Chapter Seven #2
Not just physically, though Christ, she is. But the way she sees the world, the way she talks about her family, the way she refuses to let Derek’s bullshit completely break her spirit.
“What about you?” she asks, twirling linguine around her fork. “What do you do? Besides Uber driving and being mysteriously wealthy enough to have restaurant owners kiss your ass.”
I chuckle. “I’m not that wealthy,” I lie to her again.
“Franco practically bowed when he saw you.”
“He’s just dramatic.”
“Nitro…” She levels me with a look. “You’re deflecting.”
Smart girl.
“I have some investments,” I say carefully. “My parents left me some money. I manage it, keep their business running.”
That’s not a lie.
It’s just not the whole truth.
“What kind of business?”
“Entertainment mostly, boring, mundane shit I don’t really want any part of.” I take a drink of wine, hoping she doesn’t push further.
And she doesn’t.
Instead, she smiles. “Well, whatever you’re doing, it’s working. This place is amazing.”
Relief floods through me. “Yeah, Franco knows his stuff.”
We fall into a comfortable conversation about music, movies, and the best coffee shops in Vegas. She tells me about Sage’s terrible dating history, and I tell her about Queenie’s matchmaking attempts at the retirement village.
Time disappears. One minute we’re starting our meal, the next our plates are empty, and Franco is bringing us tiramisu we didn’t order, winking at me like the meddling bastard he is.
“I really should get going,” Marley says eventually, glancing at her phone. “It’s getting late.”
I don’t want this to end.
I don’t want to take her home and watch her walk away.
But I stand anyway, pulling out my wallet.
“Nitro, let me—” she starts, reaching for her purse.
“Don’t even think about it, Small Town.”
“But—”
“I asked you to dinner. I’m paying.”
She huffs out a breath but doesn’t argue, and I toss enough cash on the table to cover the bill and a generous tip. Then I move beside her, placing my hand on the small of her back and leading us outside.
The night air is cool against my skin. Marley wraps her arms around herself, and without thinking, I shrug out of my jacket and drape it over her shoulders.
It’s massive on her, the sleeves hanging past her hands, and she looks up at me with those big eyes, that soft smile, and I’m fucking done for.
“Thank you,” she says quietly.
“Anytime.”
We walk to the car in comfortable silence, her heels clicking against the pavement. When we reach it, she turns to face me, and Christ, she’s short. The top of her head barely reaches my chest.
“I need a step stool just to look you in the eye,” she jokes, tilting her head back.
“I like that I have to bend down,” I murmur, and the air between us shifts.
It charges, becomes something thick and electric. Her breathing quickens, her lips parting slightly, and every instinct in me screams to close the distance. To cup her face in my hands and find out if she tastes as sweet as she looks.
But then headlights sweep across us.
A car pulls into the lot, music blaring, shattering the moment like glass.
Marley steps back, and I let her go, even though it kills me.
“I had a really good time tonight,” she says, her voice a little breathless.
“Yeah. Me too.”
“Maybe we could do this again?”
“Definitely,” I reply with a smile, then open the passenger door for her. She slides in, then I walk around to hop into the driver’s side.
She’s on her cell as I close my door, clearly texting, and I grin as I start the car. I hope she is telling Sage, or her brother Beck, that she had a good night.
Reversing out of the parking space, I take off for her home, and once I hit the road, I reach out for the stereo, turning the music on. This time, Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” is playing, and I chuckle under my breath but decide to go with it. Full on boy-band style.
I turn to her, hand closed like a microphone, and prepare for our next round of carpool karaoke. “You are… my fire…”
She opens her eyes wide at me, her mouth agape as I continue to sing while driving, my hands flailing around the car, doing ridiculous ’90s boy-band moves.
“Oh, so we’re doing this?” She giggles.
“Tell me why-ee,” I sing-scream at her.
She bursts out laughing, the sight making me happy, as her hands come up in front of her face, doing jazz hands, and she finally joins in, singing at the top of her lungs. And we sing the rest of the car trip to Sage’s home.
As I pull my car up to the sidewalk, I kill the engine, and we both stop laughing.
She turns to face me with the brightest smile on her face. “Thank you for tonight… for dinner, for making me smile, endlessly. For a guy that looks like he could kill someone with his bare hands, you sure know how to have fun, Nitro.”
I smirk, tilting my head. “Most of the people I hang around with would find that hard to believe. They think I am Mister Serious all the time.”
She raises her brow, grabbing her things to get out of the car.
“Then maybe you need to lighten up around them. Show them the guy I’m getting to know because this guy in front of me…
he’s a really great-fucking-guy.” She dips her head at me, then opens the car door to hop out, but I reach my hand out, grabbing her arm, halting her.
She turns back, looking at me, raising her brow in question, and I exhale, feeling my heart beat faster. “Marley…” Her name comes out soft.
Her breathing quickens as her eyes lock with mine. “Yes?”
I hesitate because I have nothing to say, but I don’t want her to leave yet.
A slow smile crosses her lips, and she swallows, sensing that I am struggling to find the words. So, she helps me out. “The gala… the fake dating… you and me… I think we can do this.”
Fake dating.
Right.
Of course.
I sink back into my seat a little and nod. “Hell yeah, we can. I got your back.”
She bites and holds her bottom lip between her teeth with a slight nod. “But we need more practice before the big day, right?”
I wave my hands through the air. “I am yours to do with as you see fit, Small Town.”
She snorts out a laugh, rolling her eyes. She climbs out, closing the door, then ducks down to look through the window. “Thank you. Honestly, thank you, Damon. You don’t need to help me with this, but I truly appreciate it.”
Hearing her call me by my first name sounds strange, but somehow, on her lips, it doesn’t irritate me like it usually does. A slight grin crosses my lips, and I gesture toward Sage’s front door. “It’s my pleasure… now head on inside. I’m not leaving till I know you made it in safely.”
Marley rolls her eyes again, then spins and heads for the front door. The way her ass moves as she walks makes me want to jump out of the car, bend her over my hood, and fuck her senseless.
But we’re just pretending.
At least she is.
As she opens the front door, she gives me a little wave, and I shoot two fingers up in a half wave, half salute, then she closes the door behind her.
I let out a frustrated groan as I sink into my seat, banging my head against the headrest. “What the fuck are you doing, dickhead?”
I sit up and start my car, the engine roars beneath me before I tear down the open road, trying to outrun the truth I already know…
I’m in hot water, and it’s only getting hotter.
But Marley, she’s the kind of heat a man walks into willingly.
One look from her, one laugh, and I’d let her burn me alive.
So maybe this is the part where I stop fighting it…
And jump headfirst into the fire.