Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“How’s it going, Naomi?” I asked one of the student paramedics that was obviously working with us today.
She was washing the quint—the fire truck—and I was glad that I didn’t have to do that today.
Especially with the wind that blew through not ten seconds later.
“It’s going, I guess,” she said, a smile always on her face. “Booth was just helping me, but his wife called him about something to do with a pet, so I decided to finish it up for him.”
“Thanks,” I replied distractedly. “I’m sure he appreciates it.”
Naomi grinned.
“Hey,” I stopped and turned to look at her. “I saw you at my neighbor’s house.”
Her brows rose.
“Which one?” She wondered.
“The cute brunette with the ankle monitor,” I gestured to my own ankle.
Her brows pinched down in confusion.
“Who?” She asked.
I laughed.
“You know more than one?” I asked laughingly.
She suddenly grinned.
“Well, no,” she replied sheepishly. “I only heard half of what you said before I saw him.”
She gestured to PD, one of my fellow firefighters.
My eyes followed the big fucker as he tried valiantly to carry about fifteen bags of food from his car at once.
“So?” I asked, turning back to her.
“So what?” She asked distractedly.
Chuckling to myself, I turned and left her to her lustful adoration.
PD was a kinky fucker. If she wasn’t into that, he probably wouldn’t be into her.
How he got into that shit, I didn’t know. But, hey, to each their own, it’s not my business to judge what gets him off. I never cited him for his feelings and beliefs.
He could do what he wanted with the women he brought to his bed, and I’d continue to enjoy the ones I brought to my bed my way.
“How’s it going,” Booth muttered as he stared blankly at the kitchen stove.
“Good,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Fuckin’ dog catcher caught the dog outside our house again,” he muttered, sounding miffed.
“Thought you put a new fence in,” I mumbled, walking to the fridge and pulling out the eggs and bacon from the top shelf.
“I did,” he muttered darkly. “Now I have a hundred and fifty-dollar ticket if I want to get the dog back.”
“If?” I drawled.
He grinned then, a rare smile lighting up his face.
“Yep,” he agreed. “If.”
“Your wife will kick your ass,” I told him. “You know that right? Then she’ll just go pay the fine anyway and you won’t get any sex for a month.”
“You know this for certain?” He asked.
I nodded. “Have an ex-wife. We were married for twelve years before we split. Trust me, it’s easier in the long run if you just give her what she wants.”
“You were married?” Booth asked.
This was the most I’d ever spoken to him with him being the new guy and all, so I decided to keep talking, despite the fact that it still chapped my ass to talk about Constance.
“Yeah,” the word a bitter taste in my mouth. “Right out of fire school and everything.”
“What happened?” He asked, leaning forward.
I sighed, pulling out the cast iron skillet out of the lower cabinet, then turned on the gas before lighting the burner with the long liter next to the stove.
“She and I grew apart,” I said. “She hated me being a firefighter. Hated that I had to work so much to keep us afloat. Her father hated me because I ‘made his daughter cry so much.’ Which he loved to bring up every possible chance he got. It kept getting worse and worse until she finally filed for divorce.”
I dropped a dollop of butter down into the bottom of the pan.
“Do you still love her?” Booth asked.
“No,” I admitted. “I guess I felt obligated to stay with her. I would still be there if she hadn’t filed, though.”
“Kids?” He guessed.
I nodded. “Fifteen-year-old,” I nodded. “She turns sixteen this month.”
His mouth dropped open.
“You have a sixteen-year-old?” He asked in surprise.
I nodded. “I do.”
“Why doesn’t she come to any family functions that the department puts on?” He wondered.
I grimaced.
That was a sore subject, and it hurt every time I talked about it.
“She doesn’t like that I hurt her mom,” I told the truth, but not embellishing any. “And she has free reign to see me anytime she wants. I send child support checks to her mother once a month, but…” I shrugged.
Booth didn’t say anything, and I was glad.
At least he knew when a man had enough.
“I want mine over easy,” he said mildly.
I nodded.
“Scrambled!” Came Tai’s voice from the bathroom.
I snorted out a laugh, then laughed even louder when PD answered from the doorway with Naomi at his back.
“I want mine hard,” he said, his eyes drifting to Naomi as he said it.
I made a gagging motion with my finger pointed to my throat, and he winked at me.
He was trying to make her uncomfortable, and by the looks of her scalding red face, he’d accomplished it.