Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Maybe just one,” Alyssa agrees.
“You and I both know you can’t have just one.”
“Damn you. Now I want nachos.” Sterling laughs as our server drops off our drinks. “Can we add another nacho supreme, please?”
“Yes, sir,” the server agrees and scurries off to add it to our order.
“You could have had some of mine,” Kennedy tells him.
“Trust me, Kennedy, it’s better that he has his own. This guy—” Alyssa points her thumb at Sterling— “can put away the food.”
The four of us fall into easy conversation throughout dinner. Kennedy fits in with us as if she’s been a part of our lives just as long as Alyssa has. There are a few times we have to explain what we’re talking about, but that’s all a part of the getting-to-know-each-other process.
“Now what?” Alyssa asks as we exit the restaurant.
“I just checked on Grandma.” Kennedy holds up her phone. “She’s still sewing her little heart away with her sewing club, so I’m good with whatever.”
“Why don’t we just go back to my place?” Alyssa suggests. “That way, we’re close if Maureen needs you. We can watch a movie or play cards.”
“Wait. Kennedy, your answer to this is important. Are you ready?” Sterling asks her.
“Oh, boy,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Do you know how to play euchre?”
“Yep.”
“Are you any good?” he counters.
“I do all right.”
“Do you know the left from the right bowers?” he challenges.
“I guess you’re just going to have to wait and find out.”
“Dec, take us back to Alyssa’s. We have to find out how well your girl plays. This is important.”
“Did you ask Palmer the same?” Kennedy teases.
“I didn’t have to. I knew she could play.”
I reach over the console and place my hand on her thigh. I can’t seem to help myself where she’s concerned. If she’s close, I want to be touching her. “We’ll show them how it’s done, Kens.”
“Damn right,” she easily agrees, resting her hand over mine. Using her thumb, she traces over my knuckles, and it’s driving me wild. How is it such a simple touch can have my cock painfully pressing behind my zipper?
Eventually, she entwines her fingers with mine, and that’s how we remain until I pull my Tahoe into Alyssa’s driveway and park behind Sterling.
“Come on.” Alyssa links her arm through Kennedy’s and leads her into the house while Sterling and I trail behind them.
“What’s up with the two of you?” he asks me.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“I like her.”
“I do too.” I rest my hand on his shoulder as we make our way up the steps of Alyssa’s front porch. “I do too.”
“So we decided we’re partners,” Alyssa announces when we walk into the kitchen.
“Nope.” Sterling walks behind her and wraps his arms around her, lifting her into the air. “You’re always my partner.”
“Maybe it’s time to change things up,” Alyssa tells him.
“Not happening, Tink.”
“Tink?” Kennedy asks.
Alyssa rolls her eyes dramatically. “He calls me Tink.” She points over her shoulder where Sterling still has her wrapped up in his arms. “Because I’m smaller than him.”
“Come on. You’re a tiny thing, not just standing next to me.”
“I’m built low for stability,” she counters. “Besides, five foot five is not that short.”
“Babe, I’m six foot three. That’s almost a full foot taller than you.”
“Oh, hush.” She swats at his hands that are clasped at her chest but makes no move to get free.
“Kennedy and I already had plans to hand your asses to you anyway, right, Kens?” I slide my arm around her waist, letting my hand rest on her hip.
“Yep.”
“Fine, but next time, it’s me and you,” Alyssa tells Kennedy. “Girl power and all that.”
Kennedy chuckles. “Deal.”
Sterling digs the cards out of the drawer in the kitchen while Alyssa grabs us all a bottle of water from the fridge. We settle around her small four-person kitchen table as Sterling deals the cards.
We laugh, trash talk, and chat about anything and everything. I tell Sterling that Brooks and Palmer are taking Blakely to the aquarium tomorrow. Alyssa complains about her job at the local doctor’s office.
“I’ve been there for five years, and that witch, Tamara, keeps promoting everyone but me. I bust my ass for her,” Alyssa complains.
“What does she have against you?” Kennedy asks.
“Is it that obvious?” Alyssa replies with a heavy sigh. “We were all at the Willow Tavern one night, and her then fiancé, now husband, was there. He was hitting on me, and she caught him. She claims it was my fault. That I was coming onto him. She’s hated me and made my life miserable ever since.”
“Why don’t you find another job?”
Alyssa shrugs. “I went to the vocational school for secretarial. I love what I do, just not who I do it for, if that makes sense.”
“It does, but you deserve better. If you’re not going to go to her boss about the way she’s treating you, maybe you should look for a new job. You can still work in the same capacity, just in a different environment.”