Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
The problem was, he’d only fucked her one night. He also had to work with her, at least for now until she decided to move on to a bigger, better job, one in which she could put her college degree to use.
To approach Deke and Reese, there would have to be more between them than only a casual hookup. At this point, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to take that step. Not because of Reilly, but because of him. One nut-draining night with Reilly didn’t mean he was ready to claim her at the table, either.
Getting naked with her had been fun. For both of them. Maybe it wouldn’t ever go any farther than that.
A fun, friendly fuck.
Friends with bennies.
Reese might not have such a shit fit about him fucking Reilly if Rev offered her sister his cut. Then she would be the only woman on the back of his sled and also in his bed. He couldn’t imagine Reese could argue that, especially since she let Deacon claim her. Otherwise, she’d be a fucking hypocrite.
But they’d need to be serious.
They weren’t serious.
Yeah, they’d had the hots for each other and the sex had been banging. But right now, that was all it was. A forbidden, secret fling in a motel in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The second he pointed his Bronco north, it would be over and need to be forgotten.
He stared at the motel room door with his keycard paused over the slot.
Because, fuck that, he wasn’t ready to settle down. He bet Reilly wasn’t, either.
With her at only twenty-five and him at twenty-eight, they both had a lot more exploring to do before getting tied down.
He unlocked the door and slipped inside, surprised to find her curled up under the covers with her eyes still closed. The TV volume so low it was being used as white noise.
He stepped over to the nightstand and saw the pipe’s bowl still full. But the bottle of water he left for her was half empty. That meant she hadn’t slept straight through.
He sat on the spare bed and blindly unlaced his boots since he was too busy staring at her while she slept. Once he had them kicked off and his socks tucked inside, he stood, yanked his T-shirt up over his head and quietly dropped his jeans.
He slid in next to her and curled his arms around her, pressing his nose into her hair, just enjoying her heat and softness against him.
She pulled her head back and opened her eyes. “You’re back,” she murmured, sleepily.
“Yeah, it’s done. Emptied the unit and gave the key back to the office. No reason to ever go back there again.”
She stared at him for a few heartbeats then, with her lips slightly turned down, whispered, “Sorry.”
Christ. This was not Reilly. Not her at all. “For what?”
“For letting it get to me. I just wasn’t expecting… It was stupid.”
“Wasn’t stupid. Can’t help how it made you feel. Own it, recognize what it is and then scrape it off. You’re allowed to let that shit bother you, babe, just don’t let it drown you. And, anyway, it would bother anyone. Truth? It fuckin’ bothered me and I wasn’t even there.”
“If you were, it never would’ve happened.”
If he was, she never would have been with Warren in the first place. “Yeah, well… Can’t go back in time.” He wished he could. He would’ve done a lot of shit differently.
She probably would have, too.
“What a fucking idiot I was to trust him. I was wary of him at first. I kept resisting but he kept coming into where I worked and… working me.” She covered her face with both hands. “Damn it!”
Holy fuck, was she going to cry? He hoped like fuck she wasn’t going to cry. He’d never once seen her cry. Not once. She couldn’t do it now. He wouldn’t know what to do.
“Don’t cry,” he urged in a panic. It was bad enough when he had a hard time getting Sarah to stop crying. In fact, he usually failed. His sister would only stop once she fell asleep in his arms and it broke his fucking heart every damn time. It also made him feel helpless.
She dropped her hands and blinked at him. “I’m not crying.”
Oh thank fuck.
“I’m pissed at how damn stupid and foolish I was. He made me his mark and I let him.”
“He was a fuckin’ pro at it. You weren’t the only one he did it to, Reilly. You fit his M.O., that’s all. And, of course, you caught his attention ‘cause you’re hot as fuck.”
“But after that, Reese felt the need to go back to mothering me. Or smothering me. It was like she revoked my adulthood. It didn’t help that I decided to stay in Manning Grove and work at the garage.”