Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“You can use my refrigerator if you’d like,” I offered.
His head whipped around.
“You have a fucking fridge?” he blasted out.
My eyes widened.
“Y-yes,” I stammered. “Y’all don’t?”
His teeth gritted.
“I share that fridge with twelve other men that don’t know what the fuck boundaries are. So I just go get lunch every day so I’ll know I’ll actually have food. After the fourth time, I found half of it there or gone completely, anyway.”
I gestured at the full-size fridge that was making a low hum in the corner of the room.
“You’re more than welcome to it,” I told him. “Ford, I don’t think I’m going to stay here anyway. So all this.” I gestured at the room at large. “It’s not going to matter in six months.”
“Why won’t you be here?” he asked, closing the door softly.
I shrugged. “People don’t really like me here.”
I didn’t add more, hoping he wouldn’t push it, but I should have known better. Ford didn’t know when to not push. He only knew full throttle.
“What do you mean people don’t like you?” he barked.
I gestured to myself.
“I was sponsored by the chief of police at the academy. And apparently that’s not normal,” I said.
Ford shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”
“Well I do,” I told him. “And just sayin’, ever since the first day that all that shit went down with Patman and Greeves? It only got worse from there.”
Ford frowned. “What?”
“And then we started the shooting drills. And let’s just say that I’ve gotten nothing but shit for that, too. I get ‘gray-haired Annie Oakley wannabe’ every other time my name is called. And it’s just exhausting. I came in today to tell Luke that I was passing on the job offer. He showed me an office that he acquired for me. And he told me I would start in as a detective, totally bypassing every bit of the ladder that one normally took to get there. Which will only get me more shit from everyone. I can just hear the ‘her uncle’s a chief’ and ‘special considerations’ in the same sentence now. I’m just… you win. I’m not going to play this. If you’re outraged about me getting an office, everybody else will have a shit fit, too.”
Ford’s face turned into a ferocious scowl as he said, “Fuck them then.”
I shook my head sadly.
“Ford, I’ve been here multiple times. Each time I am, Luke gives me even more. All they can see is that I’m an ass kisser. Oh, and you hate me.”
He frowned.
“I don’t hate you,” he denied.
I snorted. “Yeah, right. Listen, Ford. The feeling is mutual. We don’t get along. That’s normal for us. What’s not normal is everyone else’s hostility.” I looked down at my hands. “I took my last test today, which gave me a perfect score for police academy. Patman and Greeves thought I was cheating. So I gave them permission to go through my shit. When they didn’t find anything they reluctantly let me leave. But let’s just say they’re still looking for a reason.”
The more I spoke, the angrier Ford looked.
“I taught you to shoot,” he said. “So they’re accusing me of helping you cheat?”
“I didn’t bother telling them. They’d just turn their hate toward you.” I commented.
He cursed. “What else did they do? What aren’t you telling me?”
I didn’t cave, even though the intense look in his eyes had shivers running down my spine.
Which was why he crowded me against the desk and tried to use his big, sexy body to intimidate me into answering.
“You know that shit doesn’t work, Prius,” I taunted.
He stiffened. “You did not just call me that.”
I snickered. “I so did.”
He crowded me so close that the ledge of the desk started to dig into the backs of my thighs as I tried to shrink away from him. I knew that if we touched, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I’d have to touch him.
Hell, I’d do more than touch him and I think we both knew it.
A charged moment of silence passed between us, then he was kissing me. My hands went to his shoulders, my fingernails digging into his shoulders so hard that I had no doubt I was leaving marks.
The flimsy cotton t-shirt did nothing to protect him as I dragged my nails down his back.
He hissed and pulled back, eyes hot and intense.
“This is a terrible idea,” he muttered.
I scoffed. “This is a great idea.”
He hefted me up and placed my ass on the edge of my desk, moving until his hips were nestled close between mine.
Then he was kissing me again, his mouth taking possession of mine so completely that I knew this wasn’t like anything I’d ever done before.
Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I’d always compared everyone and everything to Ford Spurlock. I’d compared every single kiss. Every single touch. Every single word.