To his surprise, she didn’t opt for the less expensive items. She chose the most expensive brand names, comparing them meticulously before making her final selection. At the meat counter, she stared at the offerings, and he could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she pensively chewed her bottom lip.
Finally she opted for fresh fish and after handing him the wrapped fillets, she immediately turned and hurried to the section where wine was sold.
It was here she took the longest, staring and studying, muttering under her breath. Maybe the morning’s shopping trip had been too much, because clearly she’d lost her mind.
In the end, she chose two bottles. One, an expensive red wine, the other an equally expensive and excellent-quality white.
After that, he thought she might well have lost her mind because she spent another fifteen minutes in the baking aisle, although he couldn’t help peeking at the assortment of ingredients she put into the basket, his mouth watering at the possibilities of the delectable desserts that could be made with the things she’d purchased.
“I’m done,” she said, though a frown creased her brow as she stared at the items in the basket. Almost as if she were trying to think of anything she’d missed.#p#分页标题#e#
After a moment she strode toward the checkout, where Justice plopped the basket down. After the clerk rang up the purchases, Justice saw Evangeline’s visible wince, and then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of carefully folded twenties. She looked anxiously at the total reflected on the cashier machine and back at the cash in her hand as if worried she wouldn’t have enough to cover it. She slowly counted it out and heaved a sigh of relief when she reached the correct amount with one twenty to spare.
He frowned and caught her wrist just before she handed the clerk the cash. He sent her a look of reprimand and then swiped Drake’s credit card to complete the purchase.
Evangeline didn’t look happy with him, but hell if he was going to be the one to tell Drake that his woman had tried to pay for several hundred dollars’ worth of groceries when she was, or rather had been, living in a shit apartment, working a shit job, struggling to make ends meet. He understood pride. All his brothers did. He—and they—respected it. But Drake would be one mean, pissed-off son of a bitch if he knew Evangeline had forked out money she so obviously needed to buy Drake food.
He grabbed the bags, refusing Evangeline’s offer to help carry them, and headed to the entrance.
“Hardheaded too,” she muttered. “All these damn rules.”
At the car the driver was there to take the bags from Justice, and Justice turned to her, looking at her in obvious question.
“What are you talking about?”
She blushed as if she’d been caught out. Evidently she hadn’t intended him to hear what she’d said.
“I was just adding another requirement to work at Impulse,” she said.
One eyebrow went up. “Oh? What requirements are you referring to?”
“Obviously you have to be hot and a badass to work at Impulse. I mean, there’s not a single person working there who isn’t beautiful or a total badass. And just now I realized that there’s obviously one more requirement. Hardheadedness.”
Justice threw back his head and laughed. He was still chuckling when he escorted Evangeline around the car so she could get in. He was shaking his head as he slid in next to her.
“Well, there went one of the so-called rules,” she muttered.
“Do I even want to know?” he asked.
“I left out never smiling as a requirement along with being a hot, hardheaded badass, but you just blew that rule, so I guess it’s okay to smile occasionally.”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“Now can we go back to the apartment?” he asked in exasperation.
She sent him a disgruntled look. “If I had time, I’d make you shop for another few hours. Just to watch you suffer.”
He tried to choke back his laughter, but it escaped. He liked this woman, and he respected the hell out of her for remaining cool under pressure. It hadn’t escaped him that the day had been an exercise in hell for her. Nor the fact that she was mortified that someone else was paying for her things.
“You’ll do, Evangeline,” he said affectionately. “You’ll do.”
“Well, thank God for that,” she grumbled. “I’d hate to get on the bad side of a hardheaded hot badass.”
He chuckled again and directed the driver to take them to Drake’s apartment. As soon as he issued the order, the lighthearted mood was over and Evangeline became quiet and brooding. And rigid as hell. The entire ride to Drake’s apartment, she looked like someone going to her execution.