Mastered (The Enforcers 1)

A few minutes later, they pulled to the front of a gourmet grocery store that was popular for its selection of the finest products and a wide variety of ethnic foods. Evangeline immediately popped out of the car before Justice could get out and go around to open her door, and she hurried toward the entrance, leaving Justice striding to catch up with her.

He caught her at the door and she regarded him with a frown.

“It’s not necessary for you to go in with me. I’ll only be a few minutes. You can wait in the car. I’m sure you’ve had your fill of shopping for the day.”

Justice frowned back at her, his jaw set in a stubborn line.

“It’s necessary.”

She rolled her eyes, clearly disgruntled.

“Whatever,” she muttered as she proceeded inside the market.

She grabbed one of the small baskets to put her groceries in, which he promptly confiscated, eliciting another frown from her. Then, muttering to herself, she hurriedly made her way down each of the aisles, her face a study in intense concentration.

He wondered what the hell had prompted this unexpected grocery shopping expedition, but a quick look at her told him she was about to melt down, and the last thing he wanted on his hands was a hysterical female. So he kept quiet and followed her down the aisles, taking the things she picked and putting them into the basket he carried.

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.

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.