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Story: Her Vibrant Heart

She was still hesitating. I wouldn’t be the man I am if hadn’t figured out the perfect lever to overcome her objections. “As I keep saying, it’s for the babies.”
Now her mind was ticking. I could almost hear it.
Time to close out the deal. “It has the latest safety features to protect you and our little ones.” I held my hand up, ticking off each item on my fingers. “Advanced driver assistance systems, such as active lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and automatic emergency braking. On top of all that, you have a crash in this thing, it’ll have as much impact as a cloud, sincethere are airbags every fucking where. It’s also super roomy, with plenty of room for car seats, strollers, and all the other shit that comes with twins.”
“You’ve actually really thought about this, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
She turned away, watching the men continue to unload the vehicle. The way she chewed at her bottom lip made me want to kiss her. But we weren’t doing that, so I pushed on. “You’ll take it.”
“Yes. I’ll take it.”
The men positioned the Maybach perfectly in the driveway and one approached us, keys in hand. “All set, Mr. Rivers.” I gestured for him to hand the keys to Scarlett. “Ah, sorry. Here you go, Mrs. Rivers. Enjoy. Just need you to sign here, sir.”
I took the electronic clipboard and scribbled my signature quickly before handing it back. It took some effort to ignore the weird flip in my stomach when the guy called Scarlett Mrs. Rivers. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
As the men climbed back into the truck, I dangled the keys in front of Scarlett’s face. “What do you say? Take her for a spin?”
“Yes. Thank you. That would be lovely.”
I raised a brow at her overly prim tone. “Why are you talking like that?”
“Because you’ve just given me a house and a really expensive car. I should at least be polite to you.”
Both eyebrows went up now as I eyed her with faux astonishment.
“Jackass.”
“There we go.”
CHAPTER 20
Scarlett
The car was a dream, because of course it was. I’d never experienced anything like it. It was so incredibly sleek and luxurious. I started out super cautious, backing down the drive and easing onto the street. By the time we were on River Road and heading towards the highway, I still hadn’t got up to twenty miles per hour.
Until Rhett said, “What are you, eighty years old? Floor it. You want to know what it can do.”
I still hesitated.
“You gonna get yourself to all the appointments and shit for the babies, going twenty miles an hour? It’ll take you two hours to get any fucking where.”
Huffing out a breath of annoyance, because I knew he was right, I pressed down a bit harder on the accelerator.
As I merged onto the highway, the powerful acceleration pinned me back against the plush leather seat. My knuckles went white gripping the steering wheel, but I forced myself to relax and trust what the car could do. The speedometer crept up smoothly,barely a whisper of wind noise even as we hit seventy miles per hour.
“Oh fuck. It’s absolutely amazing.”
“Thought you’d like it.”
As we neared the exit for my house, I glanced over at Rhett. “I, uh... I was hoping you wouldn’t mind staying for a bit? We should probably talk some things over.”
He met my gaze and nodded once. “Sure thing. How about you stop at the main square and I’ll grab us some coffees to go from the cake shop?”
“Okay.”
How a man could look so hot just walking down the street was a mystery to me. Was it the tailored shirt? The snug jeans? The perfect ass?