Page 56 of Hitch
“What if I don’t want to stop?” I ask. He leans forward, waiting for me to finish my thoughts. “You’re right. I like it a lot. And I don’t care if you don’t pay me. I don’t want to stop.” I lick my teeth in faux annoyance. “You’re going to have to force me to stop.”
He stares at me for a hard minute. “You’re giving up a lot of money.”
“It’s not about the money.”
The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, and it’s like a world has been lifted from my shoulders. I’ve put money and survival above everything else for so long—it’s why I stayed with a sugar daddy, knowing that he could make life easier—but now, even when I’ve got a drug kingpin lusting after me, a man I could drain of every cent or lock up in jail for life, I don’t want to be like that anymore. I want to do this for myself.
“I wantyou,Duane,” I say. “You always say that I’m yours, but here’s the thing.” I try to give him a serious look, but he cracks a grin, and I know that my attempt has failed. “You’re mine too, and I’m not going to let you get away just because you’re getting cheap all of the sudden.”
He chuckles, but then he grabs my throat, pulling me in for a kiss, and it feels different from before. Like something’s changed between us. And I’m not sure that I hate it.
In fact, I sort of like it.
“What the hell are you doing to me?” Duane murmurs, and my stomach hardens. He’s looking at me like he’s shocked at the power I have over him, but god, he owns so much of me too. He doesn’t know half of it.
“There are better burger joints,” he says, changing the subject. He gestures to the fast-food restaurant behind us.
My eyes linger on the station across the street as two police cars pull out of the parking lot.
“Had to get a bite to eat before I go to Oakdale,” I say.
“Oakdale?”
“It’s my mom’s birthday. I bought her a car. It should be there in an hour or two.”
He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before he opens them again. When his eyes rest on me, I’m not sure what it is, but I get this feeling like he’s reaching out to my soul. Like he sees another part of me.
And for some reason, I don’t want him to leave him here.
“You could come with me,” I say.
He tilts his head. “Yeah?”
“Why not?” I say. “You like cake, right?”
He pats his stomach. “Do I look like someone who would refuse cake?”
Duane is muscular, but he’s bulky too. And though I doubt he diets, that hard labor out in the fields must keep him in shape.
“So, is that a yes?” I ask.
“Get your ass in my truck. I’ll drive.”
A giddiness sweeps over me as I get into the passenger side of his car, once again getting into a vehicle with a man I know is a criminal. A killer. A man willing to shove my ex-sugar daddy into a wall. A man selling drugs. A man who technically came into my apartment without my consent. A man who has taken so much from me, and yet, he’s given me so much more confidence and power than I thought was possible.
Because with Duane, I’m always enough.
On the drive over, Duane and I take turns, switching from a country radio station to a rock station. I like country, but rock is my jam, and both genres have overlapping influences, kind of like the two of us. We’re both from such different backgrounds, and yet, we connect in this primal way that shifts those differences. And I don’t want it to stop.
Right inside of Oakdale, we stop at a family-owned bakery. I search through the pre-made cakes and find a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. The baker writesHappy Birthday!on the top with black icing, then rings it up at the cash register.
Duane pulls out his wallet. I wrinkle my nose at him.
“I can get it,” I grumble. “If I can get my mom a car, I can get her a cake too. Trust me.”
“Just shut your mouth and let me pay,” he says, handing over a wad of cash to the baker. “It’s a sign of respect. Intruding on your mother’s birthday? Showing up unannounced? Buying a cake is the least I can do.”
His eyes linger on me, and my entire body flutters with nerves. I don’t know what it is with him, but I know I won’t win this argument. Still, he’s sweet in his own way. Who buys a cake for a woman he’s never even met, just because it’s the respectful thing to do?
