Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 30987 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30987 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
“I fear what I’ll find,” I say when I grab the handles of his fridge before I pull it open and find it fully stocked. There are glass Tupperware containers lining one side while the other is filled with a variety of drinks. “You cook?” I glance over my shoulder at him. I expect him to be checking out my ass or something, but really he’s taking in every inch of me. I’d almost swear he’s memorizing every detail.
“I do okay in the kitchen, but that is my mother’s doing.” An almost bashful expression crosses his face. As for me, my chest warms.
“She comes over and stocks your fridge?” He nods, still seeming a bit embarrassed about it.
“That’s really cool, Eros. Your mom sounds like a good one.” I glance through the selection and grab the one I think is lasagna. There is even a little note on the top stating what temp to cook it at and for how long. “Lasagna work for you?”
“Yeah, it works for me.” He walks over and turns the stove on.
“You mind?” I motion toward my boots, wanting to take them off.
“Make yourself at home.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice.” I toe my boots off before I wander over toward the TV. When I grab the remote, I see a paused documentary about vampire myths. “A non-believer?” I turn back around. Eros is slipping the dish into the oven.
“I mean, you can bite me and prove the whole thing wrong if you want.” Again, I burst into laughter. That is until a cat suddenly appears, jumping onto the back of the sofa.
“You have a cat?” I whisper, not wanting to startle it.
“He can be a bit feisty.”
“You clearly have a type.” I wink at him. I’m not bad at this flirting thing, if I do say so myself.
“Clearly.” I turn around and ignore the cat. “You’re not going to try and pet him?”
“No way. If I want his attention, I need to ignore him. Then he’ll come to me.” Eros folds his arms over his chest and watches, giving me a nice view of his biceps. I haven't seen many thickly built artists in my day, and I don’t mean in a way that he hits the gym every day. He’s just naturally built this way. He’s all man.
I’m leaning up against the back of the sofa. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch the cat slowly come closer. Soon he’s butting his head into my side. I offer the little guy my hand, letting him smell it before I go in for my first pet.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“I’m a woman of many skills. Cat wrangler, appliance invader, art thief, tattoo artist… I could keep going, but I don’t want to bore you.”
“Promise you. I’m never going to grow bored of you.”
I don’t think I am going to either. Eros is starting to be a little too good to be true.
CHAPTER 9
EROS
As my traitorous cat kneads his paws on Morgan’s lap, I take the opportunity to drink her in. The tips of her fingers are slightly dark, likely ink-stained. Even in the lamplight, her skin looks golden and warm, like she said my paintings exude. I wonder if she knows how sexy she is, how attractive she is to other people or whether she’s clueless. Louis had come on hard, but Morgan doesn’t act like a woman who recognizes her own appeal. She probably attributes the attention sent her way to the money her family has.
Gremlin allows himself to be picked up and hugged to Morgan’s chest. The shirt pulls tight by the motion and outlines her braless chest, something I’d noticed earlier but pushed out of my head because I’m too old to be sporting a hard-on in public. The timer dings and saves me from further embarrassment. I’m not a sixteen-year-old anymore. I can handle the outline of a nipple in a woman’s shirt.
I plate the food and bring it out to her. “I don’t have eighteen-year-old scotch, but I do have new milk and beer.”
“I’ll take the milk. I don’t think beer mixes well with lasagna.” She puts Gremlin down, and he immediately jumps back into her lap.
“Really, Gremlin?” I reach across to shoo him away, and my arm inadvertently brushes her tit.
She sucks in a swift breath.
“Sorry. Really wasn’t making a pass there.”
“I know.” She laughs a little. “I don’t know why I acted like a Victorian maiden. Even Winona is getting it on with Daddy Jim.”
“I can wait until you get some food into you before throwing you on the floor and ravishing you, so eat in peace.” I hand her a fork and the plate of lasagna. “Thoughts on what you want to watch? I usually flip until my thumb gets tired and then watch whatever is on screen. That’s how I ended up on the real story behind vampires, the truth about mermaids, and how to blow glass. Not gonna lie, the mermaid one had me fucked up.”