, by the way,” I respond, realizing that I never actually talked to him after his announcement last night. “For having my back with Henley. And for trusting me to take on the pastry position.”

“You always had it in you,” he answers, the absolute certainty in his voice catching me off guard. “You just needed a little push.”

I glare up at him. “Yourlittle pushesfeel more like a shove off a cliff.”

He shrugs. “Either way, I’ll always be there to catch you.”

Merida, he better be there to catch me. Because I feel myself falling so hard for him that it’s sure to be fatal when I actually hit the ground.

“Why so quiet?” His sharp voice cuts through the fog of my thoughts.

“I’m trying to decide what your place looks like,” I throw out as a diversion. “I’m willing to bet you have an actual torture chamber stashed somewhere in there.”

“You know me so well.” A devilish smile pulls at his lips, and the butterflies in my pussy turn rabid with excitement.

“Funny, I’ve been thinking the same thing about you.” I don’t add thathowwell he knows me is enough to have me dreading tonight—and anticipating it just as much.

“We’re a match made in hell, angel. Destined to torment each other in the most delicious ways.”

“I don’t recall ever taking part in the torment, Greyson,” I scoff. “Cruelty is your department.”

He whips his head toward me, a flash of fire in his eyes. “You have tortured me from the moment you fell into my life, Angélica Flores. Any pain I rain down on you tonight is merely payback.”

Jesus fucking Christ, he’s going to ruin me. And I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.

Chapter Nineteen

ANGÉLICA

Before long, the streets become a little too familiar. “Are we going to Grey’s?” I ask as we turn a corner that’s about a couple minutes away from my daily commute to work.

“Mmm, hmm,” he hums with a nod, one hand lazily draped over the steering wheel like he’s driving on autopilot. His blue eyes flick over to me, and there’s a smirk on his face.

“Great, the restaurant I get to avoid one day out of the fucking week.” I swear, if he’s pre-gaming our date with another grueling lesson in culinary technique, I’m going to fucking kill him.

“You don’t enjoy spending every day in my kitchen?”

I can’t tell if he’s teasing me or not. Knowing him, he thinks being in his mere presence is an honor. “The kitchen, I don’t mind. I could definitely use a break from my boss, though.”

His free hand slaps down on my bare thigh with a loudsmack. “Remind me to spank you for that, later,” he bites back, and this time I know he’s being serious. He keeps his vicious hands to himself as he parallel parks in his usual spot beside the restaurant.When he reaches down to undo my seatbelt, his fingers graze my hips in a way that stirs the wet, throbbing need in my core.

Pressing my thighs together to ease the tension between them, I wait for the doors to slide open, suddenly very anxious to escape the confined space I’m sharing with Greyson before I do something stupid. Like bend myself over his lap and tell him to spank away. I’m so taut with repressed sexual energy that when the doors do start to lift I flinch away in surprise.

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