Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,243

like it was a date. Leo had paid for everything so far—the dinner and all the take-out food he’d had delivered to the beach house—and I wanted to put in my fair share as well. He’d asked me if I was working again next week, and it took me a moment to realize he meant the temp job. A stab of guilt hit me as I told him that yes, it was back to the grind working reception.

We took the elevator down to the parking garage and I led us to my car, a little Honda Accord that was only slightly rusty around the edges.

“No,” Leo said suddenly as I unlocked my door. He stood at the bumper as if an electric force kept him from moving closer.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“This is what we’re riding in?”

“Come on,” I said. “Not everyone can drive a fancy car.”

“Exactly,” he said. “So if you have one, you should take it out as often as possible. Come on.” He began walking back to the garage elevator.

“Are you kidding?” I said.

“Not in the slightest,” he said.

I shook my head and followed him. “You are a snob. Total and complete, stuck-up snob.”

He punched the button for the elevator. “Fine. I’m a snob. But I also have standards.”

“Uh huh,” I said. “You’ve also insulted my car. I worked really hard for that thing!”

“How many phones did you have to answer to have enough money to buy that thing?” he asked.

“Very funny,” I said, feeling that twang of guilt again.

“My car is more comfortable. And safer,” he added. “Plus I like driving.”

“That thing you drove us in back from Malibu?” I said. Despite my intentions of distracting him on the drive back down the coast, the car did not feel safe. And it wasn’t that I cared about going in his car, exactly, but I had wanted to sort of take control of the evening, and one way of doing that was driving.

“No, not that car,” Leo said. “I have my other car here.”

“I’m sure I’ll regret asking this,” I said, “but how many cars do you have?”

He smiled. “Several,” he said. “But this one is much more comfortable, I promise.”

“Fine,” I said. “But I’m paying for the movie and food.”

The drive-in was just as I had pictured it, on a big empty lot with cars lined up neatly in rows with a little red shack of a concession stand at the back. His car—a midnight blue Mercedes S-Class sedan—was not too much fancier than many of the other cars there. It didn’t stand out, at least.

I was nervous about what he’d think about a movie I loved so much. As it began, I kept stealing glances at him to gauge if he was enjoying it. He quickly had me distracted when he rested his hand on my thigh. When I put my hand on the smooth skin of his, he flipped his hand over and clasped our fingers together. My heart skipped a beat. Something about holding hands—despite all the far more intimate things we’d done together, and to each other—made things with Leo feel significant. Official, maybe. But it was more than that. I loved being with Leo. Being near him, sitting beside him, felt so normal and right that I’d almost forgotten that tongue-tied feeling I’d had at the audition that first day.

When the movie ended, we didn’t move. Leo sat staring at the screen as if it were the middle instead of the credits. I let the silence hang like that until the screen finally went black, and we were almost the only ones left.

“I guess this means you liked it,” I ventured.

“That,” he said, “was amazing.” Which made me absolutely beam. “Those parents. What dicks. When Todd Anderson’s parents sent him the desk set again for his birthday…”

“I know!” I said, so excited he liked it.

“And then his roommate, what’s his name…”

“Neil Perry,” I said.

“…told him it wanted to fly.”

“Such a great scene,” I said. I felt happiness bubbling up as I heard true excitement in Leo’s voice.

“And Neil’s parents,” he said, his eyes focused on nothing outside the windshield of his shiny car. “They’re miserable human beings who insisted on making their son just as miserable. I thought he was going to shoot his dad for a while there.”

“Yeah, but what about letting yourself be free, like Mr. Keating encouraged them all to be? Especially creatively free. Not letting anyone or anything hold you back?” As I said the words, I realized