Page 47 of Filthy Little Lies

“There are some deals best handled in person.”

“Okay, but you had me put on a dress, and I didn’t even meet the guy.”

He comes to a stop and turns to me, a new sort of smile planted on his lips. The kind that sends electricity shooting down my spine, directly to my panties.

“The dress is for something else.” He glances up the stairs at the enormous lit up Ferris wheel.

CHAPTER 14

Savvy

The gondola sways as we enter, and I quickly slide into the bench seating, moving all the way to the opposite side. Gabriel speaks to the worker before he shuts the door, then settles in beside me.

“I think you should sit there.” I point at the bench across from me.

“Why?”

“Because if all of our weight is on one side, it’s going to make it move more.” I grab the edge of the bench, holding on as though I can keep the whole thing from swaying.

He tilts his head. “Are you afraid of a Ferris wheel?”

“No! Of course not.” I huff. “I’m afraid of falling off the Ferris wheel into the lake stuck inside this capsule.”

Then we move.

And I squeak.

He moves to sit across from me, lacing his fingers together and dropping his hands between his knees. Even sitting like any other person in the world, he’s intimidating.

“You brought me all the way down here because you wanted to ride the Ferris wheel? I think Damien would have joined you if you wanted company.” The gondola sways slightly as we come to a stop only a few feet from the ground. “It’s going to do this a lot, right, the stopping?”

He smiles. “They need to load everyone. There’re fireworks tonight so there’s a lot of people.”

“You’re trying to mess with my head.”

“Why would I do that?” He splays his hands out like some innocent little boy.

“Because you like fucking with my head.” I accuse as we move again, and I shut my eyes.

“When have I fucked with your head?”

“Every moment since I met you,” I blurt, sinking against the wall once we’re stopped again.

“How?”

“Seriously?” I laugh. “First you kidnap me, which makes me think you’re going to kill me. Then you barge into my apartment, again making me think you’re going to kill me. You spanked me, teased me, then… did the opposite. Then last night.” I sigh. “Everything is messing with my head.”

“Ah. I see the problem.” He leans toward me, pressing his elbows into his knees and steepling his fingers. “You think I was trying to make you think a certain way or throw you off your guard. I wasn’t. I told you what I was going to do, and then I did it. Each time.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Each time I followed through with what I said I would do, and I always will, so you should work on accepting that. It might make this idea that I’m playing some mind game with you go away.”

“Okay, then this?” I make a big gesture with my arms which sends us into a small swing.

“This is fun.” He grins, leaning back. “And for the record, I never said I was going to kill you.”

“It was implied.” We’re moving again, and the carriage falls into a comfortable silence. “Thank you, by the way for having Lucian take Cassie to the train station this morning. She almost missed her train, she would have if he hadn’t been there.”