Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
My cock instantly comes alive. I almost reach down and adjust myself, but I figure that would be too obvious. Instead, with a grunt, I ask her, “What do you have in mind?”
She shrugs, lost in thought and completely oblivious to the state of my dick right now. “I don’t know. I hired a nurse to stay with Dad some. I can work on your ranch.”
Fuck, I don’t like the sound of that at all. There’s no way I’m going to let her work side by side with Jake. “Stay away from my barn and my cows.”
She huffs, offended. “I’m a perfectly capable rancher, Cole. I can work just as hard as any man you have working here.”
I nod in agreement because I know she’s right. But that’s not why I don’t want her working my ranch. “Yeah, and none of my hands will get anything done because they’ll be too busy trying to get into your pants. Forget it, sweetheart. It’s not happening.”
She looks between the barn and back at me. “No one wants to get into my pants.”
I can’t keep the smirk off my face. “I beg to differ. What else you got? What other wifely duty do you want to perform for me?”
Her eyes blink at me, full of innocence. She’s not catching on to my innuendo. “I can cook.”
I shake my head. “Do you want to put Tina out of a job?” I know Sassy well enough to know she knows Tina has been cooking for my family for a long time. I also know that Sassy would never take someone else’s livelihood.
“I can clean, then.” I open my mouth, and she holds her hand up. “I know, Tina cleans too. But this place is huge. I’m sure she’d appreciate the help.”
I dip my head, shaking it side to side.
I can see her mind racing, trying to think of something. Meanwhile, I’m thinking of all the wifely duties I’d like her to perform. Hell, she wouldn’t have to do much. She can just lie back on my bed and let me love every part of her body and I’d be a happy man. All the things I’ve dreamed about and told myself I’d never have. That’s what I want from her. But I can’t ask her for it. Not yet. Not until we’re past the point where she feels she owes me. She doesn’t owe me a damn thing. The things I want from her, I need her to want to give me.
She licks her lower lip, and I suck in a breath. “Fine. Tell me then, Cole. What do you want me to do?”
Sassy
With a slight hesitation, he answers me. “We can go back to before if that’s what you want.”
I suck in a breath because it feels like I’ve been punched in the gut. Is that what he wants? Does he want to forget any of this happened? “Get a divorce? Is that what you want?”
He doesn’t answer me at first. He levels me with a stare, and when I start to fidget, he says. “No, we’re not getting divorced. I mean, we can go back to the way it was before. Friends.”
Don’t say it. Don’t say it. I tell myself that over and over, but I’m not the best listener because the words tumble out of my mouth in a blur. “That doesn’t even make sense. So we stay married... but be friends. So you want to relieve your guilty conscience when you go into Jasper and meet up with Delilah to satisfy your needs. Is that it?”
His stare drills into me. “What do you know about Delilah?”
I smirk as if it doesn’t bother me. As if the thought of him with another woman doesn’t bother me when in fact it drives me insanely jealous. “Everyone knows about the divorcee you meet up with one to two times a month.”
He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “She’s a friend.”
That doesn’t put my mind at ease in the least. He doesn’t deny that she satisfies his needs, and that pit in my stomach gets even bigger. “Right. So, friend... I guess if you can have a friend, so can I.”
“Over my dead body.”
In a strangled voice, I accuse him, “So you are fucking her?”
“No. Yes.” He groans. “Look, yes, Delilah and I used to spend time with each other. But we’re just friends.”
My voice cracks because I don’t know if I want to hear the answer or not. “Like friends with benefits?”
He takes a step toward me. “I haven’t slept with her in years.”
I scrunch my nose up at him. “Years?”
He nods and shrugs his shoulders. “Why are we talking about this?”
I tilt my head back to peer at his face. “Because you want to go back to the way things were before we got married. Which makes no sense to me. You weren’t obligated to marry me or anything. It was an OPTION. But whatever, it’s done. Now we just need to navigate where to go from here.”