Page 23 of Healing Conviction

She scoffed. “I absolutely didnot.”

He snorted. Damn, she was cute.

“Don’t you” —she made an exaggerated pig noise— “at me, dude.”

“Pix,” he sighed, and gave her a pointed look. “I don’t understand why you’re mad at me right now. I saved you from anice dateso we can hopefully save lives. You should be more grateful.”

“Nope, all that’s beside the point. You’re the one who pulled me from dinner and haven’t told me why I’m not eating delicious, not-from-the-can tomato soup right now.”

“Tomato soup? You went to one of the fanciest restaurants in town and only got the soup?”

“Not really my scene.” She grimaced before looking out the window. “Everything else was ‘duck con’ something.”

“And you’re a vegetarian.”

“Yes! Exactly. All I could think about was cartoon characters.”

“Donald Duck?”

“Close. Daffy. Butsee?” She lifted her hand and waved it toward him. “Youget it. They were looking at me like I was a crazy person.”

He checked the clock. They still had plenty of time. Snake had called the Pancake Park, but they’d been oddly secretive about who was working what shift. Draco had reasoned with himself that if they got there in the middle of a shift switch, it’d be more likely they’d catch Shanna. But really, the whole ‘early pickup’ ruse had been to ease his jealous mind.

“Sounds like you’re probably still hungry.”

She lifted a shoulder. “To be honest, I could really flippin’ go for a fluffy waffle right now. None of that fanciness. But I’m good to wait until we get to the P&P.”

An idea took root and Draco glanced at the nearest mile marker.

Perfect.

The highway was busy with Friday night traffic, but he made the decision and signaled to take the next exit.

“What are you doing? Where are you going?”

“Gonna feed you. You can’t live off of watery tomatoes.”

“It might not’ve been my scene, but it was a five-star restaurant. The soup was obvi fine, and I can certainly wait until we finish talking to Shanna.”

“We have time.”

“We havetime?” Her shriek caused a painful ring in his ears. “Drake, you’re being ridiculous! You pulled me from dinner so quickly that I didn’t have time to pay for my half.”

His thoughts whirled around in his mind, unsure how to come clean without showing his hand. There was no question he was into Nora, but he didn’t want her to know that until he knew where she and Matt stood. He’d had a whole hour and some angry, desperate driving to figure out what to say to her, but he was still at a loss. Until her last sentence registered.

“Youwere gonna pay? On a date?”

Nora sighed and muttered one of her unique curses before dropping her head back to the headrest. “I ended… whatever it was Matt and I were doing… tonight.”

“Oh. That’s… why?” He swallowed, his hopes rising in his chest, even as he tried to tamp them down. “He seemed to really like you.”

She shrugged in his periphery. “I guess he wasn’t my scene either.”

Gauging her reaction, he took a few more roads before clearing his throat. “Are you sad?”

“No, it’d been a while comin’. Probably shouldn’t have started anything in the first place. He always wanted more than I could give. So, I’m not sad, reall—Drake! You could at leastpretendto be sad for me. You’re smiling like a loon.”

She laughed and reached across the center console to stroke a finger down his face. Her touch made his cock twitch in his jeans and he sat stock-still while she swiped across his lips. When she’d finished her upward motion, he shifted to get the tin canister of toothpicks from his pocket, and deposited one in his teeth, both to adjust, and to give his mouth something to work on so he didn’t crash the truck while trying to claim hers.