He dropped to his side, taking me with him so we were face-to-face. “I’m keepin’ you alive,” he said.
“Vance –”
“You’re gonna stay alive. At least until we have a second date.”
I rolled my eyes.
It was my turn to give up. It was his turn to grin.
Okay, then I was going to get something out of it. “I want a favor,” I said.
His grin deepened and the change happened, this time it was the sexy change. “Yeah?”
“You’ll get a second date if you come into King’s tomorrow and talk to Roam.”
The change vanished. “I’m not takin’ him in.”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want you teaching him. I just want you to walk up to him, talk to him in front of the other kids like you know him, like you respect him. Roam and Sniff. All the kids know about you, they respect you. You act like Roam’s your boy, it’ll enhance his reputation. It’ll mean something to the other kids. It’ll give him confidence.”
It would do more than that. It would give him just a tiny smidgen of what he wanted. It would be the first time he got even a taste of a life’s desire.
To Vance, it was taking thirty minutes and talking to a kid.
To Roam, it could change his life.
Vance didn’t answer, he just looked at me.
I leaned in, a bit, not much and then I whispered, so low you almost couldn’t hear it, “Please.”
Vance’s eyes changed again, they went soft and sexy and I felt my breath catch.
“I’ll do it.”
I didn’t realize my body was so tense but when he agreed I relaxed into him. His arms got tight and his hands drifted up my back, pressing me to his body.
“One condition,” he said.
Oh crap.
“What?” I asked.
“This second date is tomorrow night, you’ll be here and you won’t stand me up.”
“Okay,” I agreed instantly.
“That’s not the condition.”
Fuck.
“What?” I repeated.
“I take you out, after, I spend the night here. You don’t go out huntin’ drug dealers. You stay in, all night, with me, in this bed, na**d and when I make you come you say my name.”
My stomach plummeted again, it felt good again but still, I just stared at him.
I couldn’t promise that. “Crowe –” I started.
“Take it or leave it.”