up at me with something approaching compassion in his eyes. “Look, I’ll buy you a new one. Whatever you need. Deal?”
I blink in surprise. That’s actually nice, but it won’t solve my problem. “Not good enough. I need my laptop. It has my book on it.”
He tilts his head, squinting in confusion. “Book?”
Is he playing dumb or something? I glare back down at him, nodding. “Yeah, like you didn’t know that when you stole it.”
He opens his mouth like he’s got a rebuttal on the tip of his tongue, but a buzzing sound interrupts, garnering both of our attention. He holds up a single finger, telling me to hold on a minute as if I’m not in charge here, pinning him to the ground. Reaching around my thigh, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and glares at it.
I wonder if he glares at everything because that seems to be his most common expression in the two days I’ve known him. Glaring, lying, laptop-stealing, sexy, strong . . . ahem, asshole of a man.
God, I’m such a mess. But I’ll be even more of a mess if I don’t fix this and get my laptop back.
He rolls his eyes, huffing in annoyance. Wow, a new expression . . . and the tally goes up to three. Four, if I count that flirty smirk he threw at me when he caught me last night.
“What’s wrong?” I ask before I can stop myself. “Did I crack it?”
I should have, but instead he just grunts, shaking his head. “Nothing.”
“Of course you’d say that. Obviously, something’s wrong.”
“My mom is overbearing.” It’s the slightest insight, but it’s like pulling teeth to get even that much. But before I can try to pry that crack open, his phone rings again. He looks at it, and in the movement, I can see that the screen still says Mom.
“You gonna answer that?”
“No.”
Yes! He may not have realized it, but Mr. C-K-I don’t know your name just handed me leverage on a silver platter.
Before he can do anything, I reach down and pinch his nipple through his shirt, twisting it sharply. He yells and bucks his hips, half throwing me off as he curves away from me, giving me the perfect chance to grab his phone. I lunge and snatch it, scrambling to my feet and sprinting around his truck in an instant, but he’s hot on my heels.
“Give it!”
I keep him opposite me as much as I can, a standoff of inches around the bed of the truck. “Or what?”
I hold up the still ringing phone, and he demands, “Don’t you dare.”
His phone buzzes again, and never being one to do what I’m told, I hit the button and answer on speakerphone.
“What the hell, Connor?” a worried older voice says over the phone as the guy looks worse than when I kneed him in the balls. “You’re not even answering my calls now? Did you see my text about Caylee? Your sister is worried sick about you.”
Connor. Now I know his name. And his sister’s.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Connor’s not available right now. Could I take a message?” I ask in a faux-sweet customer service voice.
“Oh . . . I didn’t realize,” the woman answers. “You must be Scarlett. I’ve been telling Connor we’d love to meet you for ages. You’ll be at the dinner tomorrow night, right? He told you about that? And the wedding?”
I look at Connor, who looks so different, vulnerable and almost pleading even as he tries to look angry at the same time. I’ve definitely got him by his real balls here, and I smirk. He shakes his head slowly, mouthing ‘no’ sharply.
“Scarlett?” I ask as if I’m confused.
On the other end of the line, the woman slowly says, “Connor’s fiancée?”
Desperately, Connor yells out, “I told you she can’t come, Mom. But I’ll be there.”
It seems like even that promise is painful. But honestly, it’s a little disappointing for me too. Even though I shouldn’t regret that he has a fiancée named Scarlett, I do.
But Scarlett can have her lying, stealing fiancé, and good luck to her.
“Why isn’t she going?” I mouth to Connor.
He glares . . . again. I glare back, not budging an inch. Nope, you might be able to pin me to the ground like I’m a feather, but I’ve got the advantage here.
At least, I think I do until Connor lunges around the corner of the truck, and with a wingspan that would make a basketball player jealous,