Intent on His claim (Beauty and the Beast #3)

Chapter 11

I glared at Victor as he sauntered back to me grinning widely. "What the hell was that?"

He shrugged smugly, slipping both hands into his back pockets as he gazed down at me.

"This is your idea of a night out?" I pressed, beyond livid.

He ran his eyes all around us, avoiding my eyes. "They were looking where they shouldn't have." His eyes met mine, deep and unrepentant. "I'm the only one allowed to look tonight."

I blushed and stuttered, crossing my arms. When I realised that I actually wouldn't make sense, I stopped trying to speak and just walked away from him. Not that I could go far - we were on a roof. Not much space.

And how had we come to be on a roof?

*Flashback*

Victor pulled up in the city right as the lights got bright as the sun fully set. He'd just pulled up to a random sidewalk and I looked all around us in awe. I'd only been to New York once before and arriving at night was magical. So for a moment, I simply gazed up at the night lights.

"You get half," Victor said quietly beside me.

I turned to him in surprise. "Huh?"

His blue eyes were alight as they roamed my face. When he spoke again, it seems sounded absent. "You get to choose what we do for half the night and I decide for the other half."

"Um, I'll need to sleep at some point."

He gave a dramatic sigh - I rolled my eyes - and said, "Fine, you get the morning then."

"Wait, what? No, I want the night!"

"Do you even have anything planned?"

Well, no. I'd had no idea that this was where he was taking me. What did people even do in the Big Apple anyway? "Um, options?" I asked sweetly.

He pushed my door open and stepped out of the car as I did the same. We came round the hood and stood leaning against it, just watching people go about their lives. Victor's hands disappeared into his pockets again - guess he'd picked up a new tic in his time away - and his eyes slid over to me. The mischief in them had me groaning - somehow I knew it was going to be a long night. "How about you hear what I have planned for you?"

It was my turn to sigh dramatically. When he simply raised a brow at my theatrics, I caved - I really was excited to know what he wanted us to do. "Okay, what?"

"First of all, you hungry?"

I wrinkled my nose, eager to get to the good part. "Not yet."

"Okay, then. How about a movie and a stroll through a park to start, and then we'll see where the night takes us after dinner?"

"You hate movie houses," I pointed out.

His smirk was evil. "For you, anything." He headed back to the driver's side as he added, "Besides, who said anything about a movie house?"

When he pulled up a little later, I squealed and bounced in my seat in excitement, making him snort a laugh. He hadn't brought me to a movie house. In true Victor style, he'd taken me to an abandoned car lot that had been converted - probably just for tonight - into an open air cinema. There were a few cars already parked before the massive screen. When he got the tickets at the booth, we were given the Bluetooth speaker that would provide us with the sound for the movie.

He drove over to a slightly hidden spot and pulled over.

"Turn it on, turn it on!" I urged excitedly.