Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
His brows shot up. “You want to jump my bones?”
“Um…again, were you just there for that kiss?’
He stroked her back and muttered, “Totally there, baby.”
“So…what? Are we gonna kinda date while we deal with all this other stuff?”
“No, but we got no choice but to get to know each other, and I’m seriously down with doin’ that.”
Her eyes narrowed on him, and what she said next demonstrated she’d already started getting to know him.
“You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”
“Di, it isn’t a big deal.”
“It is. I don’t like it. Can you nap during the day?”
“Who can’t?”
“I can’t. If the sun is up, it’s impossible.”
Holy shit.
“Really?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Sucks for you, babe,” he mumbled.
“It does. But whatever. When Big Petey gets here, you’re behind closed doors in my room, catching up on sleep.”
He wanted to refuse, but he shouldn’t, so he didn’t.
“Pete’s bringing donuts,” he told her.
Her eyes lit up again, and Jesus.
Fuck.
Oh yeah.
Motivation to scale mountains.
“Awesome,” she replied. “So, we’re just gonna ride this however it plays out while everything else plays out, is that our plan?”
“I’m down with it if you are.”
More bright in her eyes and more body contact with her pressing close. “Totally.”
He cupped her jaw and stroked her cheek with his thumb, and…damn.
Holding her, touching her, free to do that after wanting it since he laid eyes on her, it felt fucking great.
“I’m going to text Dad and say yes to dinner,” she informed him. “And if he asks you to join us, you probably should know—”
He stiffened and cut her off. “Baby, like I said, don’t.”
Her expression grew confused. “It’s not good, but you should know.”
“I know it’s not good. I know it’s not about me. And now I know he didn’t take care of you through it, which is why you two had your thing.”
She bit her lip.
Mm-hmm.
“So I can’t know how he didn’t do that, because it’s gonna piss me off to extremes. I don’t wanna be sharing a phenomenal kiss with you one second, and losing my shit about your dad the next, and maybe freaking you. I gotta be in the right place. More importantly, you gotta be in the right place. And you gotta agree that is not here and now.”
She scrunched her nose and muttered, “You’re right.”
“We just jumped our first hurdle and landed on our feet. I don’t need your dad throwing a leg out and tripping me up.”
“I don’t want that either.”
“So later on that, yeah?”
She nodded.
“Wanna take a shower before Big Petey shows with donuts, I scarf a few down and then get some decent shut-eye?”
Her eyes grew round. “Shower together?”
He felt his face get soft. “No, baby. Later on that. When we get there and you’re ready. Yeah?”
She nodded again, but he liked it a fuckuva lot she looked disappointed.
He bent and touched his mouth to hers.
Those green eyes were fucking sparkling when he lifted away.
“I like this new us,” she decreed.
Fucking hell, he hoped he knew what he was doing.
“I do too. Now, scoot. Pete said he won’t be here for a coupla hours, but Suzette might be up any time. She’s seeming more comfortable with me and being out in the common space, and we don’t need to be making out on the balcony when she comes out.”
Diana frowned.
Hugger smiled.
Then he turned her, put a hand in the small of her back and shoved her toward the door.
He watched her walk in, so he caught her looking back at him like she wanted to make sure he was still there and he didn’t leap over the railing to escape.
He lifted his chin to her.
She grinned and disappeared.
He turned and looked down at the courtyard.
A couple more women with workout bags on their shoulders and skintight clothes were heading to another door on the first floor.
It wasn’t even seven o’clock on a Sunday.
Lunacy.
He nabbed his mug and took a sip.
It had to be ninety degrees out at least, and the coffee had gone cold.
So he walked into a great kitchen in a sweet crib to warm it up.
10
PRECIOUS WEIGHT
Diana
I sat in one corner of the couch, Big Petey sat in the other.
We’d had our donuts, and now Hugger was sleeping in my bed and Suzette was in her room doing who knew what.
I’d been riding the high of what had happened on the balcony with Hugger.
No, it wasn’t like I forgot that on paper—us being in the midst of a major drama that involved gangsters and the FBI, Hugger living eight-hundred and twenty-one miles away (yes, I looked it up)—taking our relationship there was the last thing we should be doing.
But man…
That kiss.
After that kiss, and, well…just about everything else about him, I didn’t care if Hugger lived on the moon, I wanted to know what more we could build together.
And I wanted that bad.