Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“And Aaron’s on board with all this?”
“Yeah, about that kid. He’s kind of a pain in the ass,” Kreed said, dodging the answer because Stuart was absolutely not on board. His cooperation was grudging at best.
“He’s not a kid and I miss playing with him. He’s the only one who gives me a run for my money. Don’t fuck that up for me.”
“When was the last time you talked to him?”
“Probably before Christmas, so four or five days ago.” Kreed’s brow furrowed. He’d kept a steady pace in the parking lot, but now his eyes cut toward the spa’s front door and he stopped dead in his tracks. Had he misunderstood Stuart this morning? Maybe Knox didn’t want Cody to know he played every morning… Yeah, but that made no sense. Mitch was the type of guy that did what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He’d have Cody playing alongside him in no time. The front door of the salon opened and the receptionist stood just outside the door, motioning him back in.
“I gotta go.” He ended the call and walked forward, then jogged the last few steps with his mind pre-occupied. This morning wasn’t a good measure. He was too focused on Aaron’s body to remember any of his words correctly. He had to have misunderstood, right? Why would Aaron lie about something like that? Maybe there was another Mitch he played with? Crazier things could happen.
Kreed hit the door, opened it with a hard tug, but came to a stop just inside. His body heated even though he’d been freezing just a second ago. Aaron stood by the counter, his button-down rolled up to the elbows, showing two nicely tattooed forearms. His handsome face was freshly shaven, his blond hair with purple and black tipped strands gone, replaced with dark, rich, silky locks that were clipped into the sexy-ass haircut Kreed had been convinced would look hot—just not this hot. Honestly, the new look took Aaron to a whole new level of sexy. Kreed’s entire body tightened in response to the visual stimulation. He hadn’t known he would have such a primal reaction to Aaron’s makeover. It was just hair, for God’s sake.
Kreed’s grin grew. “It’s perfect. You have to like it.”
“It’s a little short,” Aaron said, making eye contact.
Sergio nailed it; the color certainly made Aaron’s blue eyes stand out, so much so that he didn’t want to look away. Kreed had figured he was in trouble when it came to Aaron Stuart, but in this moment, he realized just how truly and completely fucked he was.
“But so damn sexy,” Kreed added, finally moving forward to appraise the new look up close. “I think I actually like it better than that whole disheveled thing you had going on. I like both, but this… Fuck me. Kid, you’re seriously gonna have to fight the dicks off with a stick.” Kreed immediately bristled at the jealousy his own words evoked. Where had that possessiveness come from?
Sergio came blasting through the room, a couple of bottles of shaper and gel in his hands. “I explained the importance of the products to achieve the results. The fuck-boy was made for guys like him.” Sergio was proud of his creation and placed the products on the counter, turned around, stopped briefly to pat Kreed on the chest, bat his eyes then exited as quickly as he’d arrived.
“I think Sergio has a bit of the fuck-boy attitude.”
“Stop calling it that,” Aaron grumbled, back to being irritable again.
Hell, the kid was always disgruntled. He hadn’t expected anything different with the new package.
“It’s the name. The fuck-boy hairstyle. You know, ‘Fuck, boy, you look hot.’” Kreed waggled his eyebrows when he got the desired result of a warm blush coloring Aaron’s cheeks. He reached back and tugged out his wallet, pulling out his credit card to pay the bill. At least he could expense part of this day, and if he worked it right, they might actually pay for his, which reminded him, he needed to check in with Skinner.
“We need these?” Kreed asked about the shaper and gel.
“Yes, sir. Sergio showed him exactly how to achieve that look.” The receptionist ran his totals then his card, before bagging up the hair products. By the time Kreed finished, Aaron had moved closer to the door, his jacket hanging from his hand. Kreed looked him over from behind. Mental images of threading his fingers through the short dark hair and drawing Aaron’s head backward for a deep thorough kiss played across his mind. He could almost imagine how those silky strands would feel against his palm. Oh yeah, that would definitely be a fuck-boy moment.
Kreed actually stopped behind Aaron, giving himself a minute to fully absorb that thought. Too bad they hadn’t spent their few hours living that fantasy yesterday, but on an upside, when he closed this case, he could test this man’s sexual orientation boundaries again and hopefully get him on his knees at least once before they went their separate ways.
“Come on, handsome. We have some clothes to buy and a plane to catch,” Kreed said as he reached to push the front doors open, still dwelling on his missed opportunity.
~~~
“All right, you ready? We need to head out,” Kreed called through the opened door in their hotel room.
“I already told you that I can’t leave until I can ship my shit somewhere.” Aaron didn’t move from the desk chair where he sat playing Pay Day. He focused all his attention on executing the perfect heist. Man, he had to get Mitch on this game. Aaron had always felt like playing games where the bad guys did things like rob banks and plan strategic heists in casinos should be a conflict of interest for a deputy marshal, but having Mitch on his team… They would just kick ass.
“I texted you Colt and Jace’s home address. Skinner’s working on the details of our stay. It won’t take long for him to get us hooked up with a place. He’ll have our operation headquarters ready tonight. Did you load your background information for the job interview yet?” Kreed asked, coming to stand at the door.