girly bits. A fact that clearly hadn’t escaped Roman because he’d chuckled as he’d carefully slid into bed beside her, tucked her tight against him and proceeded to enjoy his own coffee and a leisurely perusal of Reddit on his iPad.
Like they’d been together for years, or something.
The hour or so it’d taken for her to get ready after he’d announced their upcoming trip to the mall had been even more of the same. A second cup of coffee delivered while she was in the shower. A lingering perusal of her wrapped in her towel while she put on her makeup. Helping her put on her jacket before they left the house and the possessive hand he kept on the small of her back as he’d walked her to his truck.
Not smothering.
Not distant.
Not an asshole.
Just weird.
Really. Fucking. Weird.
What was even more disconcerting? She liked it. A lot.
“Are you angry with the windshield, moya koroleva?”
She whipped her head his direction, the depth of his voice snatching her attention in a second. “Huh?”
“The windshield,” he said with a knowing grin. “You were frowning at it. I thought, perhaps, it had made you angry.”
She checked the Bluetooth display in the truck’s center console. “What happened to Kir?”
“We finished our conversation.”
Well, duh. Obviously. She’d just had her head too far up her own ass to notice. Which, when she thought about it, had kind of been the theme since the day she’d first met him. He really had a way of scrambling a girl’s wits.
She cleared her throat. “I was just trying to figure out where we’re going.” Not a total lie. When it came to shopping, she generally stuck to two or three secondhand stores over in East Carrollton for shopping.
“To the mall.” He turned off Poydras Street and drove past Spanish Plaza. For a second, she thought he was going to pull into the Nordstrom Rack just south of the plaza. When he kept on driving, her panic eased a fraction and she let out a relieved sigh. “You know, malls are full of people. Annoying people.”
“Yes. And full of options for you to choose a coat from as well.”
See? Totally the same bossy dude, but also courteous and kind. “But it’s mass humanity. Lots and lots of people in a confined space.”
“Then we will find you a coat quickly and move on to the rest of our day.”
“We have more on our agenda?”
“Yes.”
She opened her mouth to pry him for more, but nearly choked when he pulled into the parking lot for the Shops at Canal Place.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit!
She wiggled in her seat. “Um. I don’t think this place is going to have my style.”
The surprise and concern on his face was so genuine, it would have made her laugh out loud if she hadn’t been close to a full-on freak-out. “But all of the best stores are here.”
“All of the most expensive stores are here.” She motioned to her jeans and T-shirt. “I’m kind of a bargain basement gal, if you haven’t noticed.”
Comprehension registered on his face, but rather than turn the truck around he smiled and shrugged. “You do not need bargains now. You will have the best.”
Oh, brother. This was a disaster waiting to happen. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and thumbed up the mall’s directory on her web browser. Maybe a little proactive searching would get them in and out faster. She clicked on J. Crew.
Ugh. No.
Banana Republic?
Better, if she stuck to the casual stuff. But still a little tailored for her tastes.
Ohh...the Anthropologie place looked cool. She punched on the link for coats and—“Are you fucking kidding me? Who pays $450 for a coat?”
Having found a parking space big enough to accommodate his massive truck, Roman put the gear shift in park, frowned at the phone in her hands and leaned over for a better look. It was a mix of Sherpa and denim with a faux fur panel in the middle. “You like it?”
“Well, yeah. It’s cool looking, but not $450 cool looking. That’s insane.”
He straightened, shook his head and grunted before opening his door. “We will see.” Other than that, he kept his silence the whole way into the mall, his steps determined and his expression utterly unfazed by the environment around him.
Bonnie hustled to keep up with him, which was no easy task when a girl wanted to gawk at the same time. “Seriously? They need three floors worth of stores?” She craned her head toward the long skylighted ceiling