Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“I didn’t see a reason to correct you,” I replied.
“Letting me make a complete ass of myself with my comments was a better idea?” he asked.
I shrugged. “It wasn’t your business who he was.” That wasn’t a fair response, and I knew it.
Dean took a step toward me, and I backed up until I was pressed against the door. “The time I had my face between your legs, it would have changed everything if I’d known you weren’t a cheater.”
I stiffened. Not sure what bothered me—the memory of my having an orgasm on his face or that he’d called me a cheater, which I was clearly not. Probably both.
“You know, he mentioned what a big fan you were,” Dean said, bending his head down so that his face was closer to mine. “That you never made it to a concert.. That I was your favorite Slacker Demon.”
I closed my eyes as my face heated. “He has an imagination,” I said quietly.
Dean’s hand cupped the side of my face, and then he slid it into my hair. “I don’t think so. I think Cam was telling me the truth.”
Dammit, Cam. Why did you have to talk about me? To him?
“You were once. Maybe for a little while,” I replied.
“Hmm,” he said, running the tip of his nose up my neck and inhaling deeply. “You admitted it. That was a hopeful guess.”
Knowing Cam could open this door at any moment, I placed my hands flat against Dean’s chest and pushed him back. He barely budged.
“Cam is inside. I’m cooking dinner. I have to go,” I said, sounding breathless and hating it.
Dean nodded, then reached behind me for the doorknob. “Excellent. I’m starving.”
I covered his hand with mine, stopping him from opening the door. “I didn’t invite you.”
He tilted his head to the side and grinned wickedly. “But what would Cam want? He’d want me here for dinner. I could watch him play and give him some pointers. You’d keep that from him? After how happy he was to meet me?”
Damn him. He was right, and he knew it. I took a deep breath.
This was what I was afraid he wouldn’t do. I had been afraid he’d let Cam down but he was here, doing exactly as he had promised. I was being ridiculous and selfish.
“You’re right. Thank you,” I said and started to turn to the door.
He stopped me. “I’ve got other ideas on how you can thank me. A lot of ideas. So fucking many.”
My eyes flared, and I wanted to slap him, shove him, possibly kiss him until my legs were weak, but I wasn’t going to dwell on that last one. That was one road we never needed to go down.
“You don’t need me for all your ideas,” I said angrily.
He chuckled. “Oh, but I do, Brielle. I so fucking do.”
I opened the door to get some distance from his hard, warm body. I needed air. Clarity. To calm myself down.
When I stepped inside, my eyes went directly to the laundry still on the sofa.
“I wasn’t expecting company,” I said to him, walking over to it and quickly gathering my panties and bras. That was what I got for not putting it away immediately.
“Don’t move them for me. I’d enjoy going through them,” he said, standing entirely too close again.
I turned to look at him. “Personal space. It’s a thing. One you need to respect.”
He smirked. “But do you really want that? Your mouth is telling me one thing, but your body is telling me something different.”
His eyes dropped to my breasts. My nipples were hard, and I muttered a curse.
“Just move. Go stand or sit over there. I’ll call Cam in here,” I said to him.
“You do that,” he replied in an amused tone.
What was he up to? Why was he being weird? He had ghosted me the morning he left me pancakes. It had been two weeks. Nothing. Not that he had to contact me, but it had felt like there was a connection or a bond the morning I woke up with him asleep on my bedroom floor. Then, he had disappeared. Poof.
Now, this?
“Cam!” I called out.
“What?” he replied.
“You’ve got a visitor!” I told him.
I glanced back at Dean, who was standing over by the television, looking at the photos on the shelf above it.
“God, you were a child yourself,” he whispered.
The picture in his hand was Cam’s first birthday. We had gone to the zoo that day because my former employer had given me passes. He had loved the elephants.
“You’re here!” Cam’s surprised voice cracked.
Dean set the photo down and turned around to Cam. “I said I wanted you to show me what you learned.”
Cam nodded his head. “Yeah, you did,” he agreed.
“Let me see those drums,” he told him.
Cam beamed up at him and nodded again. “Okay! This way. They’re in my room. We got them used, remember, but they’re real nice.”