Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Ronnie doesn't wait for me to walk to the door and open it. He turns the knob and steps inside like he owns the place. The guys have always been able to come and go from the house for years. The shop doesn't have a bathroom, so they've always used the guest bathroom I have downstairs here in the house.
But today is not the day to just barge in. I could've had Riley stripped to her skin and on her knees with my cock in her mouth right here. If he'd walked in on something like that, I would've plucked his fucking eyes from his sockets.
"What?" I growl, glaring at him, hating the moment that Riley takes a step to the side and pulls her hand from mine.
Is it me? Is she not comfortable with people seeing us together?
Is it Ronnie? She rejected the idea of being shared by the twins, but now she's getting weird again in front of one of them.
Ronnie hitches a thumb over his shoulder. "That delivery you were waiting for just showed up. They won't let me sign for it."
The man turns around and walks out.
This company had a delivery driver that was screwing them over. A little over a year ago, I had a truckload of stuff that was labeled as delivered when, in fact, it never made it. The company finally figured out the guy was selling the stuff and pocketing the money. They've put fail safes in place to prevent it from happening again, and one of those is that only one designated person can sign for orders. They go so far as to verify identifications before they'll unload.
"I have to go out there," I explain, hating to even leave her for a minute to take care of this.
"Okay," she says, her agreement almost too fast.
I pause in front of her. "We really need to talk."
Her eyes dart away, but she doesn't say another word.
I walk across the room and out the front door to deal with the damn delivery driver, wishing it was the same guy who stole the last load because I'd rather fight about where my materials are than walk away from her right now.
There's too much of a weird vibe between us. She's fine when she's in my arms and our bodies are moving against each other's, but the second I take a step back, things turn weird. I really need to get to the bottom of that.
As I deal with the delivery, I try to formulate a way to approach the idea of the two of us without making her run for the hills, but before I can sign off on the delivery and get with the guys about what needs to go to which job, I watch as she drives away from my house.
Annoyance and something similar to fear settle inside of me, but I get my guys lined out for the day, realizing this is a conversation that needs to happen sooner rather than later. If the woman is done with me, then I need to know that.
Only once I get across town back to her house, she's nowhere to be found.
When I call her number while standing on her front porch, she doesn't bother to answer.
Chapter 31
Riley
There's no point in trying to ignore the look on Sage's face, but that hasn't stopped me from attempting to do just that for the last half hour.
"What?" I grumble.
"You'd be more comfortable back at your own place," she says as she hands me a blanket. "I've had that couch since college, and it's a backbreaker."
"It's fine," I assure her, taking the blanket from her hand. "Thank you."
"Are you going to tell me why you're avoiding your perfectly decent home?"
I busy myself with unfolding the blanket and situating the pillow she has given me at the far end of the sofa.
"I think I already know," she continues, knowing I'm not interested in answering, but my friend is not going to let me off the hook that easily.
We're close, but I've never shown up on her doorstep needing a place to stay.
"But for the life of me, I'm having a hard time wondering why you'd rather suffer on my crappy couch than go home to that hunk of man you claim is sleeping in the guest bedroom."
"Sage," I grumble.
"Riley," she returns in that same tone.
I can't help the way my lip twitches as I fight a smile.
"I don't—"
My words fade away when my phone rings. I reach for it, noticing his name for the fifth time today. I send it to voicemail, wondering why he's been so pushy. I know there isn't any sort of emergency. If something happened in town, we'd know about it. Just like we know Ruth ran out of chicken and dumplings before the dinner crowd could even get off work today down at the diner.