Hard Rules

“Have you ever driven one?” Shane asks, his voice snapping me out of my reverie.

“Not the Continental GT Speed Convertible.” I run my hand over the tan leather on the door, glancing up at him. “With a custom color package inside and out.”

“So the dream car isn’t just a Bentley,” he says, turning us onto the main road where we’re immediately delayed by a red light. “It’s this Bentley.”

“Yes. This Bentley, which I know has an obscene price tag, but a girl has to set big goals.” I sigh. “Preferably while employed.”

“I have no doubt you’ll get a job quickly.” The light turns green and he reaches for my hand, placing it over the silver stick between us, placing us in gear, and accelerating. “Now you’ve driven your dream car.”

I laugh, squeezing the stick as he shifts yet again. “This is not driving it but I still like it.”

He cuts me a look, a bit of his dark energy at bay now. “We can change that, you know? I can pull over—”

“No,” I object quickly, shocked at the offer. “I’m not driving it.”

“Why?”

“I could wreck it.”

“I have insurance,” he says, cutting us into the driveway of the Four Seasons hotel.

“No,” I say, as two doormen hurry to our sides who he waves away.

“I have insurance,” he repeats.

“I don’t want to drive, but thank you. You drive. Please. Let’s get out of here.”

He does the opposite, placing the car in park. “I live here.”

“You … live in a hotel?”

He turns to face me. “The top floors are residential, which means we have the added benefit of room service if we so choose.” He reaches up and brushes hair from my eyes, his fingers grazing my skin and sending a shiver down my spine. “You can drive the car.”

“No. But thank you. Besides. I thought you wanted us to…”

“Should I use my highly creative imagination and fill in the blank?”

“No,” I say quickly. “Or yes. But don’t voice where that leads us or I might chicken out and never get out of this car.”

“Too late to escape.” He lifts his hand toward my window and the door opens instantly. “See you on the other side.” He turns away and exits the car.

Nerves rush over me, and I am jittery inside and out. For the first time in my life, I’m going to have sex with a stranger, only he doesn’t feel like a stranger anymore, and somehow that is both better and worse. It’s a thought I can’t begin to make sense of at this moment. Inhaling, I step out of the car and murmur my appreciation to the Asian bellman I guess to be around fifty. “Welcome, miss,” he greets me, his eyes lighting with a mix of surprise and interest, and I suddenly wonder if I’m outside Shane’s normal box. And how many women are in that box. “I’m Tai,” he adds, as I try to shake off that it isn’t important. This is one night. “And,” he continues, “I’m a regular around here, and at your service. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you,” I say, darting to the awning-covered sidewalk. I turn to find Shane still on the driver’s side of the Bentley, palming a tip to another man in uniform before rounding the hood of the car, and my God, the man is gorgeous and I’m about to be naked with him. And everyone knows. Oh God. That’s embarrassing.

I shove my hands in the pocket of the jacket, his jacket, and decide, yep. They all know. How can they not? I tell myself it doesn’t matter, but I have this internal need to control the perceptions of those around me that comes from a place that really isn’t a good one. I blink and Shane’s attention locks on me, his eyes warm, and his pace determined, as if he can’t wait to get to me, and my worries about appearance slide into the breeze that lifts my hair.

Tai intercepts Shane by my side, and Shane palms him a bill I’m pretty sure is a generous fifty. “Keys in the car, Tai,” he instructs of the Bentley. “We’re in for the night.”

We’re in for the night. Does he mean me and him or him and the car? It doesn’t matter really. My belly flip-flops anyway, and not just because of his use of the word “we,” but the inference that I’m staying the night. Am I staying the night? I think I want to, but isn’t the morning after weird?

“Always a pleasure to park the Bentley,” Tai replies, sounding rather excited by the prospect.

He turns away, as if eager to get to it, when Shane stops him. “By the way, I meant to tell you. Culinary school for your daughter was a good investment. I took some clients to her restaurant last week and we all agreed. Best meal we’ve had in years. I’ll be sending people her way.”

Pride and appreciation flashes across Tai’s face. “The restaurant’s gotten a slow start, so you have no idea how much that means to all of us.”

“My absolute pleasure,” Shane says, grasping his shoulder. “One day she’ll make a husband fat and happy.”

Chuckling, Tai pats his belly. “Just like her mother.” He hurries away and Shane’s attention lands on me, and I swear the connection I once again feel to this man, who is so obviously more than his money and good looks, punches me in the chest. I’ve never had a man affect me like this.

He steps in front of me, reaching into the jacket pockets to pull my hands onto his shoulders before his settle possessively at my waist. “I like you in my jacket,” he says, his voice a low, rough caress I feel in every part of me. “It says you’re with me.”