Honor

He stopped in front of a low-slung Jaguar with a convertible top that was a pretty shade of dark green.

“What do you think?” His voice was low and the question was for my ears only. I shrugged.

“It’s pretty but with people trying to run you off the road, maybe a soft top isn’t the way to go.” I looked at the window and the windshield for a price and couldn’t find one. “How are you supposed to know how much it costs?”

He put his hand on my hip and splayed his fingers wide. He brushed the tip of his nose around the shell of my ear and told me softly, “If you have to ask, then they assume you can’t afford it.”

I balked at that but had to scramble as he guided me over to an Audi that looked like something out of the future. No wonder Ana was up for all Christian’s games. The car was hot and definitely a panty dropper. Nassir must have seen on my face my dislike of the weird bubble design because he just chuckled and moved on to a Mercedes that looked like something James Bond would drive. He shook his head when I told him my thoughts and told me Bond drove an Aston Martin and mentioned we could look at those too. I just rolled my eyes at him and continued to let him drag me around the showroom.

All the cars looked the same. Sleek, sexy, and very expensive. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t concerned about the cost, but as the hour wore on I realized he was waiting on me to find something that I actually liked. I had to pull him to a stop by the lapels of his suit jacket and tell him it didn’t matter to me what he forked over his cash on. I finally shared with him my theory that he could drive a minivan and still be the most dangerously sexy man I had ever known.

That made his dark brows furrow over his candy-colored eyes and his mouth twist into a grimace of distaste. “I’m not driving a minivan—ever—but I do want something that’s as sturdy as the Bentley, so how about we test-drive a Range Rover?”

I had no clue what a Range Rover was, but if it got me out of the car dealership and away from all the speculative looks I could feel following us everywhere, then I was game. He crooked a finger and the swarm moved our way.

“I want to take the Range Rover for a test drive.” He pointed to one that was a dark slate gray with a soft-looking dove-gray interior.

One of the salesmen adjusted his tie and put on his best buy-car-from-me grin. “Sure thing. I’ll grab the keys and we’ll head out.”

Nassir tossed his arm across my shoulders and I wrapped my arm around his waist underneath his tailored jacket. By now the shock of how hard and tight his body was under that luxury fabric should’ve worn off, but it hadn’t. The way his muscles tightened and coiled at my touch sent a shot of desire right between my legs. I leaned even more heavily into his side. The truth was I didn’t care what anyone thought about me being there. It was like it was my own special reserved spot and I had earned my right to be in it.

“Just the keys. I don’t need you to tag along.” Nassir’s tone left no room for argument, but the sales guy missed the memo.

“Uh . . . that vehicle costs over a hundred and fifty grand. It can’t leave the showroom unattended.” I smirked. I bet I could talk the guy down to a lower price. I was an excellent haggler.

Nassir’s black eyebrows lifted and the corner of his mouth pulled down in a scowl that had sent many running in the other direction.

“If you want me to buy it, then it does.” The guy looked over his shoulder at his cohorts and they were all suddenly really busy with their cell phones or other customers. He gulped and turned his attention back to us.

“Um . . . look. I could really use the sale, but that’s against policy.” He was starting to get antsy and, I think, was quickly realizing Nassir wasn’t the average rich guy with disposable income to spread around.

“What’s your commission if I buy it? Twenty-five percent on the front end?”

The guy gulped and nervously nodded. “So I’ll give you your commission up front, you’ll let me take the car.”

The guy’s eyes bugged in his face and he started to sweat. “That’s like forty K?”

Nassir sighed. “Thanks. I can do math.” I couldn’t hold back the laugh that tripped over my lips at the dry sarcasm in his accented voice.

“Um . . . just let me . . . yeah . . . I’ll be back.” The salesman scampered away and I looked up at Nassir under my eyelashes.

“You just have that kind of cash on you?”

He looked down at me and I could see the humor burning in his melted gaze. “Sure. I’m paying cash for the car.”

“Why won’t you just let the poor guy do his job, then?”

When he smiled down at me all his teeth were showing and all the temptation that was this particular devil was flashed at me. “Because I’m not spending that kind of money on a car without seeing how we both fit in the backseat.”

Obviously he wasn’t talking about leg room, so I blushed but couldn’t deny that his silky and seductive words had my pulse kicking.

The salesman came back over and said his manager agreed to take the forty grand as a deposit as long as Nassir agreed to fill out a waiver that had all his information on it, like car theft was really something Nassir wanted to add to his laundry list of criminal activity. He already had his hands full with extortion, racketeering, prostitution, money laundering, illegal gambling and fighting, and whatever else he had his fingers in that he wasn’t telling me about.

We walked out to the front of the showroom and the still-anxious sales guy brought the fancy SUV around to the front of the building. He climbed out of the driver’s side while Nassir guided me around to the passenger side and helped me climb into the seat. Nassir’s fingers skated up my bare thigh and up under the hem of my skirt. I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my legs, trapping his wandering hand before he could give the already overtaxed salesman something to really freak out over.