Kaz smirked, pulling away slightly. “Was that what you were looking for?”
“Better without the bitch.”
He lifted a brow. “Why do I hear a but in there?”
Violet shrugged. “But your hands. On my throat. I liked your hands the last time, too.”
Kaz’s grin spread a little wider, and he shook his head. “Killing me here.”
She wasn’t trying to.
His tone had deepened with a huskiness that made her mouth dry. She was not alone in this strange attraction. Not in the least.
Violet needed a second to breathe, never mind the ache between her thighs. “How did the birthday party go?”
“That’s what you want to talk about right now?”
“Distance?”
He seemed to get what she said, and what she didn’t. “My sisters loved the clothes. Thank you for that, again.”
“Sixteen-year-olds are not so hard to figure out.”
“These ones can be,” he said, laughing.
Violet cleared her throat, still hyperaware of his hand on her back and how close he was to her. “All right. Enough.”
Kaz’s brow dropped in his confusion. “Enough of what?”
“Distance.”
She leaned forward, and kissed him again.
Kaz liked bending rules, but never outright breaking them—he thrilled in it—but as he exited the diner with Violet on his arm with every intention of taking her back to his place, there was no doubt that he wasn’t bending a rule, but obliterating the fucking thing.
But he didn’t care. It was the last thing on his mind as he opened the passenger door and helped her into his truck. He was, however, wondering how they had got to this point, or rather how he had gotten here.
When he had set out for her place, ready to do murder, he hadn’t for a second thought they would end up here.
Nor had he imagined that he would have kissed her. Not once, not even twice, but a number of times that had all blended into one.
There was just something about her … something he hadn’t expected from a girl like her. Kaz had had his fair share of spoiled, rich girls, and had grown bored with them fairly quickly after only a couple of weeks. They were all the same: immature, weak, and only valuing what a person would buy or give them.
But Violet … there was a fire in her, a burning passion that he wanted to ignite further, just to see what would happen. He wanted to see her come alive beneath his hands.
It was dangerous, not just her, but the implications of what would come if anyone found out about this.
This could no longer be considered innocent.
And with what he planned to do to her, it definitely wouldn’t be.
Sliding in the truck, Kaz buckled up, the lights on the dash illuminating the dark interior as he started it up. Violet was turned in his direction, her expression open, her eyes seeking an answer that he wasn’t quite ready to give.
They had only been driving for a short while when that expression changed as she said, “This isn’t the way to Manhattan.”
He couldn’t quite contain the smirk that was fighting its way free. “No, it isn’t.”
She grew quiet again, making Kaz glance over in her direction. “You can always say no. I’ll take you home right now, and we’ll never have to talk about this again,” he said. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he would if she asked it of him. Right then, he’d give her anything she wanted.
“I’ve wondered what your place looked like,” she murmured, like the comment was more to herself than for him.
That was the only answer he needed, and more was what was left unspoken between them. He wasn’t the only one to receive warnings, he was sure, so she was taking just as much of a risk coming to Little Odessa with him as he was. Violet was trusting him, believing that he would not only keep her safe, but ensure that no one would catch them together.
Kaz wouldn’t break that.
The rest of the drive was spent in silence, and though she sat a little straighter when they got into the heart of Little Odessa, making him reach across the seat and rest his hand on her thigh, his fingers curving around. It was silent, his reminder that she was with him, but it was enough to get her to relax.
Pulling into the parking structure attached to his apartment building, he drove around to the back, parking next to his Porsche, and the set of service elevators nearby. Kaz rarely went through the lobby anymore—especially when there was no guarantee what he would look like when he got home.
As they boarded, he pressed the button for his floor, and stepped back, looking to Violet as the doors closed.
There was no going back now.
Heart hammering, butterflies fluttering in her stomach, Violet tried to act normal as Kaz walked ahead of her once the doors to the elevator reopened. Like her place, his seemed to be the only one on this floor, but his had added security. After sticking the key in the lock, he pressed his thumb to an electronic key pad, the locks clicking open audibly.
At least she knew no one would just be walking in uninvited.