They walked out of the condo in tense silence. Nicholas finally spoke. “Thanks for seeing her home.” His tone was remote and cold. The display of emotions she’d witnessed inside was gone.
She missed it, even though that concern and caring hadn’t been directed at her.
“No problem,” she returned.
“What a coincidence you happened to be at the same bar.”
It didn’t sound like he bought that coincidence at all. She hummed. Let Eve tell her brother about her gentle stalking and bribery attempt.
And her rambling about your parents’ affair? Accusing your dad of a murder-suicide?
She pushed that aside, unwilling to deal with it right now. Eve had probably only wanted to upset her, and mission accomplished. She wasn’t about to get into that with Nicholas. He either knew about it or he didn’t, and the discussion would only mess with her head more than Eve already had.
“You look fresh as a daisy,” she said. “Thought this would be way past your bedtime.”Why is that, Nicholas? Why do you look so good? Were you busily servicing your girlfriend?
“I was about to work out when Eve called.”
Oh, thanks a lot. There went an extra bonus image into her spank bank.
Nicholas tapped his keys against his thigh. “You look tired.”
Lady boner deflated. “That’s a shitty thing to say to a girl,” she returned pleasantly. “You might as well say, hey, your face is really looking haggard.”
“Sorry.”
But he didn’t retract his statement that she looked tired. Asshole.
“I don’t see your car outside.”
“I drove Eve here in her car. I’ll get a ride home.”
“How?”
Livvy pulled her phone out of her pocket and waggled it at him. “I have like four different apps.”
“This neighborhood? You’ll have to wait for a while.”
She opened an app and tapped her location, then quietly closed it when she saw the wait time. “I’ll call Sadia. She can come pick me up once her shift is over.”
Nicholas pressed a button on his key fob and the sleek black sedan nearest them blinked its lights. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Uh. That doesn’t seem like the best idea.”
He rubbed the space between his eyes. “Livvy, it’s late. I’m exhausted. Stop being a pain in my ass and get in my car.”
“Well, when you’re that charming, I don’t know how to resist you.”
“I leave charming to other men.”
Yeah, Nicholas had never been charming in the traditional way. Not in public, at least. In private, he’d charmed the panties right off her.
Ugh. Ughhhhhhh. Could this night get weirder? “Fine. Whatever.” She could sit next to Nicholas like a motherfucking adult. It was a short drive to her place.
Since she knew he took pride in opening doors for women, she beat him to the passenger door and got in. As if he was surprised by her acquiescence, he climbed in next to her, shooting her wary looks the whole while.
Pretend this is normal.“You’re a lot more overprotective of Eve than I remember.”
He shifted, turning toward her, wrist draped over the steering wheel. “Did she say that?”
