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“You’ll learn a lot about me, Ridge. I don’t care for all that flashy shit,” I tell him as I toss him the keys. He grabs them in his hand and walks around, climbing in the driver's seat. I slide into the passenger seat and settle in as he starts the car.
“You keep surprisin’ me.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I ask. He turns his head to look at me and shakes it.
“Not at all. I think I like it.” With that, he shifts the car into drive, and we pull out of the garage. I tell him what store I want to go to, and he drives without me giving him directions. I know he’s from here, from what Mitch told me. His club isn’t too far away.
I want to ask more questions about it, but I don’t want to overstep, either. However, something tells me that Ridge is a pretty open book. He seems really laid back and willing to talk about a lot of things. I keep it to myself for now anyway.
We park at the store, and both climb out. When we walk in, I grab a cart for our things and start walking. Ridge glances around like he’s lost, and then it hits me.
“Do you not buy groceries?” I ask. He shakes his head.
“The girls usually do that. I honestly don’t think I’ve been in a store for at least ten years,” he tells me. My mouth drops open as I look at him in shock. No way has it been that long.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. It’s been a long time,” he says, holding his hand out. I pass him my list, and he starts walking, picking up some of the things and putting them in the cart. I don’t need him to do this for me, but I also don’t want to take this moment away from him, so I don’t say anything.
We make our way through the store before stopping in the aisle. I stretch to reach something when I feel his warmth behind me. He presses his chest into my back as he grabs the jar off the top shelf and hands it to me.
“Thanks,” I mumble unsure what to say after feeling him that close to me.
“No problem.” He steps back, unaffected by being that close, and starts to push the cart. You have to picture it. A six-foot-two man in a hoodie, cut, and boots with jeans and a chain hanging, pushing the damn cart through the store. He’s totally out of place, but he doesn’t seem to care that people are talking and staring. He just keeps walking.
“You don’t mind it, do you?”
“Mind what?”
“That people are watching you,” I tell him.
“They’re watchin’ you. Not me.”
“No. They most certainly are watching you,” I inform him. He turns around and looks at a few people who are watching him intently.
“They probably think I’m gonna rob the place,” he mumbles before he keeps walking. I can’t help but laugh at him.
“You don’t really think that, do you?”
“We’re in the uppity grocery store, Princess. I mean it.”
“They don’t care,” I tell him.
“They do care. They probably think I’ve kidnapped you and are just waitin’ for a sign to call the cops.” Just as he says that two cops walk into the store and stare straight at us. Ridge curses under his breath as they make a beeline straight for us.
“Ma’am. You doing okay?” the first one asks.
“She’s fine. She’s with me,” Ridge answers for me. The cop turns to look at him and I can see the look in his eyes. He’s right. They don’t like him being here.
“He’s right. I’m with him. We’re all good. We’re getting things together for our Thanksgiving meal.” The second cop turns to look at me and then into the cart before slapping his partner on the shoulder. He doesn’t want to stand down, though. He keeps eyeing Ridge and inches his way closer. That’s when I noticed Ridge was doing the same thing. I step in between them and press my hands to Ridge’s chest, trying to get him to step back a little.
“Hey, you ready? I think we got everything,” I tell him. He finally looks away from the cop and down at me, nodding his head. He shifts away from me and grabs the cart handle, pushing it toward the checkout.
“You guys have a good night,” I say over my shoulder to the cops. They don’t follow us to the checkout, and I’m happy about that. I don’t know what Ridge might have done. I don’t know what they might have done.
“What was that?”
“What was what?” he asks as he places the items onto the belt.
