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“I guess they’re on the edge of town. I don’t quite know my way around yet but yes, I think that’s it.”
“The AAG has a center out there. They’re full of spiritual enlightenment and all that crap.”
“You think it’s bunk?”
“I think it’s fine if you want to live your best life. Having it shouted at you from billboards and TV ads feels like overkill. It also feels like it’s about a business instead of what it should be. Actually helping people.”
“You have a business and you help people.”
His wry smile was a little lopsided and it did something funny to her heart. One moment it was beating like normal and then in the next it seemed to flip over on itself.
“Touché.”
“Which isn’t to say I’m not grateful for your help.” She felt a little better having made the joke, some of the equilibrium she couldn’t find in the drive back into town returning. “But you were sort of an easy target with that one.”
“I guess I was. But what was it about the AAG that had you upset?”
She knew it wasn’t fair to tease Nikolas, but no matter how much she tried, she’d always been very good at pointing out things that were incongruous or off-kilter. Perhaps that was what made her a good stylist—she had an eye that didn’t miss the things that were out of place. But that also went for comments and statements that didn’t match someone’s intentions.
Instead of chalking it up to someone else’s idiosyncrasies, she’d often comment on the matter before she could check herself.
What surprised her was that Nikolas didn’t seem to mind it. Although she was well aware her personality quirk often didn’t sit well with others, he seemed to take it in stride, almost amused at the comparison instead of being upset by it.
Unbidden, a memory of one of her last dates with Ferdy came rushing back. They’d increasingly been at odds and it felt like anything she said to him was dismissed or ignored or, worse, jabbed at like some prize fighter in the middle of a ring. She’d gotten better at holding herself back to keep the peace but he’d mentioned something about one of the subway stops closest to her apartment and she’d corrected him.
“I’m off the 18th Street stop, not the 23rd.”
He barely looked up from the steak he was sawing, grumbling out an answer. “I’ve been to your place, Nova. I know what the hell I’m talking about.”
“And I live there. I think I know, too.”
He did look up then, the knife still in his hand. “Getting mouthy on me?”
“What’s the big deal? My apartment’s on 19th. I take the 18th Street stop, not the 23rd.”
“Right.” He set his knife and fork down slowly, his dark eyes like black coals when they finally settled on her. “What’s the big freaking deal? You have to mess with me about everything, have to comment on everything?”
“It’s where I live. I know the streets near me. That’s all I was trying to say.”
He stared at her another full minute and all she could think as those dark eyes lasered into hers, like a snake charmer forcing back the cobra, was that their discussion wasn’t really about the subway at all. Or where she lived. Or a simple slip of the tongue.
It was about control.
And dominance.
“Nova?” Nikolas’s tone was warm and gentle, and at odds with the harsher one that still had the power to fill her thoughts. “We were talking about the AAG.”
“Yes, of course.” Whatever else those few months with Ferdy had taught her, it was to put on a smile and a happy face, blithely ignoring whatever strange conversation had come before. “I just found them really odd.”
“Did you talk to someone?”
“Yeah. After my interview that didn’t go at all like I’d planned, I was feeling sorry for myself. I’d driven around for a bit, exploring Mustang Valley, and then ended up parking in the lot of one of the shopping centers past the edge of downtown. You snuck blueberries into my take-home bag.”
He did smile at that, the first easing she’d seen in his expression since she walked in. “I did. I believe I also snuck in strawberries and apple slices, too.”
“They were delicious, by the way. You may be a sneak, but you’re a gifted one.”
“So noted.” Nikolas nodded, before returning unerringly to their conversation. “So there you were, eating all that good food, and what happened? Did someone approach you?”
