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Rush looked over at me as he rounded the corner. “A necessary evil?”
“I’m not an environmental nut or anything like that,” I told him. “It’s just an extra bill that I could do without.” I shrugged. “There’s vehicle maintenance, annual registration fees, and things like that. It’d be cheaper to ride the bus or take cabs if it wasn’t for the hours that I worked.”
Pulling into the carport, Rush was eerily quiet, and I was beginning to wonder what I’d said wrong. I mean, for the most part, we hadn’t said much to each other, so I wasn’t sure what could have shifted the mood. Granted, we could just be getting to the awkward portion of the evening, but his demeanor seemed more serious than that.
“Is everything okay?” I finally asked.
“Yeah, I was just…”
I turned in the seat to look at him. “What?”
“I’m not usually an out-of-touch rich prick, but hearing you complain about the burdens of having a vehicle had me remembering to count my blessings,” he replied, a rueful grin on his face as he looked at me. “I work so much that it gets easy to forget that there’s another world out there. Not everyone works twenty-four hours a day like I do. Some people even work only forty-hours a week and enjoy their lives.”
That had my lips twitching. “Do you know some of those people?”
Rush grinned, shaking his head. “Nope.”
After a few seconds of grinning like idiots, I did the unthinkable. “Would you like to come up?”
“More than I want to take my next breath,” he answered honestly, and if that wasn’t the sexiest thing that a man had ever said to me, then I didn’t know what was.
“I’m still not sharing my dessert,” I informed him. “So, I don’t want you getting your hopes up.”
“I swear, that bag in your lap is safe from me, Landry,” he smirked. “I wouldn’t dream of coming in between you and your dessert.”
“Good,” I quipped. “I’m glad that we’re on the same page.”
Reaching for the door handle, his next words stopped me. “Don’t even think about it.”
I looked back at him. “What?”
Those green eyes pinned me in place. “When you’re with me, you don’t open your own doors, Landry. That’s not how I operate.”
My brows jumped high. “Used to getting your way?”
“Always,” he agreed. “However, this is about being a gentleman.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re really not that much of a gentleman, Mr. Crawford.”
The man looked positively wolfish when he said, “Well, it depends on where we’re at, Ms. Novak.”
Yeah, I was going to use him to knock the cobwebs out tonight.
I lowered my hand, then placed it obediently on my lap. “By all means, Mr. Crawford.”
Rush turned off the car-an Aston Martin, by the way-and I waited patiently as he walked around the front of the vehicle, and Rush Crawford really was an incredible specimen of a man. He walked with the attitude of a king, and I couldn’t imagine that many people ever told him no.
When Rush opened the door for me, I got out, my purse and dessert bag in hand. I felt Rush’s fingers grip my elbow gently, and it felt nice. While I was as independent as they came, I couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t feel nice to have a guy show me this kind of attention. Yeah, I looked like a mess, but Rush didn’t seem to care.
After locking up his car, Rush followed me as I led him to the back entrance of my building. Once we got inside, we headed towards the elevators, though I usually took the stairs. While I wasn’t that impressive of a human being, I liked taking the stairs because it was the only exercise that I got these days. I spent a lot of my time confined to a chair, and everyone knew that sitting for long periods of time was the worst thing for your back and posture.
When we walked into the elevator, I hit the button to my floor, and we rode up in silence. I wasn’t sure why he was quiet, but nerves were the reason for my silence. It wasn’t every day that I brought a guy home with me, and this was definitely the first time that I’d ever brought home a damn billionaire. Plus, Rush also looked like he belonged on every cover of every magazine out there.
Grateful when the elevator finally came to a stop, Rush followed me out, and it wasn’t a minute or so later that we were standing in front of my condo door. Without a word, Rush reached for my purse, and I watched as he pulled it free from my shoulder, searched it without permission, found my keys, then unlocked the door for me.
Holy shit, I didn’t know if I should be pissed or impressed.
Rush unlocked my door, then pushed it open, placing his other hand on the small of my back to usher me inside. The cynical part of me wondered if this was all an act just to impress me, or if this really was the way that Rush treated his dates. I mean, this wasn’t exactly adate,but for modesty’s sake, I could pretend that it was.
