He stood up and blocked the view of the street completely. Those damn shoulders. I cleared my throat.
“Where are we going? And why do we need a plane to get there? What exactly is the mission? The Chief said it was under—”
“Later,” he cut me off. “Get in the car.” He started walking down the street to where a couple cars were parked just a few feet away.
“No,” I spit and threw my backpack on the ground near my feet. I crossed my arms in front of me, too, just to show him that I was serious. He stopped and turned to me again, incredibly slowly, like he still wasn’t sure if he’d heard right. When he looked at me, he wasn’t only surprised, he was shocked. “Let’s get a few things straight here, Dominic. You are not the boss of me.” I let that sink in for a minute, and it did. He blinked and leaned back a bit, too, like he wasn’t expecting it. “We are partners. You don’t get to order me around. I am on this mission just as much as you are, and I will not leave here without knowing more about it first.” I took a step froward and squinted my eyes at him. “I don’t trust you. So, unless you want to miss that flight, you’re going to tell me everything right now.”
My God, I felt so tough. My voice didn’t even shake, and I was talking to him. He scared the crap out of me on my best day by simply walking through the office, but there was something about watching him break Mathews’s leg with that bat that gave me power. Made him real. He wasn’t just the protagonist of those stories that circulated the office daily. He was just a man. He didn’t do shit magically—he was just as real as me.
I thought I had him. I was so sure that he was going to start speaking and tell me everything, start treating me with some respect from now on, but no. This was Dominic Dane. I doubted he knew the meaning of the word respect.
He walked up the stairs again and stopped too close to me. Way too close. And his presence drained the air around me completely. The urge to step back was incredible. My instincts warned me, but I ignored them because if I backed away now, I would give him room to do this to me again. Still, he looked down at me, and I could have sworn I saw his mind working behind those eyes. Half of him wanted to tear me to pieces and leave me there to rot. And the other half wanted…something else. I couldn’t really tell what, but he looked like he was in pain again, and his eyes scrolled down to my lips. It made me very conscious about how dry they were—how dry my mouth was, too. Without really thinking about it, I slipped my tongue out and ran it over my bottom lip just to give it some moisture.
Dominic growled like an animal, low in his throat. Then he leaned down closer and closer and closer…
My God. Was he going to kiss me? He was so close now, the tips of our noses almost touched.
He was going to kiss me!
And why the hell wasn’t I terrified? Why was I holding my breath? I should have been pushing him away instead of fantasizing how his lips would feel on mine.
Move, Teddy! my own mind shouted at me.
But I didn’t. I stayed there like an idiot, eyes locked with his, and my heart beat so fast, you’d think I was about to meet my end. Every inch of me was aware of him, his proximity, the heat radiating from his body.
But even though he was close now—so deliciously close—he stopped moving.
Why? Did I have bad breath? I should have brushed my teeth after that sandwich. Was there something stuck in them, too? Oh, God…
“You talk too much for someone so small,” he whispered, and his warm breath blew against my lips, forcing me to inhale deeply. My limbs were practically jelly now, and I couldn’t find anything to say if I tried. “Stay or leave—but this is coming with me.”
He leaned back, and I saw why he’d come closer to me like that. It was not because he wanted to kiss me but because he was reaching for my backpack on the ground.
Fool. Stupid, stupid fool,I said to myself, and watched in awe as he turned around with my backpack around his shoulder and went to the first car parked near the sidewalk.
“Hey!” I shouted, but he didn’t care. He got in the car and turned the ignition on—it was a pitch-black Mustang and the blue lights on the back made it look like the thing was alive and breathing. Especially when the wolf-ass pressed on the gas and started driving away.
With my backpack.
Without me.
“Dominic!” I shouted and ran to the street, still unable to believe my own eyes. He wouldn’t do that, would he? He wouldn’t drive away without me, with my backpack in his car!
But he would. And he was doing it. He drove all the way down the street and stopped at the intersection. Should I run after his car like a mad woman? Was that what he wanted to do—humiliate me in front of my neighborhood, too, the way he’d humiliated me in front of my colleagues?
Red lights turned on, on the back of the car. Slowly, it began to move in reverse.
I sighed, holding my chest. He was just messing with me, that’s all. He wouldn’t leave without me. Of course, he wouldn’t—my backpack was in his car.
And the car kept on coming, and moving faster, and faster…what the hell is he doing? Why wasn’t he slowing down?
Oh, no. He was going to hit me. The wolf-ass was going to run me over with his car and walk away as if nothing had even happened, just like he did with Mathews.
“Goddamn you, Dominic!” I hissed at the night, and I stood my ground, refused to move even an inch—until the back of the car nearly touched my thighs.
Then, I had no choice but to jump.
I landed on the roof of his car, one hand on the cold metal to keep my balance, because I was sure he’d keep on going.
He didn’t.
The car stopped in place and the tires screeched loudly, making everyone in the street turn to look at us. The window of the driver’s seat opened, and the wolf-ass stuck his head out and looked up at me on the roof of his car.
His brows shot up, like he was impressed. “Good. Hop in.” And he pulled his head back inside the car like he hadn’t been about to run me over.
You’re way out of your depth here, Teddy, I said to myself as I jumped on the asphalt again. Dominic Dane pressed all my buttons, all at once, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it. But once again, I reminded myself that this was my mission, too, and I’d worked my ass off to get here, and I was finally given a chance. I would not screw this up—not for him, not for anyone. So, taking in a deep breath, I opened the passenger door and got in.
May God help me.