Dark Sexy Knight (A Modern Fairytale)(7)

“Hi again!” she said.

“Hey.”

“I’m so glad I ran into you! I’ve been thinking about you nonstop since . . .” She dropped his eyes for a moment. Her bottom lip slipped between her teeth, and if that, coupled with her words, wasn’t the sexiest thing he’d seen in a million f*cking years, he wasn’t sure what was.

She shrugged, her face a little bashful when she looked up again. “I just mean . . . thank you. That’s what I wanted to say. Thank you so much.”

Her words were warm and earnest, but it was her eyes that did all the talking. Soft and profoundly sweet, they scanned his face as if it were handsome, as if it were somehow precious, and he desperately fought the urge to lean closer to her.

“No problem,” he said. “She needed someone to fill the, uh, the ADA job. So . . .” He gestured lamely with one hand. “Worked out.”

“It sure did. All because of you.”

Her words made him uncomfortable, and yet he felt an unexpected measure of relief when the light turned red again, trapping him in place just as a car pulled up behind him.

“Well . . .,” he said, looking back at the light for a second before raising his eyebrows at her.

She leaned away a little. “Oh. Yeah. You have to go. I just wanted to say thank you. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met, Colton. I feel so lucky that you were here today.”

She looked down, smiling at her small white hands on the windowsill for a second before raising her head and smiling directly at him. It was the sort of smile that started in someone’s heart and took over her face, and though he didn’t smile back, he felt something give way. As though her smile was the key to unhinging his defenses, he felt them drop as his mouth opened to speak.

“You need a ride somewhere?”

WHAT. THE. FUCK?

The words escaped before he had a chance to think them over or give them permission to be said. What the hell was wrong with him and why the f*ck couldn’t he make a smart decision around this woman?

Impossibly, her eyes lit up even more. “You mean it?”

No. He grimaced. How could he retract the offer now? “Uh, sure.”

She searched his eyes dubiously. “But we’re all the way out in Decatur.”

There it was—a chance to say, “Oh, well. Too bad. Take care.” But he didn’t. He f*cking didn’t.

He glanced up just as the light turned green. “It’s fine. Get in.”

He shrugged, reasoning internally that Decatur was in the same general direction as Stone Mountain, where he lived.

She gasped with delight, turned her head, and yelled, “Ryan! We got a ride! Come on! Before the light changes! Come on, now!”

Colton leaned forward, watching out the passenger window as her big lug of a brother loped over to the car, his shirt stained under the arms and around the neck with big, wet patches of sweat. He hesitated at the rear door.

“Get in, Ry. It’s okay.”

“He’s a stranger, Ver’ty.”

“He got us jobs. He’s a friend.”

“Oh. He’s a friend? I didn’t know that. That’s nice.”

“It’s real nice. You get in the back and buckle up, okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, opening the door and hefting his body into the car. “We can take a ride from a friend, Ver’ty. That’s okay. That’s the rule.”

“Sure is,” she said, as the light changed back to red and the driver behind them laid on the horn.

“Fuck you!” yelled Colt, rolling down his window just enough to give the guy the finger as Verity slipped into the passenger seat and slammed her door shut.

She pulled the seatbelt over her chest and buckled it before flashing him a ridiculously adorable smile, both dimples denting her cheeks.

“Ready whenever you are,” she said, folding her hands on her lap like they were going for a Sunday drive, which, technically, he supposed, they were.

“Fuck,” hissed Colt, shaking his head as the light turned green and he stepped on the gas.

***

“Our friend cusses a lot,” observed Ryan from the backseat. “Lots of cussin’, lots of cussin’, lots of cussin’.”

Verity jerked her neck around the seat to look at her brother. “That’s not nice. He’s giving us a ride so we don’t have to stand in the heat and change buses three times. You just look out the window and hush up.”

She loved her brother. Truly, she did. But Verity had a well-documented case of lifelong bad luck. She barely had a day when one thing went right—she couldn’t bear for Ryan to spoil it when two things, a job and a ride, had actually gone her way.

“Okay, Ver’ty,” he said glumly, his lips turning down. He lifted his eyes to the back of Colt’s head. “I’m sorry, friend. Didn’t mean no harm.”

“That’s, uh, it’s fine,” said Colton, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

Ryan sighed. “Maybe I should take a little nap.”

“That’s a real good idea. Close your eyes and rest.” Verity softened her voice and her expression. “We got those jobs, Ryan. I’m real proud of you.”

“I’m real . . . proud of . . . you . . . Ver’ty . . .”