Page 74 of Dirty Martini
Now that the attention is where I originally wanted it, I find that I’m nervous. I start to think that maybe this isn’t as big of a deal as I’m making it and that I’ll look like an idiot when I show him. “Well, maybe itcanwait?—”
“No, no,” he tsks and clicks his tongue at me. “Now I need to know.” His eyes dart down to the island counter as he raises an eyebrow. “Is this what I think it is?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek as he picks up the paper and takes a look at it. I’m sweaty and red, even more nervous than I was while sitting in that stuffy classroom taking the test. He just stares at the paper, specifically at the grade scribbled messily at the top.
I rush through my words before I even know what I’m doing. “It’s stupid, I know. It’s not even worth discussing. Anybody could have?—”
“You got a B on your biology test.”
“Um, yeah,” I laugh awkwardly, scratching the back of my neck. “It’s not even the final, just a pre-test to see how we’ll do. Can we just forget?—”
He cuts me off again, but this time with his mouth. Seizing my face, he holds my cheeks with a bruising grip, the corner of the test crinkling in his hand.
“What the hell?” he asks when he breaks away with a breathtaking smile. “Why didn’t you lead with this? Ev, this is awesome.”
My worry that I’m making a fool of myself fades. I become excited again, my heart fluttering happily as I square my shoulders. “I know. We studied so hard for it, and I wanted to show you that you didn’t waste your time on me.”
He shakes his head and looks back down at the paper, almost fondly. “No, baby. I might have helped, butyoudid this. I’m so proud of you.”
A burst of overwhelming affection for him slams into me. His words sink in, and I don’t think I realized until now how much I wanted to hear them. Growing up, Rhys was my idol. He might not have come from the wealth Elton and I grew up in, but he was—still is—extraordinary. I used to do all I could to earnhis praise and attention. And even when we hated each other, I secretly wanted that still. Now that I have it, I’m filled with a kind of satisfaction I’ve never felt. It’s nearly dangerous how addicting it is. Like it’s dawning on me that I could spend my entire life chasing this feeling.
But it’s also so validating because he’s right.Idid this. I might not have thought I was smart—I’m still struggling with that—but now I know that I am capable. Capable of anything I set my mind to. Capable of working toward a goal and achieving it.
“I’m proud of me too,” I say with a smile.
“You should be,” he murmurs as he pushes my hair off my forehead to place a kiss there. “Seems like it was a good night for both of us.”
I raise an eyebrow, sitting on my hand as I wiggle with interest. “What happened to you?”
“Britt’s leaving and she offered me her job as head bartender.”
“Really?” I ask, letting out a breathless laugh as I wrap my arms around his waist. “Rhys, that’s great.”
He shrugs. “I have my reservations, but there’s no reason to say no. If the money is as good as she says it is, I should be able to afford my own place.”
Something in my gut drops. Tension rises in my shoulders, my heart swelling with disappointment that I try not to show. “Oh. That’s great.”
“Great, huh?” Studying me with narrowed eyes, he tips his head. “What’s that face for?”
Damn it.“No face.”
“What?” he teases, walking his fingers up my thighs, playfulness laced in his voice. “You’re afraid I won’t take you with me?”
“What…” I trail off because the hope swelling in my stomach needs to be ignored. And yet, my heart flutters. “What do you mean?”
“This money will be good forus,” he states, working my hands out from under me so he can hold them. The excitement in his eyes is palpable and turns the brown to amber. “We’ll be able to afford our own place that I can actually pay for. It’s not that I’m not grateful to your parents for helping me, but I can’t wait to be independent again. Independent withyou.”
That sounds really fucking good. I can picture it so clearly. I mean, it’ll be just like we are now, I guess. But we’ll be in the fresh start we created. Something new where we can grow together. Still, because it’s so much fun, I play hard to get. “Is this you asking me to move in with you? What if I like the penthouse?”
“Brat,” he scoffs, pecking my nose as he rubs soothing circles on my hips. “Is that a no?”
“I’d love to live with you,” I say earnestly. Dropping my forehead against his, an emotion I’m too cowardly to name builds inside me.
He gives me that breathtaking smile of his. The one I’m falling for more and more. The one that makes three frightening words move within me on repeat. Taking a step back, he points at my test. “Let’s get you through finals and we can talk about it more.”
I nod, but rub my hands up and down my chest as I splay myself across the counter. “I was thinking maybe you could show me just how proud of me you are?”
He smirks, eyes growing hooded and impossibly dark. Hunger evident in them. Fucking predatory in the way I love. “Gladly.”
