Free Enlightened by Alice Raine

the simplest of movements. The corners of his mouth twitched into a near-smile as he shrugged, ‘This isn’t any old company car.’ Nathan said smugly, flicking me with a smirk. ‘It’s a Mercedes Pullman limousine,’ he informed me, not that that really meant a great deal to me. ‘It’s only used for special events, but it was the only car available today. And as for why you’ve never been in here before?’ he shrugged, ‘You don’t seem interested when I try and flaunt my wealth so I gave up trying to impress you with money a long time ago.’ Oh. Well that was true – Nathan’s money was a nice extra I suppose, but his cash certainly wasn’t the reason I was with him. ‘Plus you seem to have some bloody obsession with public transport,’ he muttered with a baffled shake of his head looking genuinely mystified.
    ‘After that lunch I doubt we’ll need a proper dinner tonight, but we’ll stop off and grab some snacks just in case we get hungry again.’ Leaning forward he spoke to the driver, ‘Home please, Ryan, but could you stop off on the way at River Deli and get us two of their sandwich tasting plates? I have some calls to make, so no interruptions please,’ Nathan said, leaning back and pressing a button that raised the privacy glass and effectively closed us in our own little bubble.
    Leaning forwards I touched his arm gingerly, well aware that I was about to bring up one of his sore points again. ‘Actually, Nathan, can we stop in at my place on the way too? I need to grab some clothes for work tomorrow,’ I murmured softly, before sitting back and bracing myself for the anticipated rant.
    Watching his body tense Nathan’s expression darkened as he narrowed his eyes and made a growling noise in the back of his throat, ‘If you lived with me you wouldn’t need to keep bringing a bloody overnight bag with you,’ he mumbled petulantly, before taking several deep breaths and muttering a countdown from five to zero under his breath. Staying silent I patiently let him do his counting thing. This was a foible of his that I was well used to now. Initially when I’d caught him counting under his breath I’d thought it was my imagination, but when we had started to spend more time together I had noticed the habit a lot more frequently. A few months ago I’d finally plucked up the courage to ask him about it, and Nathan had begrudgingly informed me that he used the countdowns in combination with deep breaths to calm himself when he was feeling particularly highly strung, stressed, or angry.
    My forehead creased as an unpleasant thought suddenly came to my mind. ‘Did you do your countdowns before you met me?’ My voice sounded small in the quiet interior of the car, but truthfully I was a little concerned what answer I might get. Given how frequently he did them whilst I was around I couldn’t help but think that perhaps my presence in his life had disrupted his usual order.
    ‘Yes, why?’ he asked cautiously, turning to me.
    Chewing on my lower lip I shrugged slightly, suddenly feeling self-conscious. ‘I was just wondering if I stress you out,’ I murmured, feeling stupidly needy as I spoke.
    Turning to me Nathan’s blue gaze stuck on mine intently and I watched enthralled as he blinked several times, ‘You do stress me out,’ he agreed in a low tone. ‘And before you ask, yes, I do use my countdowns more often since I met you.’ Oh God, he’d just confirmed my fears – I was bad for him. My stomach plummeted as a sickening sensation settled in my chest, but his gaze was holding me captive and no matter how much I wanted to drop my eyes, I found that I couldn’t.
    It felt like we stared at each other in silence for at least ten minutes, but in reality it was probably just a few seconds. The movement of his upper lip tweaking caught my eye and I glanced at his mouth to see it flickering in that way that meant he was supressing a smile. ‘Don’t panic, baby. I’m winding you up.