“Didn’t realize you’re almost two years older than me.”
I laughed.“That explains so much.”
“Whatever, Trouble.”
“Trouble?”
“Yeah, you’ve been causing trouble since I met you.”
I scoffed.“Puh-lease.I could say the same thing about you.Trouble like this never found me until I met you.”
He squeezed my thigh.“Nope.I know how to spot a troublemaker and you’re just like Mickayla.”
His hand on my leg did things to me.To be fair, his hands on meanywheredid things to me.“We could go back to my place and I’ll cook.I don’t need you to take me out.”
His gaze cut to me and back to the Interstate.“Youneedme to take you out.When we get back to your place, it’ll be the opposite of anticlimactic.”
“So, you’re promising me the climax I missed this morning.”
He moved his hand on my thigh higher toward the juncture of my hip.“I’m promising you multiple climaxes, baby.”
I struggled against putting his hand where I really wanted it, but it wouldn’t be safe for him to touch me like that while driving.
He chuckled.“There you go earning your nickname.Can see the thoughts on your face.You’re pure trouble, Ivy.”
I picked up his hand and moved it to his thigh.“Pretty sure you’re the troublemaker here, Nickel.”
I slid into my side of the booth at Poe’s Tavern across from Ryan, and set my bag of books next to me on the bench seat.“You are going out of your way to earn brownie points with a woman who has explicitly told you it isn’t necessary.”
His lips spread with a sly grin.“Not all those books are for you, Ivy.”
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, Nickel.I’ll be reading them even if I’ve never heard of this Eighty-Seventh Precinct series.”
“Good thing I know where you live then.I’ll be able to get my books when you’re finished with them.”
“Breaking into my home to wait for me is one thing, but breaking in to steal books is a bridge too far, mister.”
“Don’t be cute when I’m too far away to kiss you,” he ordered.
A man with his hair in man-bun sauntered up to our table and put down two cardboard coasters.“What can I get you to drink?”
“You trust me?”Nickel asked.
I nodded.
He turned to our server.“Two gimlets with Grey Goose, make mine a double.And two waters.”
“You got it,” he said, and left.
“Why isn’t mine a double?”I asked.
“Safety first, Trouble.Besides, you can have more than one.That’s the only drink I’ll have until we get back to your place.”
“Have you been here before?”I asked.
“Yeah.Their burgers can’t be beat, and Mickayala says their tacos are great, too.”
I nodded and took in the extensive menu, every item gave a nod to an Edgar Allen Poe work.
