Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
See, here’s where I realized that Winnie didn’t actually know that I was there, otherwise she wouldn’t have said what she said next.
“Are you dense?” Winnie snarled.
“No.”
“I think you are.”
“I don’t think I am.”
“Well you are,” she said. “Why? Because it has nothing to do with boys not controlling themselves, and everything to do with the fact that it’s something that both sexes do equally.”
“How do you figure?”
“Because I can’t help but look when things are blatant either, and I’m an adult,” Winnie snapped. “Just yesterday, Steel walked out of his house without a shirt on, wearing a pair of thin workout shorts. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t wearing any underwear because I could see every single piece of his junk. Even though I knew I shouldn’t look, I did anyway. Why? Because it was there. I couldn’t help it.”
Her daughter didn’t know what to say.
“So let me ask you this. If Steel had gone into your school wearing that, would you look?”
“First of all,” I said from my side of the driveway. “I wouldn’t be wearing that to work. And second, I was, in fact, wearing underwear, but thanks for being concerned.”
Winnie’s mouth dropped open, and her entire face flamed as she looked over at me.
Conleigh started to laugh.
“But she’s right,” I continued, causing Conleigh’s laughter to cut off abruptly. “You wear stuff like that to school, then all the boys are going to look. You’re cheapening your worth by wearing it. And, unfortunately, boys will be boys. Just like, if a guy wore what I did the other day—while working out I might add—then the girl would be looking, too.”
Conleigh sneered.
“You don’t know how it is.”
“I know that your mother told you that you couldn’t wear that to school,” I explained gently. “And I know, had I said the same thing to my mother when I was growing up, my father would’ve put me down on the ground.”
“Well, you’re not me,” she said. “And parents aren’t allowed to hit their children. It’s against the law.”
Conleigh’s eyes moved to me for confirmation.
I suppressed the grin that wanted to break free.
“Actually,” I said. “That’s up to the parent’s discretion. There is a fine line between beating your children just for the hell of it, and using corporal punishment as a form of discipline.”
She hissed at me, causing my smile to widen.
“Fine.”
Then Conleigh stormed off, leaving us to stare at each other across the street.
“That was fun,” I teased.
Winnie flipped me off.
I burst out laughing.
She turned her back on me, then whipped back around and started marching my way.
It’d been exactly a week since we’d been home. A week and a day since I’d had her tight, willing body wrapped around my stiff cock.
She came to a stop directly in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Are you still married?”
My grin quickly fell.
I knew what she was asking.
Hell, I knew what she was thinking.
I’d been thinking it, too. A lot.
Every single time I saw her get out of her car and walk inside her house…every single time I watched her come outside for something.
It was fucking torture.
I wanted her back in my arms, even though it was the last place in the world she should be.
Little did I know, in twelve short hours, that my entire stance on having her in my arms would change in a single heartbeat.
“Any status updates at least?” Winnie pushed.
I grinned and leaned forward, tucking a stray hair that’d escaped from her slouchy, messy bun on the top of her head behind her ear.
“Lizzibeth is being…difficult,” I finally hesitated. “She’s decided that she wants half of my estate, one car, and half of my money—including half of my retirement. Oh, and she also wants alimony.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re shitting me.”
I shook my head, the rush of anger surging inside of me. “’Fraid not.”
Winnie’s hands fisted and she stared. “I don’t even know what to say to that. Why was it okay before for her to not have any of those things, but now it’s suddenly something she wants?”
I shook my head. “We were married for like a week. I brought all of my shit into the relationship. She moved into my house. She had her job, I had mine. We kept our own accounts, always had and would. I had two cars when we married, and she had her one. Hell, I don’t even think I’ve ridden in her car before.”
Winnie’s face turned calculating.
“Well…” Winnie said. “If she can play that game, so can you.”
“What do you mean?”
“She has a house, doesn’t she?”
I nodded. “We never sold it. She lives a couple of towns over in a cute little bungalow house with about two acres on it. Horses. Stuff like that.”
“Well, I think you should lay claim to those horses, and the house.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want horses. I wouldn’t know what to do with fucking horses.”