Page 36 of Kill for a Kiss

“What?” he says innocently. “I’m just saying there are better uses for that grip of yours—”

“Stan,” I squeak out.

He laughs, unbothered. Clo’s still silent, on her phone, seeming unfazed. That makes it worse somehow.

I shrink into my seat, face burning. “You’re teasing me…on purpose.”

“You say that now,” he murmurs, “but I know you like it.”

I press my lips together, refusing to look at him, even if my pulse is betraying me.

I focus on the coastline slipping past, on the glint of water in the distance, on anything but the way Stan keeps glancing at me like he’s already planning his next move.

“Elle,” he says, dragging out my name. “Pink suits you.”

“Stop that,” I mutter, turning toward the window.

“Stop what?”

“Saying things like that.”

“You don’t like compliments?”

“Not the way you’re saying them.”

Behind us, Clo doesn’t say anything, tapping on her phone instead. Stan sighs dramatically. “Now, you’re just hurting my feelings.”

I glare at him, half-hearted at best.

“That’s okay,” he says, shifting gears like he’s shifting the atmosphere. “You’ll like it when I say other things.”

My brows pull together.

His grin tilts into a smirk. “Like how you feel against me.”

The air in the car thickens, the words lingering like heat. He’s pushing me on purpose, watching what I’ll do, and waiting to see how far I’ll let him get away with it.

I sit straighter, resisting the urge to fidget. If he wants a reaction, he’s not getting the one he expects.

I tilt my head toward him, meeting his gaze with a composure I don’t quite feel. “And what about you?”

Stan raises a brow, clearly surprised I’ve bit back. “What about me?”

I trail my fingers along the seam of my top. “Are you sureyouweren’t the one enjoying it a little too much?”

His fingers still for a second. Then that grin slides back into place. “Oh, Elle,” he says. “Now you’re getting it.”

A breath escapes me, soft and shaky. Clo sighs lightly from the backseat. It’s a sound that shouldn’t make the hair on my arms rise, but it does. She speaks as if she’s brushing dust off. “I think you two are adorable together.” Her words sound offhanded, but they land heavy.

Stan chuckles. “Hear that, Elle? We’re adorable.”

I glance back at her, searching her expression for something I can’t name. But her face isn’t very telling, only gentle, as if she’s already seen the future, and this is the expected path to it. “You balance each other well,” she says. “Don’t you think?”

The air thickens with something unspoken, something I’m not sure I agreed to. I look at Stan. He’s already smiling like he’s won this game I wasn’t aware we were playing.

I hold his gaze. “I guess we do.”

His smile widens. “Couldn’t agree with ya more.”