Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
“Distasteful? Less than stellar?” she asked.
He put two of his fingers over her mouth. “You’re going to want to stop now.”
Her mouth opened and he gave her a firm look. “Stop saying awful things about yourself.”
A strange look crossed her face. “But isn’t that what you think? You . . . you couldn’t even look at me. And you told me to get dressed in your grumpy voice. And then you put clothes on me. To hide me. Because I have an ugly nipple that probably blinded you in one eye.”
Putting his hands around her waist, he lifted her straight into the air. “You. Will. Stop.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“You will not say such ridiculous things about yourself again.”
She just stared down at him.
“Understand me?” he demanded.
“Yes.”
He swallowed heavily, wondering how to word this without fucking it up. “You were running around in just lace and silk and I didn’t want anyone else to see that.”
“Oh.”
He cleared his throat. “You should go shower and get dressed.”
“All right.” She looked almost dazed as she turned away.
“Isa?”
“Yes.”
“Your nipple is beautiful.”
He turned away, stifling his groan of embarrassment. Really? Had he said that? But he had to say something to build her up.
To ensure that she didn’t think of herself as less.
He folded the blanket he’d used and put it away before grabbing his jacket and putting it on since he didn’t have his shirt.
Then he made a phone call to the local tow truck company before walking into the kitchen.
He was going to make her some breakfast. Opening the fridge, he stared at the insides in surprise.
Half a pizza that looked several days old, butter, creamer, and some cheese.
That was it.
He went through the cupboards. Where the hell was all the food? All he could find was flour, baking powder, and ready-to-use packets of icing.
This wasn’t going to cut it.
“Um, what are you looking for? Oh, shoot! I forgot to offer you coffee. And I never set it up last night. I am the worst host ever.” She bustled around, looking frazzled and sweet.
Today she was wearing a short denim skirt and a tight pink and white tie-dye T-shirt with the word ‘unicorn’ across the front of it in rainbow colors. It was adorable.
She was adorable.
“I, um, I put your T-shirt on the sofa,” she told him, her cheeks red as she moved around the kitchen.
“Thanks,” he murmured, walking into the living room to remove his jacket and pull on the T-shirt.
“Oh, do you want a shower? You can have one. I only have coconut body wash, but Loki will have something in his shower. I’ll go get it.” She tried to move past him, but he reached out to lightly grasp her arm.
“I’m fine with coconut.”
“Right. Of course.” Her gaze was everywhere except where he wanted it most.
On him.
“Isa? Can you look at me?”
“I don’t . . . not really.”
“Why not?” Because he was such an asshole that if she looked at him, she was going to launch a coffee mug at his face?
“You called my nipple beautiful,” she said in a high-pitched voice. Her face grew red.
Right.
“I embarrassed you.”
“Just a little bit. I mean, most of it is me having a nipple slip in front of you. And very nearly in front of Barry too.”
“Who the hell is Barry?” he demanded.
“Oh, the garbage truck driver,” she said. “Of course, I’m fairly certain he’s going blind, so he likely wouldn’t have noticed.”
“He’s going blind and drives a garbage truck for a living?” What the hell? If he couldn’t see properly then he shouldn’t be operating a motor vehicle.
Certainly nowhere near Isa.
“Um, yeah. Loki really needs to have a talk with him.”
“Why would Loki need to have a talk with him?” he asked.
“Oh. He owns the company.”
“Loki owns the garbage truck company?” What the hell?
“Yeah, you see, Barry got himself into a bit of financial difficulty. He spent money he didn’t have and then couldn’t pay his tax bill. So Loki offered to lend him money to pay the bill, but Barry was too proud for that. Instead, he sold Loki the company and now Barry is a driver. Which he’s actually pretty happy about. So, really, it worked out great for everyone as now, Barry comes all the way up here to get the garbage when before Loki had to take it to the dump. Which he hates doing.”
“Great for everyone except that Barry can’t see.”
“Right. Yeah. That’s kind of an issue. I need to chat with Loki about that.”
“Before Barry hurts himself or someone else,” he said firmly.
“You got it. So, did you want a shower before you leave?”
“Who said I’m leaving?”
7
What was happening right now?
Well, it was simple. There was a sexy man in her kitchen who thought her nipple was pretty and didn’t want anyone else to see it.
But him.