Page 42 of Hearts on Ice
He blew out a long breath. “Do you want to go somewhere for dinner?”
She looked over at him. “Are you sure?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Not sure if some of them are following us.”
She seized on the change of subject. “We might want to, ah, stop somewhere to get condoms.”
He whipped his head toward her, and the truck swerved a little. “You’re not on birth control?”
“I am, but it’s been seven years. We’ve both been with other people.”
His jaw tightened and he looked ahead. “I guess.”
She didn’t really want to talk about their sexual history right now. They had been virgins when they got together, and they’d only been with each other until she left.
She hadn’t been with that many guys since, and she’d always been careful. But she knew if she’d been with others, certainly he had. She didn’t want to think about it. He no doubt knew about her liaisons because they had been pretty prominently mentioned in the press, especially her romance with the star of the reality show.
But what she didn’t want was for him to start thinking about that now, now that they were on their way back to his place for the night.
He turned into the parking lot of a drug store. “You want me to just go in? Or do you need something, too?”
“No, ah. I’m good.” If he went in on his own, he would draw less attention. She looked in the side rear view mirror, and saw two other cars had pulled into the lot behind them.
Declan saw them too, and hurried into the store.
He must have known exactly what he wanted, because he was out again with his bag, jumping back into the truck before the two reporters got out of their cars.
Maybe they were never planning to get out. She took the bag as he pulled out of the parking space.
“If I didn’t see the bag, I would have thought you shoplifted, you were in and out so fast.” She was pleased to see he’d bought a decent size box, not a three pack.
“They weren’t busy, and they could see I was in a hurry.”
She heard the smile in his voice, and she smiled too.
She didn’t know exactly where he lived, but the route seemed much longer than from his apartment to the rink.
Her mouth dropped open when he pulled into the parking lot of a sex shop.
“Deck? What the hell?”
“They want to follow us, let’s give them something exciting to write about.”
“Deck!” But she was laughing as he got out of the truck and waited for her on the sidewalk.
“Have you ever been in one of these before?” he asked.
She shook her head, hesitating at the glass door. She didn’t know if she had the nerve to go inside. He looked over her shoulder, waiting for the two cars to follow, took her hand, and walked inside.
Colby felt her face flame as they walked through the rows of explicit toys in the surprisingly brightly lit store.
“Haveyoubeen to one of these before?” she asked, keeping her voice hushed. He certainly seemed to know where he was going.
“Is there something I can help you with?” the clerk asked from behind the counter.
Colby avoided meeting the man’s eyes, certain her face was as bright as, well, as that vibrator right there.
“We’ll just look around for a minute,” Declan said, leading her down another aisle, and pausing, shaking his head, and moving on.
