Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(63)

“This one’s nice,” he said, holding up a bra a row over. I frowned.

“That’s like . . . a D.”

He examined it better. “Yeah, you’re right. How’d you know?”

I raised my eyebrows and shook my head, going back to my section.

“What about this one?”

“Thank God we’re not in Victoria’s Secret,” I muttered, looking over again. He was holding up a sheer bra. I laughed. “That one’s good.”

“34 C, baby,” he said loudly. I felt my face turn a shade of red as a woman walked by us. She shot me an amused look.

“Excuse him, he doesn’t Target much,” I said with a smile.

The woman laughed and walked away.

I gasped when Victor came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. “You’re having way too much fun with this,” he said into my ear.

“Just a little,” I said, smiling. “Did you get my bra, honey?”

“I sure did, baby.”

“Let’s go,” I said, starting to walk. He held me tight in his hold so I couldn’t move and kissed my cheek.

“You make me this way,” he said. The tone of his voice made my insides rattle. I tilted my head to look up at him.

“Like what?” I whispered.

“Not cautious,” he said, snuggling into my neck. “I feel free when I’m with you.”

I closed my eyes and leaned into him. It felt so good to be in his arms like that, away from it all, without fear we’d get caught. He pressed his lips against the side of my temple and dropped his hands.

“Let’s go. I’m only getting you underwear because you’ll need them for work tomorrow. Don’t even think about wearing them to bed tonight,” he said, slapping my ass as he walked away. I laughed as I followed behind him.

When we got to the front of the line, the cashier tried to talk Victor into signing up for a credit card, and he started rambling about credit lines and stores that want to lock you in and keep you in debt. The woman laughed.

“All right then,” she said, shaking her head as she looked at me. “Good luck with this one, hon.”

“Oh, no. We’re not together,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “Too straight-laced for me.”

Victor narrowed his eyes at me. I smiled at him and shrugged. The woman laughed again. We left and on our way to the car Victor held the bags in one hand and wrapped his free arm around me body, lifting me off the ground.

“Straight-laced, huh?” he growled. “I’ll show you straight-laced.”

I laughed the entire way to the car. When he set me down I reached up and kissed him. “I was just kidding.”

“Too late.”

I smiled. “You should let me drive.”

He balked at me, pausing as he put our things in the trunk. “You’ve completely lost your mind.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s my car and nobody drives my car.”

I jutted my bottom lip out. “Please?”

His gaze dropped to my lips. “No.”

“You really wouldn’t let me drive your car?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

Victor looked at me for a long, quiet moment. He sighed. “Do you know how to drive stick?”

“I’m very good with a stick,” I said with a wink. He wasn’t having it.

“I’m serious.”

“Yes, Victor,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Give me the damn keys. I’ll take care of your baby.”

He wasn’t happy about it, but he handed over the keys. I was sure he regretted it instantly when I jumped up and cheered, doing a little dance as I made my way over to the driver’s seat.

“God help me,” he said, making the sign of the cross as he sat down in the passenger seat. I laughed.

“He gives a girl his car keys and suddenly he becomes a born-again Christian.”

He huffed, looking out the window. “I’m Catholic.”

I laughed harder. I started the car and pushed down on the petal, clapping at the sound of the purr before I took off.

“You need to tell me where to go.”

“You need to stop talking and focus on driving.”

“I can drive and talk at the same time.”

“I don’t care.”

“Why don’t you go back to praying? You were much less annoying,” I said, but I couldn’t help my smile. He was kind of adorable when he was like this.

“Nicole,” he groaned, “just . . . please stop talking. You’re making me nervous.”

I laughed. When I reached a stoplight, I turned the music up. “Is Selena Gomez also on your playlist?”

He sighed. “No, Nicole.”

“Straight-laced.”

“Wait ’til we get our room,” he said. “I’m going to f*ck you until you can’t talk anymore.”

I sighed. “Goals.”

He stayed quiet for a beat. “What’s up with that?”

“What?”

“Goals. You say that all the time. Why?”

I smiled. Of course Victor didn’t know what that was about. “You mean you can’t deduce what it may mean?”