Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“So what does that mean?” I asked slowly.
“No more smoking,” she told me, and I could tell she was sincere. I expected to feel relief, but there was just emptiness. She always meant it. She waited for a response, probably thinking I’d be grateful or excited. I managed to smile, hoping it didn’t look too fake.
Not smoking pot wouldn’t be enough to fix this situation. God, I hoped I got that job. I didn’t want to go to war over this, but even if she stopped smoking, the basic facts wouldn’t change.
Someone needed to take care of the kids and for whatever reason, she just didn’t have the right wiring for it.
“I’ll get the prednisone for you.”
Ten minutes went by fast. Mom’s pills were buried in the pile of crap on the table, and it took a while to find them. We threw the rest of her stuff into a garbage bag, and then I climbed up onto the kitchen counter and shoved it into the highest cabinet. I’d just gotten down when someone knocked at the door.
Rome.
I stood with my hand on the doorknob, trying to decide whether to go outside or let him in. Lexi rolled her eyes, the little shit. I opened the door a few inches. Rome stood outside, his dark hair all rough and messy from the helmet. A black shirt barely contained his gorgeous chest and I could smell his shampoo. Nothing special, but somehow manly.
The kind of shampoo Jack London would’ve used.
Last night, I’d had a really good reason not to see him again. I tried to remember what it was, but that shampoo kept distracting me. Oh yeah… I wasn’t in the mood to hook up, and he wasn’t relationship material. Of course, I’d ended up sleeping with him anyway. I’d just skipped the fun part.
And what was my reward for that?
I’d come home and gotten yelled at for being a slut by a woman who couldn’t see that smoking and asthma were inherently incompatible. Oh, and my whole life in Missoula was about to end because of her, too.
Adulting was bullshit.
I felt the sudden urge to jump on the back of Rome’s bike, maybe order him to ride for the hills. We’d have wild monkey sex and I’d forget all about my responsibilities.
“Hey there,” he said, offering a panty-melting smile. Smiles like that shouldn’t be legal. “Thought you’d want your bra back.”
Rome dangled the tattered black lace from one finger, just out of reach.
“You could’ve just thrown it away,” I said awkwardly. “It’s all torn up, anyway.”
“What?” Lexi said. She wrenched the door open, then stared at the bra in horror. “I can’t believe you did that to my special bra!”
He looked down at the scrap of black fabric, and raised a brow. “You wore your little sister’s bra?”
Lexi snatched it from him, shooting both of us the evil eye as she turned away. Rome ignored her. He reached forward instead, gently brushing the hair away from my eye, studying it.
“How’s it feeling?” he asked, that low voice of his rumbling right down between my legs.
“Like I fell face first on a beer bottle after getting hit by a flying cowboy,” I told him.
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” he said softly. “I missed you this morning. Last night got crazy. Let’s go somewhere and talk about it.”
He wanted to talk.
Right. Because talking was something all guys loved to do so much. No, this was about sex. Had to be. But was that really a bad thing? I felt his pull like a magnet. I wanted to lean forward against his chest and sniff him. Was he the wrong kind of man for me? Absolutely. That didn’t mean we couldn’t have some fun together…
If I had to give up my entire life to move back here, maybe I deserved a consolation prize.
Except it wasn’t fair to abandon Lexi—not when I’d be leaving again so soon. Even if I got a new job here right away, I’d have to work out my notice and pack everything up.
That brought me full circle to adulting and its associated bullshit.
“I’d like to,” I admitted. “And I’m sorry everything got weird. But I should stay and help my sister. My mom had an asthma attack this morning.”
“She okay?”
“She’s fine,” Lexi said from the living room. “She has them all the time. But I’m not fine. One of you destroyed my bra.”
“You think you could get over it if I paid you a hundred bucks?” Rome asked her. “My washing machine did the damage, so it’s kind of my fault.”
“Rome, you don’t need to do that,” I said, feeling guilty. I’d murdered Lexi’s bra, and I’d done it knowingly. My intentions had been good, but I hadn’t realized how upset she would be. Now I felt like a bitch.