get paid.
“Yes, princess?” Dylan says on the third ring.
I shake my head and laugh. “Aren’t you cute?”
“No,” he shoots back. “Babies are cute. I prefer devilishly handsome.”
I laugh in his ear. “Oh, my God. You’re so full of yourself. Stop it.”
He snickers. “You know you love it.”
You know you love me.
There’s so much subtext behind his words. I still care about Dylan, and no amount of time or distance will ever change that. He was my first crush, first kiss, first love, my first everything.
“So, let me guess,” Dylan says. “You need another ride.”
“You seem to be enjoying this way too much.”
“I like having you in my debt.”
“Dylan,” I groan.
“Fine. What now? You need me to take you to Starbucks again?”
Dylan might be a pain in my ass, but he’s been super cool lately about helping me with my errands. Even though he will never admit it, he enjoys spending time with me, and I don’t exactly hate it either.
“I need a ride to Nico Chase’s house.”
He blows air into the phone. “That asshole again?”
“What’s wrong with Nico?”
“Are you kidding me, Ash? After the way he treated you last time?”
“He’s an idiot. And famous. All of the stars Vinnie reps have the same air of entitlement.”
“It doesn’t mean they can get away with treating you like shit.”
“I don’t have time to debate about celebrity behavior with you. So, will you take me to Nico’s house or what?”
“Yeah. Fine.” He sounds annoyed with Nico. “But if that asshole—”
“Don’t,” I interrupt before he can finish his thought. “Please don’t interfere with my job. I don’t care if he thinks I have a fat ass or whatever he said to me last time. This isn’t about me. I’m there to do a job. That’s it. And I need this job, okay?”
“Whatever,” he mutters. “I’ll meet you out front in ten.”
After I run to the bathroom and gather a few more scripts Nico might like, I stuff them into my messenger bag and sling it over my shoulder. Dylan is double-parked in the street out front of my office, with the top of his convertible down and looking like a hot pilot in dark aviator sunglasses.
My heart hammers against my ribcage. Even after all of these years, Dylan still looks like the boy I fell in love with, except now he’s a man who drives me crazy.
He’s dressed in a white oxford, with a royal blue tie loose around his neck and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Of course, he folded his suit jacket on the back seat. I laugh as I get into his car.
He flips up his sunglasses, his blue eyes meeting mine. “What are you laughing about?”
“You,” I admit with a smile.
“Oh? Is that so? What did I do now?”
“You being your control-freak self.”
I blow him a kiss, and he raises a curious eyebrow at me.
“Women,” he says under his breath.
Instead of pushing me, he shifts the car into Drive and then pulls onto Wilshire Boulevard.
“Don’t you have a company to run? For a CTO, you have an awful lot of time to drive me around town.”
“That’s the beauty of being the CTO. Sloan handles most of the day-to-day shit.” Dylan punches the gas and flies through the yellow light as it turns red. “I handle the tech.”
“Makes sense. Sloan is a people person. And you’re… not.”
He chuckles. “Hey, I’m a people person.”
I shake my head. “No, you’re not. But if everyone on earth turned into a cyborg, I’m sure you’d be okay.”
“You’re a person,” he challenges. “And I’m talking to you right now.”
“Not successfully,” I joke.
He slides his hand to my knee and squeezes, causing my body to go perfectly still. I can’t breathe when he digs his long fingers into my skin.
“See, I’m a people person.” Dylan smirks. “I got you to shut up.”
My legs tremble, and I do my best to keep my traitorous body from revealing the instantaneous effect Dylan has on me. There goes my heart again, fighting to break free from my chest, beating so fast my lungs feel as though they are draining of air. Every inch of my body is on fire, brought to life by his simple touch.
Stupid, stupid body.
Glancing down at the placement of his hand, I bite my lip and look up at him. His hand slowly slides up my left thigh, and when his fingers move over my bare skin, I accidentally moan. Oh, no. He heard me, and now he’s giving me one his boyish grins