12. Renne
Renne
Connor changes into black jeans and a black T-shirt. On the way out, he grabs a leather jacket. When he grips the wheel, I catch a full set of rings on his fingers, most of them various skulls that go with the skull-and-crossbones tattoos on top of his hands.
He’s freshly shaven and smells fantastic. Spicy and heavy cologne tonight, a hint of cinnamon, I believe.
“Do you want to tell me about your date, or should I ask Pete what happened?”
“I’ll tell you.” I launch into the whole story and get to the part when we arrived at the restaurant.
“Which restaurant?”
“L’Octane”
“The fancy one out by the park?”
“It’s fancy, but I’m not sure if there’s a park there.”
“There is. You can take Hanna there to dig in the sand.”
“She would eat the sand.”
He smiles. “Then what happened?”
“He knows the owner, who is a doctor, and they’re shooting the shit at the bar, then we move to the table, but she and three others join us.
They’re all doctors, and you’d think medical talk wouldn’t bore me, but it did.
My job is stressful as it is, and I didn’t want it bleeding into my free time.
Plus, it was a date. I was supposed to get to know him one-on-one. ”
“How did you get the marks on your thigh? It looks like fingerprints. Am I right?”
“I didn’t want to sit with them anymore. Pete noticed and said something about going back to his apartment later on, to which I replied with something that made him angry.”
Connor glances at me as we drive past the place where he pulled over to eat me out. “What did you say?”
“Um, nothing big. Just the usual date is over stuff.”
Connor shrugs. “I’ll get the surveillance recording from the restaurant and figure out what you said.”
“It was private. Don’t go looking for it.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“I told him he was crazy if he thought I would go home with him when there’s eight and a half inches of pierced dick waiting for me at the Crossbow mansion.”
Connor keeps driving.
No reaction.
“You said that to him?”
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I had to throw something at him. He was humiliating me. They were talking about nurses as if they were their servants. I was upset and wanted to throw something at him that he couldn’t compete with.”
“What if his dick is nine inches?”
“It’s not,” I say.
“You’ve measured?”
“Most penises aren’t that big.”
Connor smiles. “Keep that in mind.”
Connor parks in a no-parking zone right at the entrance of my building. He winds his hand through my hair and fists the strands, tugging gently, suggestively. I pinch my lips so I don’t release a needy groan.
He brings our faces closer over the middle console. Blue eyes blaze with intensity, and I hope he closes the distance and kisses me. I want him to. My gaze drops to his lips, a clear invitation.
“What am I supposed to do with you?” he asks.
“I can think of several things.” I’d invite him into the apartment, but my setup is less than ideal.
All the more reason for me to pick up extra shifts so I can afford a bigger apartment, one where I can have my own room. Still, I’m putting myself out there for this guy even though I shouldn’t. I like him. I shouldn’t like him, but I can’t resist the pull between us.
Here’s the thing. If we fuck, my interest in him and probably his in me will pass. I’m not into relationships, and I don’t think he’s looking for one either.
“Can’t tonight.” He lets go of my hair. “I have a date.”
“A date?” I screech, then cover my mouth and look in the back seat, where my baby’s eyelashes flutter open. Damn it. There’s still a chance she won’t wake up, but only if I can manage to hold my shit together.
Which I do. Almost. I get her out gently, leaving the car seat in his vehicle because it’s a new one that looks like it came from five years in the future. I can’t figure out how to remove it without waking up Hanna.
Once she’s secured on my shoulder, I slam his car door as hard as possible.
Connor winces. Serves him right. Seeing as how I went out with Pete, Connor has every right to go out and do whatever he wants, but I get to be angry about it too, because we almost kissed in the car.
And why is he dangling his pierced dick in my face if he won’t put out and has a date?
Once inside, I lay Hanna down in her crib and peek through the blinds. Connor is still parked out there. What’s he doing? “Get out of here,” I whisper. Before I change my mind.
We should keep our hands to ourselves.
I can do that. I went out on a date.
He’s doing it. He’s going out on a date.