Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 138315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
And her phone in her hand was raised.
Her taloned thumb was moving over it when they came in.
She put her phone down.
And when they stopped in front of her, she declared, “This is the last time you see me.”
Christ, he hoped so.
Hawk nor Cisco spoke.
“You hear me? I’m out after this. And by out, I mean gone. No one gonna yank B’s chain no more,” she kept at them.
“We hear you, B, now why are we here?” Cisco said on an annoyed breath.
“They have a message for you.”
Shit.
He kept his eyes on Brandi and so did Cisco.
“And that message is?” Cisco prompted when she said nothing.
“We fold,” she said.
Hawk stood still and silent.
Cisco did the same.
Brandi said no more.
They didn’t ask for it because they both knew no more was to be said.
In unison, they both turned around and walked out.
Joe had them on the road, taking them back to where Hawk had left his Camaro when Cisco spoke.
“You believe that?” Cisco asked.
“Absolutely not,” Hawk answered.
Cisco sighed.
Hawk crossed his arms on his chest.
They were feeling the pressure.
Which was good.
But that was horseshit.
No one was laying down their cards.
The game was still on.
* * *
PEPPER
“You’ve gotta go.”
His breaths were still labored.
So were mine.
But his face was in my neck so I could feel his.
They felt beautiful.
He was also still inside me, mostly because he just came.
And so had I.
That felt even more beautiful.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered.
This shouldn’t have happened.
This never should have happened.
I pushed against his chest.
“Auggie, you have to go.”
He lifted his head and looked down at me through the dark.
“Pepper, that was good.”
No.
It was so good.
Frantic, I-can’t-wait-to-be-inside-you, I-can’t-wait-to-get-you-inside-me, wall sex right inside my front door?
That was not about ending a dry spell.
That was about Auggie.
Auggie and me.
Auggie and me and how unbelievably fucking good we were together.
On this thought, with a fair sight more desperation, I pushed again at his chest, trying to squirm away from him.
He kept hold.
And put his mouth to my ear.
“Baby, that was hot, but it was fast, and it was done before things were said. Now we gotta talk.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No talking. No nothing. That was a mistake.”
“It wasn’t a mistake.”
“It was totally a mistake. You are a mistake. This is a mistake. It’s all a huge mistake.”
He lifted his head. “I’m a mistake?”
I hated the tone of his voice.
Disbelieving.
Kinda pissed.
A thread of hurt.
God.
But I couldn’t go back on it.
I couldn’t.
This shit was not going to happen to me again.
And I wasn’t going to put Juno through it.
“Yes, Auggie.” I squirmed again and this time I got away.
My panties were somewhere on the floor. Fortunately, the skirt of my tank t-shirt dress was easy to shimmy back down.
I went to my front door that Aug slammed behind him after he stalked me into my house and before he’d pinned me to the wall.
And the reminder of all of that sent quivers down my inner thighs.
I opened the door and stood abreast of it, eyes to my feet.
“Pepper, sweetheart, you don’t want me walking out that door,” Auggie warned.
No, I don’t, I thought. I really, really don’t.
But I couldn’t have what I wanted.
I never could.
I’d learned that repeatedly.
Don’t reach, you might get it and find out (A) you didn’t want it in the first place, or (B) it didn’t want you.
So I said nothing.
He stopped in front of me. I could see the toes of his boots close to mine that were exposed by my flat sandals.
There was something very … wonderful about that.
His boots.
My sandals.
His masculine.
My toenails painted pale pink.
Him right there.
With me.
“Pepper, look at me.”
“You’ve gotta go,” I repeated.
“Juno’s with him.”
That made the back of my neck itch.
Then again, whenever my girl was gone, doing her time with her dad, I had that feeling.
“Yes, she is.”
“So we can talk.”
“We’re not talking.”
“Pepper—”
My head shot up and I snapped, “God! I shouldn’t have to say it again! Get out, Auggie! That was stupid and it was weak and it’s not happening again. I’m already mortified enough I let you fuck me. You’re just making it worse.”
He got in my face and growled, “I’m not gonna play this game.”
“I’m not playing a game.”
“I know women like you. And yes, you are.”
He knew women like me?
I didn’t ask, mostly because he didn’t give me the opportunity.
“Thanks for the hot fuck, babe,” he said. “At least that made it worth putting up with this bullshit play.”
And then he was gone.
I closed the door behind him.
Put my forehead to it.
“Huge mistake,” I whispered.
But I knew.
I could tell myself that again and again and again.
But I’d seen the girls with their guys.
So I could repeat it for eternity, and I’d never believe.
No, Augustus Hero was not a mistake.
The mistake would be if he took a chance on me.
Now that would be a mistake.
Huge.
* * *
LEE
His phone went, waking him up.