All Things Pretty
Page 3

“Are you always so nosey?” she asks distantly, her eyes facing forward, staring blankly out the windshield at the passing scenery.
“Always.”
I see the corners of her mouth twitch. “At least you’re honest.”
“To a fault.”
Rather than bantering with me, Tommi grabs her phone and holds it up for me to see. “I guess I’d better call a tow truck.”
I’m quiet at she searches for a number and then again as she talks back and forth with a rep on the other end of the line.
We arrive at some ritzy little boutique far too quickly. And I wasn’t rushing either. In fact, I was barely going the speed limit.
When I pull into the lot and shift into park, I turn to Tommi. She’s ready to jump out and run, it looks like. Her hand is on the door handle and her eyes are wide.
“I’ll be back in just a few minutes. Are you sure you don’t mind waiting?”
“I’m sure.”
“Some men act like waiting hurts,” she offers.
“I don’t mind waiting for you.”
Her eyes twinkle the tiniest bit. “Even if it hurts?”
I laugh. “Especially if it hurts.”
“Okay. Thank you. Really,” she says with a sweet smile.
Makes me want to kiss her. Among other things.
“No problem.”
I relax into my seat as she climbs down and slams the door behind her. I can’t help watching the muscles in her lean legs flex as she walks, watch the way her round ass moves inside the denim of her shorts with each step. She’s so tall and her legs are so long, my dick gets antsy just thinking about having those babies wrapped around me, her hot, wet body pressed up tight against mine. Holy shit!
I’m listening to the radio, enjoying the breeze coming through the open window when she comes back out the side door of the store. I’m pretty sure my damn chin hits the floor the instant I see her.
Her hair is pulled up into a messy platinum pile on top of her head, just a few waves hanging loose around her face and brushing her shoulders. She’s dressed in a skin-tight red dress that hugs every curve. It’s split almost to the hip on one side, perfectly showcasing her world-class legs. The whole thing reveals just enough of her lightly tanned skin to make a man wanna beg. And I do. Wanna beg, that is.
Tongue practically dragging the floor, I watch her as she walks in tiny steps to the passenger door. When she opens it, I get a whiff of her delicious scent as it wafts through the cab of my truck. Sexy and spicy, but still kind of soft. Everything she’s trying not to be for me. But she already is, whether she’s trying or not.
I see her eyebrows come together in a frown as she stares down at the side step. She reaches for the hem of her gown and tugs it up a couple of inches and grips the inside of the door. She’s trying to figure out how to climb in here without tearing her dress or being unladylike and showing too much of anything. What a contradiction she is.
Her struggle spurs me into action. “Wait,” I tell her, getting out to walk around to her side. She turns to face me when I come up behind her. As I stare down at her, I realize I want her. Well, I already knew that, but now I know how much I want her. A whole damn lot!
She looks up at me, sorta shy, hella sexy. Her eyes… God! They’re sin and innocence and trapped little bird, all in two exotic-shaped emeralds trimmed in thick, black lashes. Like she knows what I’m thinking, she glances away, nibbling at her lip again. They’re painted a dark ruby color, and they look wet. Shiny. Like she’s been licking them.
As if she can feel me looking at them, I see her tongue sneak out at one corner of her mouth and I have to bite back a groan.
“Need some help?” I ask for the second time today.
She peeks up at me and laughs, a deep throaty sound that has me picturing her dancing in the rain. Naked and free. “This is becoming a habit.”
“Not all habits are bad.”
“No, but some are dangerous,” she mutters in a husky voice that vibrates all the way down to my balls.
“Nothing wrong with a little danger once in a while.”
Her smile turns sad, but she says nothing. After a few seconds, I move a step closer to her. She doesn’t back up, but the way her lips part makes me wonder what she thinks I’m about to do. Kiss her?
Slowly, I lean in, letting my hands settle at her tiny waist. “Put your hands on my shoulders,” I instruct.
With a bag in one hand (I assume it holds the clothes she was wearing) and a little clutch thing in the other, she reaches for me and I lift her into the passenger seat until she can scoot back and swing her legs around. We watch each other, sort of expectantly. I’m not sure what she wants me to do, but I sure as all hell know what I want to do. Before I think about acting on it, though, I shut the door and take a deep breath.
I’m not used to holding back, and why I am for this girl, I have no idea. Maybe it’s because she has an air about her that makes me thinks she needs more rescuing than just from being stranded on the highway.
I climb behind the wheel and start the engine. As I’m shifting into gear, I see Tommi’s pale hair enter my peripheral vision and I turn to look at. Her leg is exposed all the way to the top of her thigh and she’s leaning forward to adjust the strap of her sparkly silver shoe. When she straightens, she catches me watching her.
“Men should be glad they don’t have to wear shoes like these,” she says.
“It’s for the best. We could never make them look that good,” I reply with a lopsided smile.
“Oh, I don’t know. I bet you’ve got great legs,” she says, glancing down at my lower body before looking quickly away like she slipped up by making such a comment. But she did make it, which means I was right. It’s not me that makes her nervous. It’s this damn sizzle between us.
“You’d win that bet. And any time you wanna see ‘em, you just say the word.”
She smiles again, but says nothing as she fiddles with the latch on her purse, back to avoiding eye contact.
“So, where to next?”
“The Hotel Magnifique.”
“Nice,” I say, familiar with that venue as well. This woman is obviously used to the finer things in life.
We ride the short distance in silence. I can almost feel her tension ratcheting up every time she glances at the clock. When I pull up beneath the covered area at the front of the hotel, Tommi finally looks at me again.