Page 58 of Mr. Red

My plan is to leave the price tag on and then return it. I’m not letting him buy something so expensive for me. I would do it myself, but let’s be real, that’s half my rent payment.

“Thank you! Enjoy the rest of your day,” she tells us, handing the bag over to Matt.

“Thank you. You too,” he leads me out with a hand on my lower back once again. Once we’re outside he hands me his purchase.

“Thank you, but I’m returning this. Wherever we go tonight, you need to keep your paws off this suit.”

“You’re not returning that.” Then he bendsso he can whisper in my ear. “It’s for me to rip off you later.”

My cheeks and ears heat to a hundred degrees. “We’ll see. You aren’t guaranteed to get lucky.” I push my nose up in the air and put some distance between us. He picks up the pace to catch up with me.

“I always get what I want.”

I look over to him, a smug crooked grin on his face.

“I did think you’d enjoy this activity more,” he tells me while grabbing my hand leading me down the road towards more shops.

“I think that’s enough shopping for today.”

“You sure? They have some galleries over here.”

“Oh gosh! So you can spend more money on crazy stuff? How about something more casual?”

“Ah. I know a place.” He starts walking us back towards the car.

After about thirty minutes we end up in one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen: Old Town. There’s an old cemetery, buildings and displays from the early 1900’s, and a lot of little shops and restaurants. Several people wander around.

We take our time exploring. Matt doesn’t have an itinerary here, so I lead him into a restaurant for a drink. Somehow, the place is empty.

I take us over to a small table made for two.

“I called ahead and made sure no one would disturb us.” I wink.

“Oh, did you?” he says with a raised brow. “That was thoughtful. Here I was thinking you had no idea where we would be.”

“I have my ways.”

A waiter comes over to our table where I order us each a margarita and water. We’re only there for twenty minutes,but the conversation is fun and playful.

We head outside where homemade tortillas await. This is much more my speed. I like having control of where we’re going for once. We’ve been here for a few hours, but it feels like we just arrived.

“I think we need to start heading back, sweetheart.” Matt checks his watch as we wait in line to buy candles we made ourselves.

“What?” My face falls. “But this is so much fun!”

“We have a dinner reservation and I’m assuming you need time to get ready.”

“We could skip it and have dinner here.” I give him an enticing smile, seeing if he’ll take the bait.

“I thought you like sticking to a plan.”

“Who me?” I point at my chest. “Nah. You have the wrong person.”

He chuckles. “I want to take you somewhere nice.”

He grabs my hand once we pay and then we walk over to the car. Matt didn’t touch the margarita I ordered for him, so he’s good to drive. I’m looking forward to whatever is planned tonight, but that means I’m trusting Matt and that’s the scariest part. If he doesn’t see a future between us, I’ll have opened my heart for no reason.

Chapter 33