Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 11713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Once she filled her water from the fridge, she grabbed a fork and set it down before heading to the microwave. “I’m gone a month.”
Hissing out a breath as she took it out, she carried it quickly to the island and set it down before the stool she was using. Loaded mashed potatoes and shredded chicken with a mushroom gravy, smoked cheddar, bacon and a side of parmesan broccoli.
Quiet filled the space. Jo closed her eyes and envisioned Selena’s expression as she tried, probably unsuccessfully, to control her emotions. Waiting for the inevitable explosion, she took a bite and had to force back her moan of pleasure as the food hit her tastebuds.
“Let me make sure I have this right. One month in Belize and you’re leaving in less than a week.” Warning laced her tone.
She nodded even as she scrunched up her face, realizing her mistake. “Right.”
“And you’re just now telling me about this?” Fury exploded across the line.
Still, Jo winced and cracked her eyes open, not positive her friend hadn’t found a way to teleport herself across their distance.
“God, you’re going to be a killer mom. Yes, this is me telling you like a bad child about my decision to go somewhere a mere five days before I head out.” She sat forward and moved the phone more to her right so she could eat without smacking in her friend’s ear. “I want to find something for myself like you have, Selena. I can’t just expect a man to show up at my door and know he’s the one I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with. That doesn’t happen to normal people.”
“Happened to me,” she protested.
“Again,” Jo said. “I said normal people. Fuck, Selena, you’re a fucking shifter yourself. One of the rare ones who is more than just a mate. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact there are shifters, much less my best friend is one. And a consort.”
“All a bit new to me as well.” This time a waver of uncertainty reached her.
God, she wished she could hug her friend.
She chewed slowly and thought how to say it. “I know and I am not trying to make you feel bad, it’s just… What do I have?”
“Us,” Selena snapped. “You have us.”
Tears burned. “But I don’t. Not anymore. At least, not like before.”
Selena whimpered in the back of her throat.
“And that’s okay,” Jo rushed to assure her. “I’m over the moon for both you and Em. Honest, I am. Even Dianna who is off living adventure after adventure in her world of lawlessness. I’m the one who needs a change. Nothing exciting happens in mine. Yes, I walk the Everglades most of the time but it’s safe for lack of a better word. Compared to where I’m going anyway.”
“I don’t want to lose what we had, Jo. We’re best friends.”
The need in Selena’s voice so thick, she could taste it with her dinner.
“Change was bound to happen. Hell, we are on three different continents now. There’s no way around that being different.” She ate a broccoli spear.
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
She smiled at the childish frustration in her tone. “It doesn’t, that’s true. Look, I’ll check in when I’m there. I just…need something.” And if she could figure it out, she would be all the better. All Jo did know for certain, was whatever she needed, she wasn’t finding it here in Miami, doing what she did and living how she was.
Selena was quiet for a while. “Be safe, yeah?”
Love spread through her and she smiled, putting her fork down in the container. “Always. If I wanted to do something dumb and stupid, I can do that here in Miami. I just want to go travel a bit.”
Humph. “Okay, but, and I am just throwing this out there. Brazil is a place to travel too also. You don’t have to settle for Belize. We’re a larger country and this one has things that Belize won’t ever have.”
I know where this is going. “Love you too, Selena. Bye.” She hung up before there could be any more digs about how she should skip Belize and just head to Brazil where she knew people.
Problem was, she didn’t want to go somewhere that a bunch of shifters with their super hearing and super noses would be all over and up in her business. It would be nice to have a man lay some pipe and not have sixteen people looking at her because she still carried the hint of sex on her skin. Of course, if the other shifters were anything like she’d heard Lando was, it may well be worth it to get some pipe from one of them.
Or a few. She was aware that the shifters had an extremely high sex drive. As did she, but it was not easy to find a man who could please her to the point where she couldn’t find the energy to leave the bed. Normally it was passable and got her itch resolved. But definitely not anything to write home about. Nor try to compare with what Selena was getting from her man on a daily, perhaps hourly basis.