Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
I’m not going to be your next plaything. Maybe I’m losing my mind, but those words sound more and more like a challenge every time I replay them.
5
MIA
Iwrap my hands around the warm coffee mug, head hanging. I can feel the puffy bags under my eyes and the grogginess from a night of terrible sleep.
I’m in the kitchen of Caroline’s bed and breakfast while I watch her finish serving breakfast to her guests. Mostly, she’s buzzing in and out of the kitchen, masterfully micromanaging several different tasks at once. She really is impressively in her element here. Everybody always seems to leave happy and promising to come back next year.
She stops in front of the little table where I’ve been sitting for the past half hour while pounding down coffees. Instead of taking my coffee at the rental, I was out of the door as quickly as I could, sneaking past the large, slumbering form of Nolan on the couch.
Caroline brushes a curly strand of hair that was brushing her cheek away. “Hungry?” she asks. It’s the third time she has asked, so I finally nod, more for her sake than mine.
She snatches a croissant from the pan above the oven and sets it in front of me, then waits for me to take a bite. Caroline is barely five feet tall, but somehow, she always manages to seem in control and command. Her thick, curly hair is pulled back in a ponytail this morning.
“It’s good,” I say around a mouthful of bread.
“Good. Now I’m all yours. Tell me everything that happened last night. Everything. How big was it. Does he know how to use it. Did it hurt. Did you like that it hurt? Does he talk dirty?”
She plants both palms on the table, staring at me from above the rims of her half-moon glasses expectantly as if she’s going to need to brace herself for what I’m about to say.
I laugh, shaking my head. “I can’t answer any of those questions because I don’t know, Caroline. We talked. It was heated. He was a jerk, as expected, and we eventually settled on a temporary kind of truce.”
“Was this before or after you guys got naked?” Her eyes are narrowed and her chin is pointed up like she’s trying to piece this together.
“We did not get naked and we will not get naked,” I say flatly. “Ever.”
She scoops up my empty coffee mug, eyebrows raised. “Then you’re going to certainly have a hard time cleaning yourselves in the shower. My condolences to your hygiene.”
“Together,” I say out of the side of my mouth, smiling at her back while she fills up more coffee I probably don’t need. If I get any more buzzed on caffeine, I may begin levitating. “We’re not going to get naked together.”
“Just a little rough grinding then? The old blue jean shuffle? The zipper-to-zipper flipper?”
I spurt with laughter. “You just made those up. There’s no way those are accepted phrases in any circles.”
She shrugs. “Or maybe you’re just not as hip as me.”
I blow out a long breath and hang my head for a few seconds. “Honestly? It was really weird seeing him again. Really weird. Like half of me wanted to punch him in his perfect teeth. And the other half of me wanted to kiss him.”
“So Grams wasn’t off her rocker when she tried to set you two up, I guess?”
“Oh, no. She’s going to get an earful as soon as I’m done here. I’m just gearing up for it.”
Caroline laughs. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation, but I’m stuck here all morning. I already had three families check out today. If the smell when I walked by the purple suite last night is any indication, I’m going to have to get out the thick rubber gloves to clean that room up.”
“I’d offer to help, but…”
She laughs. “Don’t lie. You wouldn’t offer to help with that even if you had nothing going on today.”
I grin. “Okay. True.”
“So what did you guys say, though? You said it got tense. What does tense mean? Like he made fun of those terrible pajamas you’re always wearing? Or he insulted the ridiculous suitcase you rolled up with last night?”
I tilt my head. “What is wrong with my traveling pajamas, Caroline?”
She snorts. “Nothing.” She pauses for a few heartbeats. “If you’re trying to give off ‘I scratch my butt while I pee,’ vibes, that is.”
I roll my eyes. “Har har. You’re so funny. But he was a jerk. That’s all. Like his whole aura was asshole with heavy undertones of prick. Everything below the belt.”
“And you don’t think it’s just an act? Maybe he’s keeping his guard up since you hurt him in the past?”
I shrug, trying to look like I don’t think the question has much merit. I chew the inside of my lip as I really consider it, though. “He’d still be an asshole for acting like an asshole. So, there…”