Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“I’m not going to say no,” Jess murmurs before she stuffs the notes into a bag in the back of her two-door car before heading for the driver’s side door. “But I’m thinking we should add a bar sell-out bonus to your contracts.” She slips into the driver’s seat and tugs on her seat belt. “Maui made a killing from you tonight, and you only shook your ass for twenty minutes.” The gleam in her eyes competes with the moon. “Imagine multiple performances in one night.”
“Multiple performances? How about we just stick to the occasional one for now?”
Jess glares at me like I’m insane before she stabs her key into the ignition and turns over her engine. “One performance a week.” When I attempt to interrupt her, she talks faster, “Then I’ll remove the burger clause from our agreement since I can afford to buy them myself.”
She curses under her breath before pulling out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
“Damn, Jess, they have speed bumps for a reason.”
When she races past the street we should take to head home, I snap my eyes to her. “You missed our street.”
“The burgers are okay in West Seattle, but since you’re paying, we need better than okay.”
Since I have no issues with a girl knowing what she wants, I say, “All right. But can we go home first? I need to… ah… get something.”
Her eyes stray from the road to me. “Can it wait an hour?”
“Nope.” I shake my head so fast sweat sprinkles Jess’s shoulder. “It’s urgent.” My bladder is about to burst.
“What’s so urgent it can’t wait an hour?”
“Ah…” It is moments like this I wish I was good at lying.
Jess’s foot slams on the brake as quickly as the first excuse pops into my head. “Condoms. I need condoms.” I lick my dry lips before attempting to crawl out of the hole I just dove heard first in. “We’ve been caught out before. Figured you want to skip another round.”
“You need condoms?” When I jerk up my chin, she murmurs, “For me?”
I nod again.
It doesn’t appear to be the answer Jess wants.
My head smacks into the window next to me when she veers back onto the road with so much eagerness her car almost ends up on two wheels.
She also doesn’t head home.
She continues on her original route.
“Jessie—”
“Oh, don’t you dare Jessie me. The fact you think you need condoms is already bad enough, but now you’re going to toss out the nickname.”
I lurch forward in my seat when she slams on the brakes for the second time. “Actually, yeah, maybe we should get condoms.” She throws the gearstick into reverse, then reverses down the street like a madwoman. “If you’re only glancing my way for the vagina between my legs, maybe you’ll stop looking at me like I’m a second from dropping to one knee and popping the question.”
When I’m stunned into silence, she fills the quiet with more words. “Come on, Caleb, I saw the way you were looking at me tonight. You spent half your performance seeking signs of jealousy.”
Her maneuver into the street we missed earlier scares the hairs from my nuts before she throws the gearstick into drive then races down the darkened street. “Yes, I was jealous, but it had nothing to do with the big ugly rock on Nancy’s hand. It was because of the rock behind your pants when you were chugging her to climax station one pre-prom grind-up at a time.” Her gag is super cute. “Not every woman on the planet wants to get married. One dick for the rest of your life…” She shivers like she’s in the middle of an ice bath. “And no, I’m not even referencing the shriveled up one between a man’s legs.”
I laugh.
It almost gets me killed.
“Do you have a death wish?” Jess queries with squinted eyes, her watch nowhere near the road she’s speeding down.
“Maybe.”
My honesty lessens her annoyance by a smidge. I still have a long way to go before her eyes return to a normal width, but I can’t help but push the boundaries. “You’re an ass.”
“Never denied it, Jessie.”
We travel down the street another few miles before I unravel half of her annoyance. “So you’re truly opposed to marriage as Heidi insinuated last month?”
What? I’m a guy, and both Jess and Heidi tossed out insinuations I’d be a fool not to lure in.
Jess keeps her eyes locked on the road to ponder for a moment before whispering, “Not entirely. I almost got married once.” It is ludicrous for me to be jealous, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. “That day was both the worst and best day of my life. Worst because his cloak was removed under horrible circumstances, but the best because I realized I deserve better than him before promising to never lessen myself to those standards ever again.” Her eyes sling to me. “Guys just have a hard time understanding that.”