Page 82 of Meet Me In The Dark

With an impatient sigh, he growls, “Get in the car, Celeste.”

I plant my feet firmly on the sidewalk. “No.”

“Get. In. The. Car.”

“All this time you’ve insisted on shadowing me to protect me from ‘big scary men,’” I mock with air quotes. “Yet here you are, trying to shove me into your vehicle at dawn. Irony much?”

He doesn’t smile, doesn’t waver, doesn’t even flinch. “Get in the fucking car, Celeste, or so help me God, I will put you in myself.”

A thrill spikes through me at the roughness of his voice.

I lift my chin, deliberately baiting him. “I’d love to see you try.”

A heartbeat passes.

Then he moves.

Fast.

Too fast for me to process or even react.

One second, I’ve got an arrogant smirk plastered on my face, and the next, it’s gone. In two strides, he eats the distance between us, grips my waist, and hauls me effortlessly over his shoulder. My stomach hits solid muscle as air whooshes from my lungs.

“You asshole!” I shriek, but the fight evaporates the moment he tightens his grip on my thighs. I hate how perfectly I fit here, draped across him like a damn trophy. “Julian, put me down!”

He ignores me, and my entire body goes slack in resignation as he carefully lowers me into the passenger seat.

I don’t even get a chance to try and make a run forit because he’s already leaning in and pulling the seatbelt across my chest before clicking it into place.

Then, with a shit-eating grin, he taps my nose. “There’s my good girl.”

Fire scorches my cheeks, rage and something embarrassingly hotter spiraling through my veins.

His dark chuckle is all I hear as he rounds the hood and slides into the driver’s seat.

“You enjoyed that,” I bite out.

His eyes flick sideways, mouth quirking. “Not as much as you did.”

I cross my arms over my chest so I don’t reach out and strangle him. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll find out.”

“This is kidnapping, you know.”

“You dared me,” he says, all smug. “Blame yourself.”

∞∞∞

By the time Julian parks in front of a squat concrete building markedMateo’s, my anger has cooled to a simmer.

The entire neighborhood screams trouble, yet Julian looks comfortable here.

“What are we—” I begin to ask, but he’s already out of the car, swinging around to open my door.

“Can you manage, or do I have to carry you again?”

“Touch me again, and I’ll bite.”