Daphne glowers. “A birthday party is a surprise. A proposal is a surprise. A pre-planned vacation. Hell, a fucking flash mob. Those are surprises. Blowing up people should never be a surprise.”
“So… you’re not mad I killed them. You’re pissed I didn’t tell you.” I glance off the road for a moment to see her sapphire blue eyes glaring daggers at me. “Just clarifying.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she settles back in her seat.
God, her tits look too damn good in that dress. My mouth’s watering to taste and tease them again, lavish her pretty nipples with my tongue until she’s squirming and begging me for more. But I get the feeling that won’t happen a second time tonight, so I try to get my cock under control. He’s fighting back hard, though. My balls arebluer than her dress. Some immature, animalistic part of me wants to pull over on the side of the road and fuck Daphne in the passenger seat of this Porsche until she’s screaming my name in forgiveness and multiple orgasms.
But that’s a fantasy I’ll store for when I’m alone tonight. No way is that going to happen when Daphne looks like the only way she’d touch my dick tonight is to rip it off my body.
“When I told you about my plans to off McArthur, you had a panic attack,” I remind her. “And that’s someone you only distantly knew. How would you have reacted if I said I was going to kill seven people in a violent explosion?”
Daphne purses her pouty lips together and squints at the road. “It would have been nice to be looped in. Between this and my mom signing me up for that stupid auction, I’ve reached my surprise quota for the year.” She sighs, her head resting back against the headrest as a soft curl flutters beside her cheek.
“I don’t think my parents are going to cut me off yet. Technically, I did speak to Brent, but maybe they’ll cut me off anyway.” She holds up three fingers. “That’ll be surprise number three. Don’t they say bad things come in threes?”
“Well, if she does cut you off, you can always stay with me.” I’d tell her about the spare bedroom I already have set up with a bookcase, lounge, mini fridge, and a stack of books from her Wishlist she doesn’t know I’ve been buying. Plus, a new kennel and dog toys for Hawkeye.
But I say nothing. If she’s reached her surprise limit tonight, I’d need a jockstrap and helmet to tell her. Maybe a bullet-proof vest. She does own a gun after all.
“Live with you?” Her voice rises an octave like she’s in shock. “Right.” Her voice drips with biting sarcasm. She’sstill pissed. “Because if I’m homeless, I can’t help you withyourplans. How gracious of you.”
Well… that wasn’t the response I’d hoped for. “I don’t want to see you homeless,” I counter. “And I don’t want you to be under your dad’s thumb anymore.”
“Of course,” she shakes her head. “I’d get to be under yours instead.”
Her words are a sucker punch to my sternum, knocking the wind from me.Is that what she thinks of me? That I’m as bad as Grover fucking Fox?
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap.
“If I’m spilling information, then I’m still worth something to you. And now you’ve got a little extra on the side.” She turns to me with unshed tears. “I should have known you’d use me, just like every other fucking guy I’ve met. You want information. They wanted to get close to my dad. Even my own fucking father uses me for his career. All men in my life do isuseme. But, hey, you got some fun out of it. God, I feel like such a fucking idiot.”
Her voice cracks.
I don’t give a shit if we’re on the highway in a stolen vehicle that someone may have reported. I pull over to the shoulder of the road and I kill the engine. The lights in the car shut off, casting us in shadow.
“Fun?” I can’t keep the anger out of my voice. “Is that what you thought that was back there? Just fun? Look at me, Daphne.”
Her eyes remain stubbornly fixated on the highway ahead of us.
“Daphne.” I bark out in a voice that sounds like an order. “Look. At. Me.”
Her shoulders shiver, and her nipples pucker under thedress. She finally faces me, her eyes glassy with unshed tears, but her chin tilts up in defiance.
That’s the Daphne I love to see.
I white-knuckle the steering wheel. Blood pounds in my ears now, and there’s a powerful hurricane of rage and frustration and lust all colliding in a perfect storm. “If you think, for even a second, that was just ‘fun’ back there, you’re damn wrong. About that, and about me. Do you think I’d do any of this for fun? Do you think I still watch you, show up to a fucking fundraiser for the most despicable man on the planet because I need information? I can find anyone, anywhere. Your information makes it easier for me, but I can work without you.”
Daphne’s eyes cast downward to her hands balled in her lap.
My head reaches out, but she doesn’t flinch as I cup her cheek and force her to look at me. “Daphne Fox, I don’t need you.”
I stay silent and leave my words hanging in the air. As they sink in, her expression flattens with disappointment.
“But I fucking want you. And not for ‘fun’. I want you because I haven’t stopped thinking about you for months. I want you because you’re stuck in my head like a song on repeat, and still, every fucking time, I hit the play button again. My plans fell apart the day I met you. I wasn’t supposed to care about you, but I do, damnit. I care about you, the one woman I wasn’t supposed to get close to. Do you honestly think I let you leave my basement for information?”
She nods against my hand.
I let out a harsh laugh. “I don’t need your information. But the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew I wanted you.And no matter how hard I try, I can’t get you out of my system.”
