Page 18 of The Doctor

Clara turned her head slowly in my direction, until we were so close, I could have pressed a kiss to the smooth skin on her forehead.

“Remind me,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at her, “how you listened when your parents said you weren’t supposed to go to Stephano’s club.”

She rolled her eyes, turning away again. “What’s your point?”

“My point is, Clara Vinci doesn’t back down from adversity, even when she should.”

“Why do I need to drive? Mom and Dad have drivers. Paulo has a driver. Hell, everyone had a driver last time we were at Paulo’s.”

“That’s not true. None of the Paternelos use drivers. And I don’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why not?”

“Because I can’t be dependent on someone else in an emergency. What if someone needed my help?” I gave her a pointed look. “What am I going to do? Call my driver to come pick me up so I can go pick you up?”

“Ummm…”

Clara stifled a giggle, pointing to the kid in the driver's seat. “He has a point.”

“Shut up!” I snapped, and the kid made a show of clamping his mouth shut. I turned my gaze back to Clara, to the beautiful storm clouds hovering over her head despite the smile that touched her lips. “What are you going to do if I can’t come rescue you?”

“Call a car?”

“I mean it, kid.” I wiped my hand across my face. “What if someone else needed you? What if something happened to Arik, or Paulo, or your parents? What if it was a true emergency? What if it was life and death?”

She bore her delicate throat as she tilted her head, and the lights shining down from the streetlamps made a kaleidoscope of colors dance over her skin. If I hadn’t been so high, I might’ve made a mental note not to be anywhere near her when I was high.

It only made wanting her harder to fight against.

“Maybe she needs a good teacher,” the kid up front said as he flipped on his turn signal and turned onto my street. “Like, someone who cares enough to call a car to save a girl when he’s too fucking high to drive himself.”

“Hey! Watch your fucking mouth!”

Clara giggled again, and the sound went straight to my dick. “I like you.”

The kid perked up. “I can give you my number. You can call me anytime you need a ride.”

“Don’t even think about it.” The words came out on a growl, and all the much needed Zen I’d been able to find prior to Clara’s phone call had been sufficiently snuffed out. Weeks' worth of stress from having this girl in my space had been wiped out with a single strong joint.

And it was all for nothing now.

“Clara, get inside.” She gave me a smirk, then slid from the car and strutted her way up the sidewalk to my door. I turned to the jackass who thought he could flirt with my girl.

Like he had a right.

Like a girl like Clara would ever take a ride with a piece of shit like him.

Hand on the handle of the door, I caught the kid’s eye in the rear-view mirror. “If I ever catch you talking to her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”

I climbed from the backseat, taking a deep breath of air that wasn’t tainted with Clara’s delicious scent. Then, grabbing my wallet from my pocket, I pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and tossed it over the seat into the kid’s lap.

“Thanks for the ride.”

Clara had my door open and was just stepping inside as I stalked up the front steps after her. She didn’t stop once I was inside, kept going up the stairs to the second floor as I paused to flip through all the locks to secure the door.

I raced after her, but she was nowhere to be seen when I reached the landing. Hesitating, I glanced up the next flight of stairs. It would be just like Clara to go straight to my bedroom and climb into my bed. Just like her to pick a fight with me when I wasn’t firing at full speed.

But something about the way she didn’t look back as I followed her inside tugged at what little sanity I had left.