Page 67 of The Perfect Spiral
If I’m going shopping with Knox, there will be people around, cameras even, so I need to look presentable. I won’t look like the girls he’s usually photographed with, but I’m not dating him, so it doesn’t matter.
Once I’m ready, I grab my coat and sunglasses—my shield against future pictures—and saunter out of my room, heading towards the foyer. As I shuffle down the stairs, I see Knox on the phone.
Reaching the last step, I step down into the foyer. He spins around casually and smiles at me, his eyes roaming over my outfit, as if checking for his approval.
“Alright cool!... yea... yea... alright I gotta go anyway!... yea, I’ll talk to you later... bye,” he says into the phone, not taking his eyes off me. Once he’s done, he slips the phone into his pocket.
He mumbles something under his breath, but I’m too far away to catch it.
“You ready to go? We’ll take my car,” he says.
I nod in reply and reach for the door handle, opening it for bothof us. We walk to his car in silence, the crunch of stones under our feet the only sound.
As I reach out to open the car door, a hand beats me to it. I turn to see Knox, those ocean blue eyes staring back at me, a faint smile playing on his lips. Those lips that were on mine not too long ago.
God, he’s a good kisser. I shouldn’t have liked it, but it was exactly how I remembered it.
“Thanks,” I say softly, sliding into his slick black Audi. It’s a beautiful car, even more so on the inside. He closes the door and moves around to his side.
I run my hands over the soft black leather seats.
“Buckle up!” he says casually. As our seat belts click into place, he starts the car and backs out of the driveway.
“Where to first?” he asks as we drive along the smooth road.
“Um... I was thinking maybe she’d like a bag? Since you said there’s no budget... Maybe a Hermes bag? Or a Coach bag?” I suggest.
He looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head, his eyes darting between me and the road.
“Sure? To be honest I have no idea what they are other than the fact that they’re bags? So you just say where and bring me there!” He smiles at me again.
“You can’t go wrong with a bag, and I’m kind of glad you don’t know what they are, I’d be a little worried if you did.”
“You girls and your bags! You should just have one and throw all your unnecessary crap into it and there, you’re done! But no, you’ve got to have one in every color of the rainbow, don’t you?”
“Hey! Hey! Don’t be putting the bags down, they didn’t do anything to you. Unless you were hit by one...” I trail off, mumbling the last part to myself.
“I just don’t get you women and your millions of bags, shoes, and clothes? It is mind-boggling,” he says.
“Did you just say mind-boggling? Who even says that?” I tease him.
“Shhh baby doll, no need!”
“Wow, you are either getting really old now or you’ve gotten a few too many hits playing on the field,” I say, his arched brow and look telling me to zip it.
“Remind me why I brought you out with me?”
“Because of my amazing personality, beauty, the fact that you can’t stand a minute without my presence... and to find your mother a Christmas present,” I brag, leaning on my knuckles that are resting underneath my chin, my elbow on the smooth black leather armrest.
He turns to face me, lifting the corners of his mouth along with both brows. “I’ll go with the last option, baby doll. We both know I’m the one with the amazing personality, beauty, and the fact that you can’t stand a minute without my presence. That’s why I’m on so many covers. It’s only a matter of time before you admit it.”
Throwing my words back at me, I suppress an eye roll, hidden behind my polarized lenses.
Before I know it, we’re outside Hermes in Manhattan. As we park and exit the car, I see him running around the front of it.
“I was going to get that for you, baby doll!” he says, and I notice how well he’s dressed—dark black jeans and a fitted blue jumper with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, muscles bulging. I wish my relationship was as strong as the thread keeping his jumper together.
“Why? I’m perfectly capable of opening and closing my own door,” I protested, shaking my head at his absurd insistence.
