Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“You’ve single-handedly killed any future erections. You know that, right?”
Good. “Dentures, dentures, dentures. Hurry!”
Muttering a curse, he slowly turned his head and gave Mrs. Harris a little wave and then bam.
The smile.
Not a forced one.
Not the ones he grudgingly gave me.
But a holy-shit-I’m-selling-all-my-worldly-possessions-for-one-more smile.
Mrs. Harris clutched at her chest.
“I didn’t say to give her a heart attack.” I smacked him.
Slowly Mrs. Harris returned the smile and then blew him a kiss.
“Catch the kiss.” I elbowed him.
“You catch it!”
“And I’m the immature one,” I grumbled, reaching into thin air, stealing the kiss, and putting it on his cheek.
Mrs. Harris waved again and then continued to watch like a hawk while I awkwardly cleared my throat and pulled away from his warmth. “Yeah, so I’ll just be getting back to the car…”
“Yes, and I’ll just be inside with the kids… solving world hunger.”
“Do that.” I smiled. “But maybe work on their hunger first.”
“I’m gonna make another pancake attempt.”
“Keep the fire department number close, sweetheart.” I was trying to make him uncomfortable again.
Instead he smiled. “I’m on it, boopkins!”
“That’s the best you could come up with?” I rolled my eyes.
“I’m a guy. You’re lucky I came up with a word at all.” And with that he went inside.
Apparently I was the most boring human alive because the minute he was gone, Mrs. Harris bolted back into her house.
Shaking my head, I dropped behind the wheel and started the engine, then pulled out of the driveway, not even questioning why I was smiling so hard my face hurt.
Had Rip and I just had… a moment again?
I promised myself I wouldn’t analyze it the entire drive to the office, and when Heather gave me a snooty look from the front desk, all I kept mentally saying was, Ha, but did you talk about sex toys together? I think not!
Banks was in Rip’s office, clearly waiting for me. “You’re still smiling.” He lifted a coffee cup that read “Drink the Coffee, Be the Shit” to his mouth. “By my estimation that smile means you had a good morning with our friend Rip. He’s still alive, and he hasn’t put his foot in his mouth as per usual. BTW, has he asked you out during recess yet or are we still in the note-passing stage?”
“It’s not like that.” I tried to hide my frown. “And get out of my chair.”
He spun around in a circle and then stood, towering over me.
I had a hard time swallowing as his eyes drank in every inch of me before he whispered, “Coffee stain.”
Only he said it in such a gruff, sexy whisper that it didn’t register until a few seconds later as I finally unstuck my feet from the floor and moved around him. “I was already nearly out the door, so I just grabbed a random cardigan.”
Banks grinned. “Tell me Rip saw this entire scenario taking place in real time?”
“He wanted me to change.”
“This may actually be the final thing that kills him. You know he’ll obsess over this for the entire day, don’t you?
I just grinned. “First off, he would never, second, why would I change just because he asked me to?”
“I’d give you a high five if I wasn’t afraid of cooties.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, one day you’ll grow up and actually like girls, Banks.”
“Women.” He took another sip of his coffee. “I like women.” He moved to sit in one of the chairs and then said, as serious as a heart attack, “I like you.”
“Th-thanks?” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I mean, I guess you kind of have to since you’re trying to make Rip jealous.”
Banks’s eyes flashed with something before he looked away and stood. “Yeah, well, if he doesn’t make a move soon…”
“What? You’ll drive him even more crazy?” I laughed.
He joined in. “Something like that. Now get to work. By the way, I checked out the blog last night along with your TikTok… three million followers and ten million views, not too shabby, Colby, not too shabby.”
My cheeks heated at the compliment. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” He shot me a potentially devastating grin.
Something about the way he said “pleasure” had me feeling like I needed to take a cold shower, and he must have known because when he looked over his shoulder he winked, all before leaving me alone in Rip’s office wondering what in the world had just happened.
Banks was a born flirt.
But was he actually flirting with me? And more importantly, did I want him to be?
TWELVE
Rip
“Uncle Rip, I hungry.” Viera tugged at my shirt, looking up at me with adoration in her sparkly blue eyes. “Did you bring snacks?”
She was always hungry.
Always.
But the problem with Viera was that when she was hungry she was mean—as in make-a-grown-adult-cry-real-tears mean. So I’d learned to prepare for every possible scenario.
I reached into the diaper bag right when the jujitsu match was starting. Ben was down on the floor looking nervous as hell in his gi. He was going to be grappling with a kid who was a few inches taller, and even though Ben was really good, the kid had at least ten pounds on him.