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“You gonna ride back there, stalker girl, or do you wanna climb up front?”
I pop my head up, meeting his dark-eyed gaze in the rear-view mirror. “How’d you know I was in here?”
Yeah, because that’s the real head-scratcher, not the question of why the hell I’m hiding in his back seat like a serial killer.
“I’d recognize your scent anywhere,” he replies matter-of-factly, intense stare boring into mine.
I narrow my eyes on him, a smirk pulling at the corner of my lips. “Now who’s the stalker?”
A low chuckle rumbles in his chest. “C’mon, climb up here,” he urges, tipping his head toward the passenger seat in invitation.
I sink my teeth into the cushion of my lower lip, eyes darting around nervously as I duck back down into the footwell. “Pull out of the lot first.”
“Fine,” Javi sighs, turning his key in the ignition.
The engine roars to life, vibrating the floor of the truck beneath me. He shifts it into reverse, backing out of his parking spot, then puts the gear in drive, hitting the gas.
It’s a little disorienting from my vantage point in the footwell of the back seat. All I can see out the window are the tops of the trees swaying in the breeze, and it’s difficult to grasp where we are on the road or how much distance we’ve traveled from the complex. I’m familiar enough with the route that I can gauge when he turns out of the parking lot, though, and what I presume is his right turn onto the street that leads away from Goldenleaf and out to the main road.
“The coast is clear,” Javi announces, and I pop my head up enough to glance out the window at our surroundings, confirming that what he says is true.
Pushing myself up from the floor, I slide onto the back seat before clumsily climbing over the wide center console of his truck. He grabs his gym bag off the passenger seat and tosses it in the back so I can drop in, and once my ass hits the seat beside Javi, I glance over at him with a sheepish smile.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he replies with a grin, flicking me a sideways glance. “So do you make a habit of hiding out in the back of guys’ trucks?”
“What if I do?”
“Just let me know which ones so I can be sure to slash their tires.”
I snort a laugh, shaking my head. “I knew you were a criminal.”
“It lends to my bad boy image, right?” he teases with a wink.
I lean back in my seat to get comfortable, the worn leather creaking beneath my weight. “So how was the workout?”
He winces, eyes flickering over to me again. “We may have a slight problem.”
My heart stutters in my chest. “What?”
Javi blows out a slow breath, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Well Ares was trying to entice me to go pick up chicks with him at the bar and asked if I was single, and I sort of let it slip that I was seeing someone.”
“What?!” I bark, throat tightening in panic. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he asked.”
“And you couldn’t have said no?”
“But Iamseeing someone.”
“So youtoldthem?!” I screech, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.
“Not that it was you.”
My shoulders sag in relief.
“Anyways, that’s not the worst part,” he adds.
