Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I clicked the End Call button, which gave Dax the opportunity to release the laugh he’d been holding in. “You deliberately let that go on,” he said.
“Come on. I have to get my kicks in somehow. This week has been a beast, and what the hell is the point of having a job where you’re always getting yelled at if you don’t have a few moments where you can revel in a little schadenfreude?”
“It’s true,” Dax said. “But I know you well enough to know when something’s up. I could have handled that call—and much better than you just did—so as your boss and friend, I do have to ask…what’s up?”
I quieted, and he said, “Your mom okay?”
“God, there’s something shitty about having a boss so long, he knows this much about your life.”
He rested his hand on my shoulder. “You know I’m here if you need to talk.”
“Thank you. And I really appreciate it. But you need to get back to your place and then meet your sexy #HottieFirefighter at Fever Pitch for date night, don’t you?”
He checked the time on his phone. “Yeah, I guess I should be heading out. But you can come with us, if you want. We’ll be meeting some of the guys out at Fever later.”
“Eh, I was thinking I might troll the apps to see what I can wrangle for the night. That always cheers me right up.”
For a moment, at least.
Dax smiled and shook his head. “Living your best life, as usual. Just be safe.”
“Always.”
We wrapped up a few loose ends before he headed out.
I considered the apps. Friday night was excellent for finding a good fuck in Fever Falls. And as much of a selection as I had in Los Angeles, there was a wide variety of options in Fever Falls, a fucking buffet of men just waiting to take this fresh out-of-town ass. I could have so easily spent thirty minutes or an hour working up something delicious, but instead, I found myself texting Sawyer: How are those books doing?
Trying to get some more on the shelves at the moment. About it.
Apparently, that was as much of an invite as I required, so I swung by. What the fuck made me think to go there, I wasn’t sure.
There was this part of me that just wanted someone to fuck my brains out, and I knew, especially after what Sawyer and I had talked about in Whistle Ridge, that wasn’t a possibility with him, even though he was fuckable as hell.
Maybe that was what made me want to see him again. Because I needed a friend, not a fuck.
The clerk at the front register told me I could find him in the back, unpacking boxes of new releases. As I entered the warehouse, I saw Sawyer in a polo, the sleeves fitting his arms nicely. His forehead was covered in sweat, a few stray locks of reddish-brown bangs clinging to it as he used a box cutter to open a box on top of several others.
“Hey, Saw,” I practically sang as I approached, making myself at home as I sat on the desk nearest him.
He turned, his eyebrows tugging together, a smile slipping across his face. “Did you miss the EMPLOYEES ONLY sign on the door?”
“I wouldn’t say I missed it, but I thought very fondly on it as I pushed right on by. In case you haven’t noticed, boundaries aren’t my strong suit.”
“Hard to miss that about you, really.” Unlike how it might have been in the past, he was smiling as he said the words.
I scanned the boxes around him. “How many of these do you have to deal with today?”
“Ideally, all of them.”
“What? No, no. You have to stop at some point. I’m bored, and I want to do something with you. When do you get off?”
“Didn’t you say you’re the one who decides when people get off?” His smile twisted into his cheek. It was the sort of look that could totally make me rethink my needing-to-be-there-for-a-friend-rather-than-a-fuck idea.
Not that we were really friends. I doubted he considered me anything close to one, but perhaps I was just sad enough of a person that my boss and Sawyer were the closest I’d ever had to anything like one.
“Oh, look who’s the dirty one today,” I replied. “And here I was being so good and avoided making innuendos. I was thinking I deserved a reward for it. So let’s say you finish up work early today and we can grab some dinner.”
“I’d really like that, but this is going to take me a few more hours, I think, and if I leave, we’re gonna be behind getting some of these titles out.”
I released a dramatic, exasperated sigh. “Okay, none of those look like a sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey or a new Harry Potter, so I have a feeling they can’t be that important.” He glared at me, and I rolled my eyes. “Then I guess I’ll just have to help you with these so you can finish up early and we can go do something fun. I’m not going to let you murder a perfectly good Friday night because you have work stuff.”