“You’re not so bad yourself,” I said. “If your goal was to get me to say fuck dinner and let’s go straight to bed, you succeeded.” Even though I was absolutely starving and well on my way to hangry, I would put it off for a little while to strip him out of that suit.
“That wasn’t my goal, but if that’s what you want,” he said, pulling me close and nibbling my neck.
“No, no, we have reservations. We should go. And I’m super hungry. We can totally have sex after dinner. I’m willing to skip dessert.”
He hugged me tighter. “You are the best. Sometimes I can’t believe you’re real.”
“Same here,” I said.
He helped me on with my coat then gave me his arm. We rode the elevator down, walking out of the building and onto the street. I thought maybe he would hail a cab, but we just kept walking.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To dinner,” he said, not answering my question.
“Yes, but we’re not walking there, are we?” I had my heels on from the ball and they weren’t going to be fun to walk in for much more than a few blocks.
“Nope. We’re driving.” He pulled something jingly out of his pants and held them up.
“So you stole a car?”
My comment caused him to throw his head back and laugh.
“No, Lucah said I could borrow his. I hope I can save up enough money working at the gallery to get my own. Or at least get a bike. But maybe a car is more practical now.”
“Now?” I asked, knowing what he meant but needing to hear him say it.
“Now that we’re Slydering. I couldn’t exactly throw you on the back of a motorcycle right now. And they’re not very practical in the winter anyway. A car is much more sensible. And I can get something badass and trick it out.”
I didn’t want him to sacrifice the desire to have a motorcycle for me.
“Well, maybe, if you’re a good little boy, Santa might bring you something special for Christmas.” I knew absolutely nothing about bikes, but maybe Lucah could help me out.
“What if I’m a bad little boy?”
God, I hoped so.
“Well, you might get something even a little more special.” We made it to the parking garage, and Ryder made me wait so he could bring the car around. That made me smile.
He pulled the car right up to where I was standing and jumped out to take my hand, leading me to the door. He was being quite the gentleman.
“Is this something I can get used to?” I asked as he helped me sit like I was a delicate feminine flower.
“Maybe,” he said before leaning forward, giving me a kiss, and shoving his tongue in my mouth. My dirty gentleman.
~*~*~
The restaurant was in the swanky part of Boston, which I didn’t frequent. Mostly because I didn’t like the idea of sitting in a fancy restaurant by myself, and none of my friends were all that fancy, despite some of their upbringings.
“Are you sure we’re allowed here?” I said in his ear as we walked to the front.
“Shhh,” he said, putting his finger to his lips. I closed my mouth and followed his lead as we walked inside and to the host standing at his podium.
“Do you have a reservation?” he said in a crisp and professional voice. Yup, this place was definitely upscale.
“Yes, it’s under Kensington. Walter and Margaret?”
What the fuck was he talking about? I squeezed his arm, but he ignored me. Then I remembered that time when Ryder told us the story of Lucah pretending to be different people when they were growing up, which probably led partially to his career in being a corporate spy. Was Ryder taking a leaf out of his brother’s book?