Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
He leaned into both forearms on the bar, his hands cradling his beer between them.
She hesitated only a second before she did the same thing so they were close enough to start kissing again.
He didn’t kiss her.
“So we got our plan,” he decreed, because, as funny as she was, he was done talking about her cat. “You come to me before you go to him and bring your cat. Then you come to me after. We talk. We drink beer. We watch TV. Whatever. We sleep together but do not fuck. And I’ll take you out to dinner the night after, and that’s when we’ll sleep together, after fucking.”
“I guess we do have our plan since the brand-new biker guy in my life has just declared that’s the plan.”
“Affirmative.”
She started laughing soft and quiet and hella pretty.
And he knew they had their plan.
Only then did he relax.
“And I have no idea how many books I have,” he told her.
“Have you read them all?”
“Not yet.”
“Is that a goal?”
“Yeah.”
“Impressive,” she whispered, not looking amused.
Looking into him and wanting to be kissed.
He pushed forward and touched his lips to hers.
She followed him a little when he pulled away, then quirked her lips in surrender when she realized that was all she was going to get.
For now.
“So what do you know that brought you to that warehouse?” he asked.
It was then she realized they were out of the flirty banter and into the heavy, so she sighed, but didn’t hesitate sharing, “I have other sources. Kids, or not-so-much kids anymore, that I met from past stories. When Jackson, the DPD guy, held out on me, I moved down the list to them and told them what I wanted. They were good kids who got disenfranchised, they liked me, thought I was cool, and fortunately as time passed, they didn’t quit doing that. So they poked around a bit and gave me some leads. The other stuff I checked out and it led to dead ends. I’m assuming, since you were there, that what I was about to look into tonight wasn’t a dead end.”
“Full disclosure, I was into you when your sister texted me your picture, and stayed into you even when you got off the plane in a bad mood—”
“You’re being generous now, honey,” she whispered. “It wasn’t just a bad mood. I was awful to you.”
He kept going like she didn’t talk and like hearing her call him “honey” in that sweet voice of hers didn’t hit him warm in the gut.
“So tonight was part about me making a fucked-up assumption and part that Vance had just warned me that if I got caught close to that warehouse, I’d disappear. So it was also part me pissed as shit you were bumbling around in a dangerous sitch that might get you hurt, or worse.”
She pushed up and asked, “Bumbling?”
He pushed up too and asked in return, “Did you know you were onto something that might get you disappeared?”
She didn’t answer, though she did, since she took an annoyed sip of her beer.
“Right,” he muttered.
She rolled her eyes.
That meant it was his turn to grin.
“I want in on your talk with the cops tomorrow,” she declared.
He was about to slug back more beer, but that stopped him.
“Georgie, you’re out. I got this.”
There was a serious chill on her, “I’m sorry?”
Fuck.
“This shit is dangerous and there’s a dead man to prove it,” he pointed out.
“Well, I’m not asking to be a part of the takedown team when the cops go in and bust this black-market ring. I’m just saying I want to be there when you talk to the cops. And I want to keep on what I’m doing. Because I have things to contribute and most of it might come to nothing. But some of it might help Carlyle find some closure, if not peace.”
Goddamn it, he couldn’t argue that.
“Fine,” he said.
“Fine,” she snapped.
“I’m in on your shit too.”
Her expression softened in order to soften her words. “Dutch, you can’t come on my date-not-date with me. That’d definitely make Jackson clam up.”
“I get that, baby, but the other shit. The street kids. Whatever.”
She seemed to be contemplating this. “Work as a team?”
“Why not?”
She smiled at him. “Cool.”
Yeah, it was.
“It might be fun,” she said.
Yeah, it would.
He grinned at her and took another sip.
Then, regrettably, he had to get into more heavy.
So he leaned back into his elbows, and he saw her mentally brace, which meant she read him, as he meant her to, before she leaned into hers.
He tried to cushion his words as best as he could when he gave it to her.
“You know I’m gonna have to tell my brother about Carolyn.”
She dropped her head and stared down at her beer.
He lifted a hand and curved it around her jaw, so she looked at him again.