Page 50 of Do It With Me

CHAPTER 22

HOLDEN

The driver slowed to a stop at the curb, glancing at the taco truck across the street like it might be a trap. Then he twisted to look at me. “Uh, Mr. Langton. Are you sure this is the right place?”

I couldn’t really blame him for the uncertainty. This neighborhood wasn’t bad. It just definitely was not the glass-and-marble stretch of Midtown I’d just left.

I wasn’t sure I had ever directed him to someplace like this, an area where the streetlights flickered and weeds grew through cracks in the sidewalk. Just down the block, a guy was selling knockoff sneakers out of his trunk and music drifted from somewhere, though there was no telling where it was coming from.

“I’m sure,” I said, already reaching for the door handle.

Ellora was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for me, bathed in the warm glow of the string lights that hung around the taco truck. As soon as I saw her, everything else faded into static.

She was in jeans and a long, cozy-looking sweater, and her hair caught the light when she turned her head. Somehow, she looked a thousand times more beautiful like this than she had in that designer dress at the wedding.

My driver snapped me out of it, still looking doubtful when he spoke again. “Would you like me to wait here, sir?”

I glanced back at Ellora. She’d spotted the car now and she was smiling in a way that made my stomach turn over like a teenager’s. I buttoned up my jacket. “No, I’ll be fine. You can head home.”

“Yes, sir.”

Opening the door, I stepped out of the car and inhaled a deep breath of air scented with grilled meat, cilantro, and lime. Ellora waved and I crossed the street to her, dodging a delivery scooter and a cloud of sizzling smoke from the grill.

“Fancy seeing you in my part of town,” she said when I was halfway across the street, her eyes twinkling as they held mine.

“Your part. My part. It doesn’t matter. I go wherever the tacos are.” I pulled her straight into my arms when I reached her and the world tilted a little. “On the other hand, fuck the tacos. I’m hungry for you.”

I’d murmured the words against her ear and she laughed in response, pulling back to glance up at me but not pushing me away. “You’re supposed to say something about how beautiful I look tonight, not threaten to eat me on a public sidewalk.”

I grinned because she probably wasn’t wrong, but then I kissed her anyway. She tilted her head back when mine started descending, our mouths meeting softly at first. It didn’t last long before we were pulling each other closer, deepening the kiss. Her hands curled into my jacket and I stepped into her, completely forgetting where we were.

Someone whistled nearby and Ellora pulled back, breathless and grinning. “Oops.”

“Yeah,” I said, glancing around. “If I keep that up, we’ll end up on TMZ.”

“Exactly. So cool it, Mr. Billionaire.” She pumped her eyebrows at me, still smiling as she poked me in the chest. “It’s nice to see you too, but I haven’t eaten since breakfast. We’re getting tacos.”

I sighed dramatically and she laughed as she took my hand. “Jeez, I’m not sentencing you to manual labor. It’s a taco.”

Folding my fingers around hers, I followed her to the truck, unable to stop smiling for some godforsaken reason. “A taco is great. I love tacos. The smell alone is enough to convert a saint, but you’re still better.”

Her cheeks flushed to a warm pink under the lights as we joined the line. “That mouth of yours is going to get us in trouble. Just tell the man what you want to eat. That seems safer.”

I chuckled but swallowed at least a dozen comebacks in favor of doing what she’d said when we got to the counter. We ordered way too much food and found a little metal table under an umbrealla.

When Ellora took her first bite, she groaned, her eyelids fluttering shut. “These are indecently good. Try one.”

I leaned my elbows on the table. “I think I might be getting jealous of a taco.”

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” she teased, licking salsa from her thumb. “Besides, you don’t have anything to be jealous about. This taco is going to be gone real soon, but you’re still here.”

I laughed. “Fair enough, but for the record, this was a great idea.”

“I’m glad you approve. I was worried that the lack of silverware might offend you.”

Deliberately widening my eyes, I sat up straight and blinked hard. “What? There’s no silverware? You didn’t tell me that. Someone call my butler.”

Her eyes rolled and she pointed at the pile of food in front of me. “Dig in,. Around here, we don’t let those lie around unattended for too long. A pigeon will get it.”