Chapter Eighteen
Zadie
“Pleasetellmewherewe’re going.”
“I won’t.”
“But I asked so nicely.”
Amir slid a sly smirk my way. “You always ask nicely, Zadie. Because you’re a good girl. A sweet, nice girl.”
I made a face at him that he didn’t see since his eyes were on the road. “I can be mean. Watch what happens if it turns out you’re taking me to…I don’t know, a monster truck show.”
That made him laugh. “Way to ruin the surprise. When we get there, your ass is going to be spanked.”
I pressed my legs together involuntarily. “If you’re really taking me to a monster truck show, you’re going to get spanked too.”
He cupped himself. “Keep talking dirty to me, mama, we’ll never get to the monster truck rally.”
I groaned, covered my face with my hands. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious and I hate it.”
“I’m always serious,” he replied.
“I know.” I peeked at him through my fingers. “Which is why I’m really scared right now.”
This was the night out Amir promised me, only it was happening a week later. Last Saturday…well, we hadn’t made it out of his house.
I climbed into Amir’s SUV. He took one look at me, and his head fell back on the rest. His eyes squeezed shut, and he exhaled heavily through his nose.
“Hi.” I hadn’t been shy with him in a long time, but that was before. I had never had a huge attachment to my virginity, but I felt different. Not like I’d given away a piece of me, more like I’d taken back something that had been stolen. So, it was important. Kind of monumental. I couldn’t help attaching emotion to it, and by proxy, to Amir.
And of course, he couldn’t stand the sight of me. It had only been eight hours we were apart, and now this. It was like I physically pained him.
When he didn’t reply, I put my hand on the door. “Okay…well, I think I’m going to go back inside. It’s already late anyway and—”
His hand clamped on my thigh in a flash. Leaning across the console, Amir put his face in mine. “Do you honestly think you’re going back to your dorm right now?”
His lashes were so thick, it seemed he had double the amount of an average human. They only served to intensify the heat he emitted in his glare. Why he was glaring at me, I had no idea.
I leaned in too, but instead of glaring, I nibbled his chin. “Stop looking at me like you’re angry.”
He pressed his thumb to my lips. “Are you going to bite me every time you don’t like something I’m doing?”
“Maybe. You still haven’t said hi to me. That’s making me feel extra bite-y right now.”
His lips twitched. “Hi, Zadie Night. You look so breathtakingly beautiful and mind-numbingly hot, I forgot my manners.”
“What?”
He jerked his chin. “You heard me.”
I touched my fingers to his cheek. “No one’s ever said anything like that to me before. I’m processing.”
He did the thing again, closing his eyes and breathing heavy from his nose. I didn’t know what that meant, other than he might have found me annoying. I should have kept my biting ways to myself, but since they were exclusive to Amir, I didn’t quite know how.
Finally, he put the truck in gear, driving with determination through campus. At the main entrance, he went the opposite way I had expected, and soon, we were pulling up to his house.
“Did you need to pick something up?” I asked.