CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CECI
Chapter Twenty-One
Ceci
They’d been driving for nearly an hour since leaving her father’s house.
After being interrupted by Anker and Tilney, she’d stopped Clarke again from going shooting with her father and his friends when both of them were hounding him to.
She’d seen how good he was with a rifle in Montana.
Translation: awful. She didn’t want her father, Anker, and Tilney to see it too.
After that, there had been cake and presents.
Finally when they were leaving, Clarke had surprised her by asking her to join him.
To go where and to do what, he wouldn’t say.
She’d hesitated at first but didn’t need too much convincing because she was curious.
“Where are we going?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.
“That’s the fifth time you’ve asked. My answer hasn’t changed.”
“You’re not going to tell me.”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
“The problem with that is you’re building up my expectations. And you know what that means.”
“What?”
“You’re setting me up for disappointment.”
Her eyes drifted to his lips.
Stop doing that, she told her eyes. But of course, they ignored her.
Who would have thought Sir Stick was such a good kisser? But then, he was good at a lot of things. Most of which were … unexpected.
“Why?” he asked.
She blinked, after seeing his lips move. “What?”
“Why is my not telling you setting you up for disappointment?”
“Oh … because it gives me time to imagine what it might be, to have expectations. And real life never lives up to expectations.”
“Never?”
“Never. Do you know that movie A Fish Called Wanda?”
“I think so.”
“In the movie, the one guy speaks all these foreign languages to the girl because it turns her on. When I watched it, I thought whatever he was saying sounded pretty good. But he wasn’t speaking Italian or Russian, it was just gibberish.”
“Okay, but I’m not getting your point.”
“My point is, I was thinking he was saying these amazing things. I got my expectations up only to be disappointed. And if he had been speaking the actual languages, I would probably still be disappointed. A man could speak to me in Italian or Russian and I might feel like the earth was going to shatter beneath my feet, only to find out he was telling me how to unclog my toilet or explaining the public debt clause in the Constitution.”
He laughed.
She liked it when he laughed, especially when she was the one to make him laugh. Maybe because it was so rare. And his laugh was so real.
“You should laugh more.”
Nodding, he laughed again. “Okay, I’ll try.”
“It’s not something you try. You just do it.”
His eyes were on the road ahead. She had only his profile to look at.
He hadn’t shaved. There was a shadow. When had she ever seen a shadow on Sir Stick Up His Ass? It was especially surprising given he’d planned on coming to her father’s house.
She might not have remembered asking him to come today, but she remembered that kiss. How could she not? She’d fallen asleep thinking of it. Wondering why he’d done it. What had made him do it? It wasn’t Sir Stick Up His Assish at all.
Suddenly his head turned and their eyes caught.
She blinked, but his didn’t flinch. She’d always thought his eyes matched his gentlemanly manner—smooth, warm, like melting caramel.
But now they looked like they’d been scorched.
They looked darker. She heard her aunt’s words—The man looks positively Gothic.
Is he ever going to tell me he was the Man in the Iron Mask?
She turned away and stared out the window, feeling not only her face but her entire body heat up.
Was he going to kiss me for real, before Anker and Tilney showed up?
She shut her eyes, saw his smoldering gaze looming over her, coming closer as he lifted her chin and lowered his lips toward hers.
What else would he be about to do? Explain to me why octopi have three hearts but two of them stop working when they swim?
That earlier kiss had felt real enough. Even if it had been just for show.
She wanted to believe he’d done it for her benefit.
To make her father look at her. But Clarke didn’t know the nature of their relationship.
Nor the role she’d played in the death of her mother and twin brother.
He didn’t know any of that, so why would his taking her up in his arms be for her benefit?
No, it had nothing to do with her father and everything to do with Tilney. Clarke had only come up to her once Tilney was beside her.
He didn’t like Tilney. That much was clear.
She didn’t care for the man either. But she might have to get used to having him around. The Blue Jet Lightning owners were talking about bringing on a third driver, and he was at the top of their list.
“Trust me, you won’t be disappointed,” she heard him say.
She blinked then, suddenly seeing the landscape outside the car as if for the first time, struck by the familiarity of it.
Where are we?
They entered a parking lot, and it hit her.
She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. But they weren’t sad ones. She was smiling so hard her teeth hurt.
He brought me … here?