Sergio walked around the ridiculously loud car and reached for my hand. When we touched, he briefly looked down and frowned.
Bruises were making themselves known around my thumb and on the back of my wrist. I tried to jerk my hand free so he wouldn't have to see them; instead, he simply held my hand a bit tighter. Then, in a move I wouldn't have expected, lifted my fingers to his lips and kissed every single one.
I shivered, unaccustomed to affection, especially from a sexy guy who was just as dangerous as he was addicting.
"Shall we?" Sergio asked. He was still frowning.
I wasn't sure if it was at me or because of me; regardless, I figured I had a lot to do with it and immediately felt guilty.
To be fair — I hadn't planned it.
Falling for him.
I mean, any girl would, but he'd always been such an ass I honestly assumed he'd get tired of my constant chatter and just lock me in a room or a really large box.
Instead, it broke him down.
And turned him into a completely different person — one I knew I would be devastated to say goodbye to.
"Smile." Sergio shoved me lightly "You're at Neiman Marcus."
"Oh, I'm happy," I gushed. "Just thinking about… dresses."
"Dresses?" His eyebrows shot up as he held open the door and ushered me through it. "What kind of dresses."
"The short kind."
"We should get lots of those for you to wear around the house…"
"The house is chilly."
He was thoughtful for a minute then said, "I'll break the air conditioner."
"Or you could just turn it off."
"Right, but breaking sounds a lot more aggressive, and I guarantee if you start wearing short dresses around the house, I'll be aggressive, possibly violent."
I let out a little laugh and followed him closely as he led me through the hundreds of perfumes and cosmetics on the ground floor. Once we hit the escalator, he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close.
It seemed natural for him.
It wasn't for me.
I'd never had an actual boyfriend or someone steady in my life — so having someone hold me in public, felt… foreign, but extremely nice.
A group of teenage girls were riding down; as we passed, I could have sworn I heard each of their hearts stop. As it was, all talking ceased, mouths dropped open, one girl let out a little whimper, and — yup — a camera phone quickly snapped a profile shot of Sergio.
"Happen often?" I joked.
Sergio narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"Teen girls." I jerked my head in their direction; most of them were still staring, so when Sergio turned around, they all froze in place and nearly fell off the bottom of the escalator.
He shook his head in disbelief then flashed me an amused smile. "They're probably just confused as to why a giant would be with such a small little pixie."
I growled. "I'm short, but I can still dropkick your ass."
"Oh, I know." He nodded escorting me off. "I still have a bruise on my ass to prove it."
"Aw, it's like a love mark."
"Yeah, that's what I think every time it hurts to sit. A love mark."
I smacked his ass hard.
He let out a little groan.
A saleslady stopped walking and eyed us suspiciously.
"Sorry." I licked my lips and elbowed Sergio. "He's just really sexually frustrated."
Her eyes bugged out of her head as she scurried past us and nearly collided with a mannequin.
"That went well." I nodded and turned to Sergio. His eyes were dark and hungry as he gazed down at me.
I gulped.
"If you wouldn't have chosen my car over me, I wouldn't be so…" He leaned forward and tilted my chin up. "…frustrated."
"They have changing rooms for a reason."
"With cameras."
"So put on a good show."
He sighed and released my chin. "Let's shop first…" He quickly looked around then grabbed my arm and basically pulled me toward designers I'd never worn before. In fact, I was pretty sure they didn't let just anyone walk up to those little sections of the store that have glass surrounding them.
Dolce & Gabbana was first.
Followed by Versace.
We ended up in Prada, and then when Sergio still wasn't happy, we moved into another section that I couldn't really pronounce.
A tank top was six-hundred-and-ninety dollars.
Sergio was like a man possessed. I imagined seeing him shop was like watching an animal finally return to its natural habitat. Yes, Sergio was the great white shark finally getting released back into the ocean.
You know, if people saved sharks.
Then healed them.
Then returned them to their natural habitat where they'd most likely kill all the other endangered animals.
Bad example, but I couldn't exactly say he was like a turtle finally finding its way into the ocean.
He was all aggression.
His eyes took in each thread count; he was the Clark Kent of shopping, using super-human eyesight to read through any sort of cheaply made fabric.
"This." He tossed me a dress. Didn't ask if I liked it, simply ordered me to hold it. And so it went. He said "this" and tossed; I caught and tried not to trip.
In three hours, he'd picked out complete outfits.