“I have expensive tastes.”
“Me too.” Tristan grinned. He clasped her good hand tightly and dragged her toward his navy Barracuda. Lila did not know whether to laugh or scowl.
“Why aren’t you on your Amazon? I didn’t recognize you. You scared me half to death on this old thing.”
“Shirley’s making a few upgrades on mine. I wasn’t sure if you’d stop for me, anyway. You’ve been avoiding my calls. You go back to your family for one meal, and you forget all about me.”
“I didn’t forget.”
Tristan pushed his toe into the sidewalk. “Don’t worry about your bike. Shirley will work her magic on it, just wait and see. It will be good as new in a few hours. If you give us a few days, we could even repaint it.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It doesn’t have to be necessary. What happened back there?”
“The brakes failed. Both sets.”
“It’s almost impossible for both sets to fail. Are you sure?”
“No, Tristan, I’m not sure. I decided to take a dive into a brick wall just for grins.”
He held up his hands. “Sorry. Shirley will find the problem.” Slipping his palm from his pocket, he typed out a message. “I’m telling her about your brakes. If both sets failed, someone might have tampered with them. She’ll find proof.”
Lila scooped up her helmet on the sidewalk. “Look, if you could just ask your people to drive it to… I don’t care where. I’ll have someone pick it up. My family has our own mechanics. I—”
“No. I want to know what happened to your bike, and I want to know now. I trust my people. I don’t trust yours.”
Lila fiddled with the strap of her helmet. There was more truth in Tristan’s words than she wanted to admit. Being prime was dangerous, and if someone knew already, then they might have just tried to assassinate her. Even her family’s mechanics might have been in on it.
If they’d tried once, they might try again.
It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before. The first time someone had tried to assassinate her, she’d only been six months old. Her mother had held the poisoned bottle, tainted by her own cousin. She’d rushed Lila to the hospital soon after.
In the end, Lila had been lucky. She’d recovered, and her doctors had declared it a miracle.
Perhaps she’d just won a second reprieve.
Perhaps she wouldn’t next time.
“How’d you even find me?” she asked, not wanting to dwell too long on the thought.
“You wouldn’t pick up, so I had Toxic trace your palm. I didn’t get to the condos before you’d taken off again, though, so I tailed you.”
Lila frowned. Her snoop programs hadn’t caught Toxic. Either the girl was getting better, or Lila was slipping. She’d have to be more aware, perhaps more paranoid to survive life as a prime.
“What was the chief of security doing in that neighborhood? You visiting your dealer?” Tristan tugged open the top of her coat as though looking for drugs.
Lila batted his hand away.
“Come on, let’s go home,” he said, climbing on the back of his Barracuda.
“Your shop is not my home,” she muttered, climbing on behind him.
Chapter 12
Tristan gently pushed Lila back onto his bed, his weight heavy against her sore belly. In between stolen kisses, he pulled off his sweater, his hair a mess as the collar tugged at his ears. “I was so scared,” he whispered as a trail of kisses poured down her neck, brushing her skin. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
Lila’s hands fumbled at the hem of her sweater, her back arching as he hit the place on her neck that always triggered a giggle, a deep arousal, a wetness between her legs, a need for Tristan in her arms, thrusting as he took her mouth. Her fingers stilled, sweater half off, half on. She turned her head, and Tristan grinned against her, nibbling upon her ear.