Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
As she swirled around the room, unplugging things and turning off lights, I cleaned up the tools on the floor. I glanced up in time to see her toss the club sandwich into the trash.
I never ate them. Hundreds of club sandwiches had met their demise because of me.
But that one? Gwen had made it for me.
And like everything else we’d shared, it would forever be nothing but a memory.
Truett
Hoping to fool Taggart into believing we were still at the restaurant, Gwen left the dining room lights on as we ducked out the back door. Using the key fob, she unlocked her white midsized SUV before exiting the building, motioning for me to get inside. Instead, I stayed by her side as she locked the restaurant, not willing to leave her vulnerable for even a second.
Not surprisingly, her car was a mess. Not dirty, just cluttered. Such was life with that crazy, beautiful woman. Books of paint samples covered the passenger floorboard, three stainless-steel water bottles balanced between two cupholders, and a gym bag blocked the seat.
“You can toss all that in the back,” she said, climbing in behind the wheel.
“It’s good to see the old grab-and-toss routine is still a prerequisite when riding with you.”
“I find it keeps out the riffraff.” She flashed me a side-eye as she pressed the button to start the engine. “Or at least it did until now.”
Chuckling, I made quick work of moving the bag and relocating one of the water bottles to the cupholder in the door. I slid the seat all the way back before joining her inside. As she pulled out of the parking lot, turning right to avoid Taggart on the main road, I bent over and collected the sample books, stacking them neatly before tucking them into the pocket on the back of her seat.
“You still a neat freak?” she asked playfully.
“I find I’m heavier on the freak these days, but yeah, I like to keep things organized.”
She laughed, shaking her head.
The drive was quiet and mercifully short. My mind wandered to a time when Gwen and I had spent a lot of time together in a vehicle similar to this one. Mainly with the back seats folded down—naked, fogging up the windows, ravaging each other’s bodies.
I performed the herculean task of keeping my cock from entering the chat, but it was my water bill that was going to suffer the consequences of those memories after yet another cold shower when I got home.
Not bothering with the driveway, she stopped at the curb in front of my house and kept the car idling.
Thank you for the club sandwich.
Thank you for the ride.
I’m really sorry about tackling you tonight.
Goodbye.
I’ll let you know what my attorney says.
Any and all of those would have been the appropriate thing to say before getting the hell out of her car. Instead, I sat there, a sense of dread swirling inside me. The leather seat creaked as I shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the dimly lit dashboard and then back at her.
It wasn’t lost on me that she was doing the majority of her renovations alone rather than paying professionals. I’d seen firsthand the primer she’d rolled on too thick in spots and then too thin in others. That tower of tile she’d broken had to have cost her a pretty penny, while the majority of her tools had rental tags from the local hardware store. Don’t even get me started on when she mentioned Bankruptcy Tetris. It was all I could do to keep my eye from twitching.
I had always been a firm believer in not paying someone for a job you could do on your own, and I respected the hell out of her for taking on a project of that size. But she needed things done, and if I had any intention of sleeping for the next week, they needed to be done faster than she could do on her own.
“I don’t want you going back there for a while,” I stated. “I’ll order blinds first thing in the morning and get someone scheduled to install a new security system. I’ll let you know when everything is set up.”
“You’re kidding, right?” She turned toward me, her hand gripping the steering wheel.
Turning my body in my seat, I faced her, my expression hard. “Not in the least. Taggart’s spiraling.”
“He’s trying to get a story. He’ll eventually learn that we aren’t going to talk, get bored, and scurry off to the next person. Hopefully it will be Caven Hunt, who will spend a bajillion dollars to get him locked up for an unpaid parking ticket Taggart got in high school.”
“I wish. I called his woman the other day. She said they hadn’t heard a word from Taggart yet. Guess he’s not as stupid as I thought.”