A large goldendoodle sat on the seat next to me. Cecil, now a giant dog, grinned widely. His teeth were very sharp. “How’s that?”
I hit the button to open my door, and it lifted slowly. “Fine.” I didn’t care what he looked like. I didn’t care what Vincent thought about anything.
Well, maybe I did a little. I had automatically put my high heels back on, after all. I got out of the car and walked towards him slowly. He didn’t look at me as I approached; he’d even completely ignored the gold Lamborghini screeching to a halt at the curb in front of the building,because that’s the kind of guy Vincent was. He just leaned against the wall, head tilted up, looking at the stars, lost in thought.
It looked like a performance. Good grief, it was like I had new eyeballs, and they were showing me things that had always been there. Vincent looked like an actor in a stage performance, playing a handsome, enigmatic artist. Just waiting. Too cool to be looking at his phone because real life was much more interesting.
What an ass.
The performance wobbled a little when he finally turned towards the clicking of my high heels coming towards him. His eyes widened when he saw me; blood-red silk dress split to thigh-high, swishing dramatically out behind me, the gold Lamborghini in the background.
“Susan.” He stood up straighter, then, with almost visible effort, forced himself to relax back against the wall again.
I stopped in front of him. Old feelings smacked into me like moths against a lampshade, trying to get through to burn themselves on the burning bulb. I loved this man so much. And he’d destroyed me.
It took me a moment to get a hold of myself. “What are you doing here, Vincent?”
“I came to see you.” His lips curved up—a slow, sexy smile. “Iwantedto see you.”
I swallowed. “Why?”
He stared at me for a long time. I’d forgotten how much his eyes glittered. Vincent had a way of looking at someone so soulfully, so intensely, you almost stopped breathing.
A quiet little growl came from behind me. “Grr. Grr. Grrrrepugnantlittlewanker.”
Vincent frowned and leaned sideways a little. “You got a new dog.”
Cecil’s interruption broke the spell. It reminded me that Vincent hadn’t answered my question. Realization smacked into me. Vincent never answered questions he didn’t like. He would just stare soulfully or with unbearable hurt in his eyes, until you got uncomfortable and changed the subject. I clenched my jaw. “What are you doing here, Vincent?”
He turned back to me. Yep, there it was. The carefully constructed look of hurt. Brows furrowed, eyes hooded, mouth open very slightly.
A surge of heat boiled in my belly. This man haddestroyedme.
No. He didn’t destroy me. He tried to. He wanted me out of the way. He was a kid who had gotten tired of his personal candy store, so he’d burnt it down, and gone and gotten himself another one.
And I’d risen like a phoenix from the flames.
I eyeballed him, keeping my face blank. “Well? Are you going to stand there and stare at me all night, or are you going to answer my question? What are you doing here?”
A flash of anger flared in Vincent’s eyes. He carefully disguised it and threw me a slow, sexy smile. “Like I said, I wanted to see you.” His gaze drifted down from my face, taking in the shimmering skin on my collarbones, the tops of my breasts peeking out of the top of the corset of the blood-red dress, the silk draping over my curves perfectly, down to my bare leg, exposed by the split. “You’re looking good, Susie. Real good.”
“You’ve seen me. You can go now.”
He leaned back against the wall, sexy and defiant. “It’s been too long, Sue. I’ve missed you.”
As the words left his mouth, something strange pricked inside of me. It was subtle, like static electricity running under my skin. I frowned. “What did you say?”
He stared at me again, the slow smile back. He wastrying to reel me in harder than a sports angler with a blue marlin on a line. “I said I missed you.”
My skin zinged again. It felt… wrong. Like something inside of me was physically reacting to his words.
A realization hit me. A lie. Vincent was lying. He didn’t miss me at all.
My mouth dropped open. I’d never thought to check if the scribe stone gifted me any magic, but here it was. I could actually feel the lie in Vincent’s words.
“Vincent… why are youreallyhere?”
He tossed his hair back lightly. “I wanted to check on you.”
