Right then, he looks directly into the peephole.
I jump back, quickly unlocking the door and opening it wide.
He takes his time devouring me with his eyes. The way he looks at me, from bottom to top, his eyes lingering on my bare feet, makes me feel faint. He slides his gaze over my curves, waiting a beat too long on my chest, and then up to my face. He doesn't smile when he meets my eyes, he just stares me down like he's waiting for me to faint at the sight of him or something. I'm about to write him off as cocky when something hits me.
I've seen those blue-gray, stormy eyes before.
Where have I seen them?
My heart skips a beat as he finally smirks at me, removing his cigarette and asking in a deep, growly voice, "Well? Can I come in, or are you leaving barefoot?"
"Of c-course." I bite my tongue for stuttering and step aside, allowing him to enter the apartment. The cats stare at him warily from across the room. "I'll just grab my things and we can go... These are Mr. Bingley and Mrs. Hudson."
"Cute," he mutters, but his eyes never leave me, watching me walk frantically from one corner of the apartment to the other.
I grab my handbag and a light coat and stop in front of the heels again. After a moment's thought, I put on the more expensive ones, and when I turn around to face Jasper, his smirk is all-knowing, as if he knows exactly what decision I just made.
Jasper towers over me as I follow him out of the apartment, locking the door behind us. I give him a nervous smile as I follow him to the parking lot under the building.
"Which one's yours?" I motion to the cars, and he leads me to a Mercedes that looks out of place in this neighborhood. I give him a suspicious look but climb into the passenger seat without comment. The guy actually holds the door open for me and even closes it, but instead of enjoying the gentlemanly move, I feel suspiciously like he's just successfully trapped me in his car.
Still, the worry doesn't last long. Jasper is just too freaking handsome, distractingly so. As he drives us to the cinema, I nervously fold my arms in my lap and keep glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.
"I can feel you staring at me, you know. You're not being very sly about it."
"Oh." I flush and look out the window, so he won't notice. "Sorry. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how somebody like you knows someone like Dinah."
"That's your friend, right?"
"Um, yeah." I shoot another doubtful look his way. "How well do you know her?"
"We met at a café," he shrugs.
"Just the one time?"
"She seemed pretty eager to set me up with you." He smirks and this time, it's his turn to glance at me. "Must've thought we'd work well together."
I curse Dinah inwardly for setting me up with someone she barely knows. I mean, this guy could be a psycho, for fuck's sake. Dinah's not worried about me at all, is she?
It almost makes me laugh because I'm not sure whether she's really so confident I'll be able to hold my own. But she has said it a thousand times, and so has Katya. They've told me how strong I am. How proud they are of me for overcoming my past, for moving along everything I've gone through. They know all my dark secrets – the boarding school, the foster homes. They know everything, and they still love and accept me, and I adore them for it.
"So, what are we seeing?" he asks after a moment's pause, as I realize I've been holding up the conversation with my awkward silences.
"Revenge Kill Seven," I reply smoothly. "Have you seen the first six movies?" He barely stifles a laugh and I pout at him. "Oh, don't tell me you're one of those movie snobs."
"Nah. Just not a fan of D-rated horror porn."
"Neither am I." I'm so eager to defend myself.
"Sure, Georgina." My name sounds delicious on his lips, as if it belongs there. He says it with such ease, dark intent dripping from the word.
Fuck. I realize I'm sitting in a puddle of my own juices and my cheeks flare up again. What the hell is this guy doing to me? Why am I responding to him like this? It's like he's holding a magnet that pulls my body against his, an invisible force making me want to press myself up against him, feel his sculpted body hold mine.
I shake my head to get the thought out just as we pull into the parking lot of the cinema. Before I manage to so much as unbuckle, he's opening my door again, and I get out of the car, mumbling a thank you. Something about this Jasper guy unnerves me. Something's off, but I can't quite put my finger on it, and it's not enough – yet – for me to walk out on the date. It's like a delicious current is running through my body when I'm near him, my body running on sheer anticipation.