He licks his lips, that flash of tongue catching the light just before he steps in again, close enough that the scent of salt and sage curls around me like a snare.
“But you do seem like the type that likes to fight.”
For a second, my heart stalls in my chest—not the flustered skip it did a moment ago, but a cold, steel-wire pull that yanks the heat right out of my veins. My smile falters, fingers tightening around the straps of my garbage bags.
“Oh, so you like your girls to fight you?” I murmur, my voice hard and low. “You like a struggle?”
His grin flickers—just slightly—and his eyes sharpen, a flicker of awareness slipping into that lazy, cocky face.
“Easy, love.” His voice softens, just enough to sand down the edge. “Didn’t mean it like that.”
“Oh yeah?” I cock my head to the side, my nostrils flaring as I prepare to knee him and run. “In what way did youmeanit?”
Landon’s eyes narrow. With a flick of his fingers, he tosses the cigarette aside, the faint hiss of it dying on the pavement.
“I meant that you’re strong, Jasmine.”
The sound of my name on his lips lands like a slap and a caress all at once, freezing me for a breathless second.
“You know my name?” I snap, forcing my voice to stay sharp even as fear curls uneasily in my gut.
“I wouldn’t be a very good stalker if I didn’t know my target,Peach.” Landon smirks, reaching down for one of my bags. Despite my death grip on the handle, he shimmies it easily out of my hand like I’m a child clinging to a toy.
My jaw tightens. “Landon, I fucking swear?—”
But his voice cuts clean through my warning, calm and sure. “I don’t fight women.” He lifts the bag over his shoulder without breaking eye contact. “We might play. Flirt. Argue. Hell, maybe even fuck the anger out if we’re both stubborn enough. But anything I do with a woman is consensual, mutual, and wanted.”
I swallow hard, the adrenaline still thick in my veins. “Congratulations,” I mutter. “Your bar for human decency is on the floor.”
His mouth curves, slow and amused. “I never said I was a decent human, Peach. I just said I don’t fight women.”
“Right, but you still kill people?” I shoot back, my chin tilting defiantly.
“I never said I killed people.” Landon winks, a lazy flicker of charm sliding across his face.
“Oh, so you justpoint guns at themand let them run home to tell the story?” I arch a brow, arms folding tight across my chest. “Very noble of you.”
Landon chuckles, a low rumble in his chest as he starts walking, tossing me a glance over his shoulder. “I knew I was going to like you, Peach. You’ve got teeth.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get too close.” I scowl, trailing a few steps behind him. “I bite.”
I can sense his grin widen as he flirts back. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
I groan, throwing my hands up. “God, you’reinsufferable.”
“That’s what they keep telling me.” He winks, opening the back seat of a slick black Rolls Royce and tossing my bag in the back. “Come on, we can't keep the bossman waiting.”
And maybe you’re wondering why I’m even going with this stranger. The honest truth? I don’t know. But really, what the hell do I have left to lose—besides my life? And he’s already saved that once.
It’d be pretty stupid to go through all that just to kill me now, right? Right?
“Where are we even going?” I grumble, shooting him a sidelong glare. “And who are you taking me to see?”
Landon flashes me another one of those panty-dropper smiles that should honestly be illegal—no, like seriously, the world would be a safer place without it—and then swings the backseat door shut before taking a step closer to me.. “So many questions from the girl who’s about to climb into my passenger seat anyway.”
“I didn’t agree to go with you!” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Peach,” Landon purrs, his tone dipping dangerously low, “you’re either going to do this the easy way and get that pretty little ass in my car all by yourself, or we can do this the hard way—and Iwillhaul you in there myself.”
