Page 28

His reminder forms a lump in my throat. One that makes it hard to breathe. “My panties.” I force the words out, thin and raspy.
“Oh. Those.” He leans back in his seat, arm extended, hand causally wrapped around the steering wheel while he pilots the car through an intersection. “You don’t want them back.”
“Yes, I do,” I say, hands knotted into fists. “They’re La Perla. Do you know expensive they are? They—”
“Judging by the way they felt on my cock when I was fucking them a few minutes ago, I’d say they were pretty pricey.”
He says it in a conversational tone that stalls the breath in my lungs and squeezes my throat tight even as I try to convince myself that he didn’t just say what I think he said. I misheard him. Misunderstood. He’s just being Conner, trying to get a rise out of me.
“I’m serious.” I aim my gaze out my window because I can’t look at him. Because what if—
“So am I.” He flips his blinker on and pulls into a parking lot. Not the dive bar he told me he’d take me to, so I can find my father. Benny’s. He’s taking me to Benny’s. Pulling into a parking space, he kills the engine before turning in his seat. “Look at me, Henley.”
I can’t.
But I do. I turn in my seat. Force myself to look at him.
As soon as our eyes meet, he speaks. “I made you come in my mouth, and then I went home and jerked off with your panties.”
I turn in my seat again. Facing the windshield, I close my eyes. An image pushes its way to the front of my brain. Of Conner stoking the rigid length of his shaft with what’s mine. Rubbing me all over himself. Thinking about me while he does it. Coming with my name in his mouth.
I’m having a hard time breathing. I have to part my lips to pull in a full breath and even then, it’s like I’m breathing in a vacuum, void of oxygen.
“Say something.” His tone has gone heavy. Quiet. Like he expects me to freak out on him. Call him a pervert. Tell him how sick he is.
Like he might even want me to.
“What are we doing here?” That’s what I say because I can’t say what I really want to say.
Show me.
Show me how.
I want to see.
He doesn’t say anything. For one long moment, he just stares at me. “I need to eat,” he finally says, turning away from me to pull the keys out of the ignition. “I haven’t since last night, and Tess has been riding my ass all day. She’ll call Nora and check.”
I hate the way that makes me feel. Ugly and envious. Jealous of her for having that kind of power over him. Because she has the right to worry about him. Make him want to take care of himself, even if it’s just so she won’t nag him.
“Don’t worry,” he says, popping open his door to step a foot outside. “I won’t ask you to come in with me.”
He gets out of the car and is halfway across the parking lot before I can say a word.
You can’t go in there.
People will see you.
They’ll know.
Ladies are never the subject of idle gossip.
I get out of the car and follow him.