Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 74022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“She’s a nice lady,” I say, taking another bite.
“She told me you asked her if it was okay to pursue me.”
I nearly choke on my food and look at him, eyes wide, trying to stop them from watering. “She did?” I finally wheeze.
“Yeah. She’s a pretty open girl. Why’d you ask her that?”
Awkward.
“Well,” I say to him, honestly, “there was a look she gave me, when I mentioned you. And I thought you two might have been together and freaked out, apologizing to her. She told me you weren’t together, and she was totally fine with me talking to you and ... well ... yeah.”
His eyes flash with something, only I’m not sure what it is. I’d almost say it’s a little confusion, or maybe even disappointment. God, Saskia isn’t right ... is she? Penny and Boston don’t have some sort of thing going on that I don’t know about?
I could ask, but I’m not really in a place to, because we’re only friends and this is the second time we’ve hung out. It seems a bit forward to directly ask if he has something going on with Penny.
“Fair enough,” he finally says, voice thick and husky.
“How come you need a carer for your sister?” I ask him, changing the subject. I don’t think we need to delve anymore into it.
“She has Cerebral Palsy. Has her whole life. My parents are useless and wanted to put her in a home. She’s only twenty-five. No fuckin’ way that was happenin’. She doesn’t deserve that kind of life.”
Wow.
That’s harsh.
“So you took her on?” I ask him.
“Yeah, she’s a fuckin’ pain in my ass, but she’s my sister and she’s full of life. She has as much right as the rest of us to live it.”
God damn.
Do they get any better than him?
“That’s an incredible thing to do,” I tell him, my voice filled with admiration.
“Wouldn’t you do the same?”
“For my brothers? Hell no. I’d wheel them into that home and bolt the door shut.”
I grin at him, and he chuckles. “Fair call, they sound like they deserve it, though.”
“Hell yes they do, jerks.”
He keeps his grin, and I can’t wipe mine, either. It’s so relaxed. So comfortable. Like we’ve been friends forever.
“I’d like to meet your sister, sometime.”
He nods. “You will, no doubt. And she’ll become a pain in your ass, too.”
I laugh. “I doubt it. More often than not, I’m the pain in peoples’ asses.”
He grunts, but keeps his grin. “Startin’ to see that.”
I narrow my eyes. “Are you saying I’m a handful, Boston? Because you haven’t even scratched the surface yet.”
“Fuck yeah you’re a handful, but I like it. Not enough people like you around. Radiatin’ fuckin’ sunshine the way you do.”
God.
My heart beats fast, and I can’t help but just sit there and smile stupidly at him.
“Don’t start getting too attached to me.” I wiggle my finger at him. “Once you’re hooked, you’re going to turn into a stalker.”
He snorts. “That so?”
“Yep. I’m addictive. You have been warned.”
“Noted,” he murmurs, eating more of his burger.
We both sit in silence for a moment, and then I ask him. “Have you ever been married?”
He glances at me, those eyes almost glowing in the sun. He’s so fucking gorgeous it hurts.
“Nah.”
“Kids?”
“Fuck no.”
“You don’t want kids?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “When I was younger, I did. Then I saw how fuckin’ ugly the world is, and I’d never want to bring innocence into it only to watch it get destroyed.”
I wonder what kind of ugliness he has seen, because that’s a big statement. A really big, and awfully sad, statement.
“That’s a shame,” I say to him.
“What about you, married?”
I giggle. “Do I look like wifey material?”
His eyes grow all dark and lusty. “Fuck yeah you do.”
Good lord.
I’m going to jump him if he doesn’t stop staring at me like that.
“How about that swim?” I say, standing and lifting my shirt, exposing my bare stomach and lacy bra.
Boston looks up at me.
And holy fuck if looks could melt someone, I’d be a puddle on the ground.
He looks hungry.
Like an animal hunting its prey.
“Don’t you know you can drown if you swim too soon after eating?” he rasps, voice low and thick.
I shimmy out of my jeans, and his eyes grow even darker. “I guess you’ll just have to save me then, huh, biker?”
With that, I turn and run toward the water.
And in minutes, he’s following me.
Hell yes.
~4~
EARLIER – PENELOPE
“Seriously?” I growl to my ex, who is standing at my door, arms crossed, glaring at me.
I used to think that glare was sexy, especially when we were in a fight and got to make up after it. Now I want to wipe it from his smug face. I wish he’d leave me alone, but it seems he’s whipped enough from his little girlfriend that he’s not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.