Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I dated another woman once I moved back here. Her name was Seraphina.” I bit my lip. “Nothing much came out of it but physical release.”
She released a shaky breath.
“That sucks.”
I squeezed her tighter to me, and pressed a kiss onto the top of her head.
“It’s over,” I promised. “I haven’t seen her since you showed up five months ago.”
I felt the tension leave her body, little by little.
“And you?”
She shivered, even under the blankets and I closed my eyes.
I knew the answer even before she said it.
“Sean,” she whispered. “Only once.”
I gritted my teeth.
That burned.
That burned bad.
But I couldn’t complain. I’d been the one to leave. I’d been the one to ensure that what we had wouldn’t last.
So yes, she slept with a club brother. Yes, she had felt something for him.
But now, she was with me.
She was in my bed.
She was tied to me.
I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter, but I still felt the hot spikes of anger, frustration and jealousy pulsing through me.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine!
Ellen squeaked when my arm tightened slightly on her, and I loosened my hold.
“That kills me inside,” I apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You didn’t,” came her muffled reply. “You should see my hands right now. I think I drew blood with my fingernails listening to you talk about that Seraphina person.”
I sighed and closed my eyes.
“I have to get up early tomorrow, and I know damn well that my kid’s not quiet when he gets up, so if you think we’re sleeping in, you’re crazy,” I told her bluntly. “Time for bed. Tomorrow will be time enough for the rest to be discussed.”
“The rest?” she repeated. “The rest of what?”
“The rest of what we have to talk about,” I said. “Like the fact that you and me are a thing. You’re going to be in my bed every night, or I’ll be in yours. You can’t drive that piece of shit car you have anymore, either, unless you let me have a look at it and fix whatever it is that’s making that noise that I hear every time it starts up.”
She started to shake as laughter left her, and I took a deep breath.
When no arguments were forthcoming, I closed my eyes, and allowed sleep to overtake me.
It was the best night’s sleep I’d had in fourteen years.
Chapter 15
I’m convinced that the stupid chip in debit cards was sent to this Earth to make my life a living hell.
-Jessie’s secret thoughts
Jessie
“Can you please, please, please, please take Achilles to my place on your way to work?” Ellen pleaded. “I forgot that I have a client I have to meet at her house at seven fifteen. Please, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
I turned my wrist over to glance at my watch.
“You can leave him here,” I told her. “But if I take him, I’ll be a few…”
Ellen interrupted me. “I can’t leave him here. I have to take him to the vet this afternoon, and to do that, I need to be able to get to him. I don’t have keys to your place. And I can’t take a wolf errrrm, I mean husky, to a client’s house.”
I gave her a pointed look.
She blushed profusely.
“I’ll take him, baby,” I told her. “But you better be thinking up something imaginative to make this up to me.”
With a short, hot, wet kiss to her mouth, I stooped down and scooped up the dog, then was out the door the next second.
Lucky for her he was small enough to be zipped up in my big jacket, otherwise she would’ve really had some making up to do.
Rain or shine, cold or hot, I took my bike. The only time I took my truck, lately, was if Linc needed to ride with me, and those times were becoming fewer and further between.
Surprisingly enough, on my way to drop the little wolf pup off at Ellen’s place, he stayed curled up in my jacket, not moving even once to get out or move.
By the time I was dropping him off at her place, I realized I didn’t have a key, and had to leave him in the yard with a huge ass bowl of water, and my snack cake I’d intended to eat on the way to work. I was, unfortunately, late once I’d tracked down the water bowl.
That didn’t much matter, though. My boss would overlook a few minutes of lateness due to me coming in last night when I sure as fuck hadn’t wanted to.
Being the supervisor on the shift sucked balls sometimes.
***
“Yo.”
I flipped the helmet up and looked at Peters. “What?”
“That belong to you?”
I looked in the direction he indicated and found a grin forming on my face.
“Yeah, that’s mine,” I said. “How did you know?”
“Got you written all over it,” he murmured. “That, and she’s glaring a hole in your back.”