Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
I sat back away from him and pouted.
“We can take him for a walk in the park later,” he offered.
I grinned huge.
The humor fled from his face, something else replaced it, and he ordered, “C’m ’ere right fucking now.”
With nipples all of a sudden tingling, I went there, right fucking then.
I might have spilled a bit of wine before he was done with me, but I was okay with that.
When he tucked me back in his side, I asked, “What’s for dinner?”
“Grilled barbeque chicken, grilled asparagus, sweet corn on the cob and cornbread.”
I tipped my head back to stare at him.
“So you cook?”
“Yeah.”
I was thinking I had Kiki to thank for that too.
Until he went on.
“My mom taught me that. Her cornbread is the best.”
I loved knowing that about him.
I loved his back patio.
I loved his dog.
And I loved that he bought me wineglasses.
I climaxed so hard, for a second, I literally blacked out.
No joke.
First it was seeing stars, and then I was blissfully floating in a cosmos of nothing.
I came back to the room to feel Core using his tongue to clean up after the explosion he set off between my legs, and that was not better, but it still was the best I’d ever had.
Finally, he pulled himself over me.
“Take my money,” I said the second I caught his eyes. “All of it. And just so you know, some of it I’ve been saving since I was fifteen.”
No hesitation, he tipped his handsome head back and roared with laughter.
I watched.
And no, it wasn’t better than getting head from Dustin “Core” Cutler.
But it was close.
In his truck on the way to HomeGoods the next day (as suspected, bringing a cache of makeup came in handy, also as suspected, showering with Core was otherworldly), I asked, “Okay, so what’s the budget?”
“No clue,” Core replied. “Five, six thousand dollars. What do you think?”
Slowly, I turned his way.
“Five or six thousand dollars?”
“Not enough?” he asked the road.
I looked to the road as well. “We need to go to the mall too.”
“We do?”
“And Target.”
“Hellen.”
My name trembled with amusement and maybe a little bit of unease.
“Shh, honey, I’m making a game plan.”
His laughter filled the cab.
“I take it the marijuana business is booming,” I remarked.
“Uh…yeah.”
That was good, because I wasn’t sure the vigilante business paid all that well.
“So you know about that?” he asked.
“About what?” I asked back.
“That the club sells pot.”
“Yes. Marcy told me.”
Like my sister, Marcy imbibed, so did Kyra, so she knew.
He made no reply and that felt strange so I looked at him.
“I don’t have an issue with weed, Core.”
“I don’t want to fuck your girl over.”
Now I was confused.
“Sorry?”
“But it turned out right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She came to a store. After I tried not to go there with you, she tried to light a fire under me. She came to one of our dispensaries and got a message to me that you were meeting your ex, also your dad, and then, babe, she shared about how your dad took away your dog.”
With the specter of Tigger invoked, automatically, I looked out the side window.
Though, that explained how he knew I was having dinner with dad. I just assumed Andy had told Archie, Archie had shared with Jagger, and in the course of biker communion, Jagger had let it slip directly or indirectly, and the info found its way to Core.
“Don’t be pissed at her, Hellen. I would have found some reason to come back to you, but she gave me the opening.”
I said nothing.
“She knew we were into each other and she just wanted to get my head out of my ass.”
Now we were here.
Good, because I wanted to be here.
“Why was your head in your ass?”
It was his turn to say nothing.
I looked to him.
“Core?”
“Later, babe. This is good. We have a day planned. I leave tomorrow. We’ll get into it later.”
“Is it because I’m younger than you?”
“We already had that conversation.”
“Is it because you’re a biker and I’m…not?”
His lips tipped up at that. “No.”
“Is it—?”
He glanced at me, reached out, took my hand and held it firmly before looking at the road and saying even more firmly and maybe a bit irritably, “Later.”
I considered pulling my hand away and pushing it.
Something wasn’t right and I didn’t want to wait until later to discuss it.
But I thought about barbeque chicken last night, and how Core wasn’t wrong, his mother’s cornbread was the bomb.
I then thought about loading Nanook up and taking him for a walk in a park, and how that was a fun thing to do after dinner.
I also thought about learning that maybe some public places weren’t out of the question for pups, because after the walk, we got ice cream, sat outside and ate it, and Nanook got a pup cup.
I thought about Core’s bedroom, which was just as personality-less as the rest of his house, but his king-size bed was super comfy and the spring in his mattress gave a new meaning to life.