“Did you hear me, Mia?”
Feeling like a deer caught in headlights, I pursed my lips and nodded. I hadn’t realized he had already parked us in the underground parking lot of one of the most famous shopping malls in Coral Springs.
“Really?” James tilted his head. “What did I say?”
I bit my lip and blurted whatever came to my head. “That you are rewarding me for my excellence?”
His brows raised, and I hated and loved how frozen I became under his penetrating gaze, pinning me to the seat. “What excellence, Princess?”
My skin warmed hearing his nickname for me.
“My excellence at surviving the first day of junior year?”
“Mhmm,” he hummed, his eyes lit with humor. “Come on, I’ll reward you with anything you want.”
Anything?I wanted to press.Even touching me, kissing me, making love to me on my princess bed while I moan your name and beg you to cuddle with me afterwards?
“Yes, sir!” I beamed, leaving my school backpack in the car and following him on the way to the mall. I didn’t miss the way his eyes gleamed upon hearing my words. I wondered what he was thinking.
An hour later, after visiting a few shops, James’ strong hands were holding a few bags that included gifts wrapped with bows. I had whined, pouted and complained to him when he wouldn’t let me see them and ordered me to go visit other stores while he bought them. I had agreed, even though I wanted to sneak a peek at what he was buying. Only because giving small gifts to each other during weekly dinner was a tradition I had vowed to follow forever.
“I don’t know how Clyde deals with you,” he said with a stern face, eyeing me as I licked my third cone of ice cream. “You’re an insolent child.”
Hating that he thought of me as nothing but a child, I shrugged, masking my features and focusing on the sweet goodness of strawberry. “You told me to get anything I want. I wanted three ice creams. You can’t call me an insolent child for that.”
Before he could reply, I walked off to the big pink neon sign of one of my favourite shops that displayed mannequins in cute pastel dresses. “I need to go in there. They barely have a sale like this!” I was almost licking the glass of the shopping window and eyeing the lilac purple dress. It had a square neckline and reached mid-thigh. The material looked expensive and my hands were itching to touch it.
“Finish your ice cream first.”
James didn’t have to tell me twice as I gobbled it up in a few seconds and marched into the store, ignoring the shake of his head. I oohed, ahhed and awwed at all the bikinis, dresses, tops and bottoms. They even had footwear, and I was drooling over a certain pair of white sandal heels that looked like heeled Mary Janes.
Case in point, I was in love.
“Aren’t you going to buy anything?” James asked, picking up a blouse, looking confused as he rubbed his fingers through the material.
I heard the two teenagers swoon over my back and I looked down at myself, my clothes. Everyone in the store had been staring at him as soon as he entered. His tall, looming height and his handsome face weren’t hard to miss among the crowd. While he looked perfect in a shirt rolled over his elbows, pants and polished boots, I looked like a mess in my uniform. My white school shirt was rumpled, the tie was loose around the neck and my boots looked dirty from running around all day.
I put down the floral bikini. “No. Let’s go home.”
I couldn’t stand one more jealous stare at my back or I was sure I was going to burn up.
He glanced at my face and put down the blouse and walked towards me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a step back when he kept getting closer, invading my space. I was about to ask what he was doing when he leaned over and picked the bikini I was looking at from the rack.
“This is cute,” he said, eyes drifting over the two-piece string light pink bikini with red little cherries on them. “You should get this.”
Heat bloomed on my face as I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I can’t.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“I didn’t bring my wallet. It’s in the bag and bag is—what are you doing?”
I followed him when he started walking, holding the hanger that held the bikini. “I said I will reward you, Princess.”
My eyes widened as he stopped before the changing rooms and handed me the bikini and the lilac purple dress from before. He tilted his head to one of the rooms and said, “Go try them on.”
My stomach churned, but I accepted the clothes from him, too nervous to say anything. I went into the first changing room, closing the curtain behind me, and blinked at my reflection in the mirror. My entire face and neck were flushed.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I whispered to myself, stripping out of my uniform and putting on the dress.