Page 109 of Shade
My bewildered eyes notice the genuine curiosity in his. “Why is that not enough of an answer?”
“No one has ever said no.”
“Guess you’re not number one then, huh?”
For a second, I catch Shade off guard, and he blinks, twice. Then laughs. Full on laughs. “Oh fuck off. I am too.” His arm goes around my shoulders again. “You’re going to eventually.”
“You know, this is just a theory here,” I begin, never wanting his arm to part from around my shoulders. I’d like it there forever. “If you want me to at least like you, I wouldn’t be so mean.”
His head twists and the action puts his lips dangerously close to my ear. “When have I been mean to you?”
“The airport.”
He shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “That’s because I was cranky. My helmet’s like a good luck charm to me.”
“I get it, but you weren’t very nice.”
There’s a smirk being held at bay. I can barely see it in the low lighting, but it’s there. “If you have sex with me, I’ll bereallynice to you.”
Uh huh, and you’d pull out and tell me to leave my number.“Moving onto bribery already?”
“If it gets me to home plate. . . ” He pauses, shrugs, and it’s motherfucking adorable. “I’ll give you anything you want.”
Let’s stop right here. Pause on this guy’s face. His words, his demeanor, they’re all pointing toward him liking me, right?
Um no, are you crazy? This is the Shade Sawyer trying to work his magic. He doesn’t remember that we’ve already slept together and he thinks I’m fresh bait.
I remember though, and this is another reason, other than that pesky contract, that I’m turning him down. Is it wrong to make him squirm a little?
If you said yes, shame on you. Do you not recall the total shit in the airport throwing a fit over a helmet?
Okay, now back to what he said. Bribes. Here’s what comes out of my mouth in a reply. “Shade, you slide right past home plate and to the bullpen.”
We stop walking. Because he makes us. Stops us dead in our tracks, something I do not want to do in these fucking catacombs. It’s creepy in here. I bet this place is where the director ofSawgot the idea for the movie.
Enough aboutSaw. Do you see the way Shade’s eyes narrow in the dim light and focus on me, then my curls as he twirls one around his finger? He does not like the answer.
“Where’s Tiller?” someone asks, and I hadn’t realized it, but we’re back at the entrance or the hole we climbed in. There was no entrance because we snuck in through a fucking hole.
I step back from Shade and distance myself from his body heat drawing me in. “That seems to be the magical question today.”
Shade glances around, as does Roan. “Fuck if I know. He was with that chick he met at the restaurant.”
We find him an hour later with the girl. They apparently went down a wrong tunnel.
My ass they did. They went and fucked in the creepy tunnels.
I have one final assessment. A tour through corpses in an ancient burial ground isn’t my idea of fun.
Back at the hotel, Shade tries again. Willa was right, he’s relentless, and though I find it incredibly entertaining, I play my game tight.
He starts out by leaning into the wall beside my room with his shoulder, hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts. “I think you should let me come in with you, to check the room. I mean, what if there’s a skull in there?”
“Nope,” I say immediately, sticking my keycard in the door and then sliding it back out. The light flashes green and then I open it about an inch. “I’m not even scared anymore.”
Lie. I totally am.
“Yeah, right.” He snorts, smiling at me.
