Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I dropped down to one knee beside her leg and cupped her calf in my hand, bringing her leg forward so I could examine it.
She giggled when my fingers moved up the back of her leg, coming to a rest just at the back of her knee.
“What happened?” I’d officially gone into paramedic mode.
This cut of hers wasn’t the usual ‘scrape’ one gets as they walk past a prickly bush.
No, this one was a fucking gash, like something hit her, tearing her skin open.
The gash itself was deep and about two inches long, starting at the bottom of her thigh and extending up.
She sighed.
“I was walking and not paying attention to where I was going.” She was embarrassed to tell me. I could see it on her face, which intrigued me even more. “Fell off the curb and, unluckily, Barrett was pushing a cart toward me. When I fell, he swerved to move out of the way, but in the process swung his cart around and ran over me.”
My brows furrowed.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“Lowes in Marshall,” she answered. “I was picking out the paint for the master bedroom in my project house.”
“Like a regular cart?” I asked, prodding the edges of the wound. “And what the fuck was Barrett doing in Marshall?”
She shook her head.
“No, one of those flatbed ones. The big blue ones with the massive wheels on them. I’m not actually sure what I hit, but that man nailed me with that cart.” She gestured to her knee. “Barrett was going fast, though. Like really fast. Might have even been running with it. I never even saw him. That’s what made me fall, after all. I saw the flash of movement, looked up instead of looking down at the step, and then promptly busted my ass.” She shook her head. “As to what he was doing there, I have no clue. The thought had crossed my mind, but I didn’t stay long enough to ask.”
My lips thinned.
“Seems like Barrett shouldn’t have been pushing a fucking cart if he can’t control it,” I growled.
Fucking Barrett.
I hated that she had to see him, and to add insult to injury, she’d gotten hurt at the same time making her appear vulnerable in front of him.
She nodded in complete misery.
“I had to go back to my truck and doctor it up. He tried to follow me but I refused his help and hobbled to the truck with blood pouring down my leg,” she said.
“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked. “Or run by the station? I would’ve fixed you up.”
“I didn’t call because I knew you were busy. You were working a traffic accident, or at least that’s what I heard on your scanner,” she pointed to my handheld scanner that I carried with me when I wasn’t working.
I was on the volunteer fire department for a few of the smaller surrounding cities that I was within fifteen miles of, and I carried that to keep a lock on what was going on in the towns surrounding the area.
I smiled at the thought of her listening to the scanner but just as quickly frowned.
“Why are you listening to the scanner?” I asked.
She blushed and pulled away, and my mind started to work.
“What was that blush for?” I asked, starting to head for her.
She shook her head furiously and pointed at the kitchen.
“Dish that out,” she ordered.
I did as I was told, scooped chicken onto each plate and then held them out for her to scoop on the gravy.
I gave her a pointed look as she dished the gravy out and smiled when she glared at me.
“So what was the look about?” I pushed.
She flushed an even darker shade of red and then started to tell me.
“Well…” she said. “One of my friends and I met for lunch yesterday and I got to talking, and she started telling me about this new community. A Facebook group of sorts. Which then led me to a messaging community of likeminded individuals. I started to explore when I got home, and I found a few sections on the messaging boards that talk about things like the BDSM community. Personal fantasies. Shit like that. Anyway, I was cruising through some of the posts on there…” She stopped when I’d frozen, and glared at me until I moved over to the hot pad that was resting on the countertop and scooped up a large blob of mashed potatoes.
Once finished, I walked the plates to the table while I listened to July getting drinks at my back.
My eyes set on the pile of folded laundry on the very end of the table.
She’d even folded my underwear.
As my mouth twitched, I took a seat and patiently waited for her to speak.
My dick, however, was anything but patient.
In fact, it quite liked where this topic was heading if my pulsing erection was anything to go by.