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I cocked my head in silent question, spilling my hair over one shoulder. “And what do you suggest I think about to keep from giving you bratty looks?”
He churned a dismissive hand in the air. “Cloud morphology. Maybe thinking about fluffy clouds will make you look less defiant.”
A surprised laugh bubbled from my lips, and I leveraged myself up to sit on the counter. “Please tell me your hobby is cloud-watching.”
Regret crossed his features, like he’d blurted out his darkest secret. “Meteorology is a complicated… interest. Not a hobby.”
“Oh my God,” I repeated, my chest filling with giddy mirth. “You do. You read about clouds and stare at the sky and—wait, do you keep a diary about the cloud patterns?”
Like there was a magnetic pull between us, Kael drifted back to me, his stare pointed. “You’ve stomped all over ‘submissive’ and charged right into ‘insolent shrew,’ now.”
“But if I was submissive, then I’d be boring,” I said with a falsely innocent blink.
He raked his gaze from my face, down to where my cleavage swelled over my tight tank top, and then back up again. I felt every inch of his inspection like a magnified beam of scalding sunlight on my skin. “I don’t know. Submission has its perks.”
I couldn’t help it. A slow, devious smile dimpled my cheeks. “I mean, I guess we could test it out that way. You know. For science.”
“Mattie.” He puffed out a laugh, rolling his eyes.
“I’ll call you sir and wear a cute little collar thing—”
He put his hand firmly over my mouth. “Please, for the love of God, stop.”
I grinned under his hand, crinkling my eyes above his fingers. I winked.
He closed his eyes in defeat. “We are so fucked.”
Irifled my fingers through the small packet of peanuts, picking out the broken halves first and leaving the whole ones behind. It was neurotic and entirely pointless, but I liked eating them that way. I fished out a lonely half and tossed it in my mouth.
Kael glanced down at me, his folded arms pressed against my back as he stood directly behind me like an overprotective bodyguard. “Stop eating peanuts.”
“Why?” I asked, scanning the pick-up lane outside the JFK airport. Although the sun hadn’t set yet, the concrete parking garage and towering buildings blocked out what would have been left of the dusky light. Sickly yellow lights and blinding fluorescents mingled with passing headlights from slow-moving traffic, and a haze of exhaust and city pollution filtered through the nippy air.
“Runaway girls who are terrified of going home don’t chomp on peanuts like a cow chewing its cud.”
I dug around for another half-peanut. “I don’t think eating peanuts has an emotion, Kael.”
He reached around me, his bicep flexing as it wrapped around my torso, and his large hand crushed the bag of peanuts. He leaned down, and his breath tickled across my jaw and down my neck. My whole body shivered with happy dread. “If you don’t listen to me, I’m going to handcuff you and drag you to their front door for real.”
“Oh no,” I smiled indolently. “Not that. I beg of you,” I continued, my tone flat and unconcerned. “Have mercy. And while you’re at it, Daddy Ghost, don’t torture my body with your clever fing—”
The peanut bag crinkled as he crushed it so hard, the peanuts turned to dust beneath his fingers. “I will march your ass back in there and put you on a plane back to Denver.”
That sobered me. I cleared my throat. “Sorry. I’m joking. Come on, Kael, no one is spying on us here at the airport.”
“Don’t make assumptions,” he replied in his grouchy Ghost voice. He wrenched the bag away from me. “And don’t think I’m not keeping count. There aren’t red marks on your arm, but they’re in my head.”
I glanced at my arm, but it was covered by a metallic, gray jacket to ward off the October chill. “Like you plan to do anything about your imaginary marks.” I twisted until I could see his frowning, handsome features. “That said, point taken. I’ll get in character.”
“Yeah, I’ll believe that when bunnies fly,” he muttered.
Our ride pulled up, and Kael wrapped his hand around my arm, his fingers completely encircling it and holding firm. I glanced at him in surprise, but he only stared forward, his eyes unyielding and frosty as the driver came around to open the door. He was probably right, and this driver would be grilled for details by someone after dropping us off—we were on display whether I knew it or not. The driver came around to open the door for us, and I took in his soft, round features that watched me with interest. Yeah. He was totally a spy.
So, I stared dejectedly at the car and let Kael shove me toward the seat. Despite pushing me around, he kept a firm but gentle hold on my arm, and he was careful not to let me trip or hit my head on the frame as he lowered me into the back seat.
As we both slid into the seats, Kael murmured low, “Mattie, how callous are your parents, really? How far do they want you to look… handled?”
I snorted, watching the driver come back around the outside of the sedan. “They would literally sell me to an ogre with a whip if they thought it would keep me in check. I don’t think you can go too far.”
