Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
And his next two until I put my phone away because he was now calling me.
A second later, he stepped outside, his phone to his ear, and seeing me, he put it away. “What is going on with you?”
I glared at him. “If you were to guess?”
His eyebrows bunched together. The sides of his mouth turned down. “I’m actually lost here.” He stepped down the stairs but put his hands in his front pockets. He stopped right in front of me, his head lowered, his eyes trained on me. “Connect the dots, please. I don’t like feeling lost when it comes to you.”
“Are you serious? I know who that is.”
“Penny?” His confusion seemed to double.
“I know she was your fuck buddy back in school.”
Understanding dawned, but then his face went blank, really fast. I didn’t like the “really fast” part because he was hiding it now, from me. “That was a long time ago. You want me to be an ass when your ex shows up?”
I gave him a look. “You would, and we both know it. You already were with Jarrod.”
His shoulders relaxed a little. “Yeah. You’re right. I was a dick to Brandon and he just said, ‘you two.’”
I almost grinned at that, or I would’ve, if I wasn’t still mad at him. Mad because he had an ex who was inside, who I had to give “the really expensive stuff” to. I had to say it. “She is not worth that wine, just saying.”
A gentle grin came over him, and he took a step closer, his head lowering even more. “You’re right. She’s not.”
I waited for the line, waited for him to say that instead, I was worth it. But he didn’t, and I glanced up.
He’d been waiting, the side of his mouth curved up. “I know what you’re thinking.”
I laughed, reaching out to shove him back, not thinking about it. He caught my hand instead, and he used it to haul me up as he surged forward. We were hugging, and I didn’t push him away. My hand curled in on his shirt, holding him in place. He tipped his head back, still smiling at me, as his hands wrapped around me and slid down, moving up under my shirt. “You like me. Like, like-like me.”
I looked away. “Shut up.”
“You do. You totally do.” He began to rock us back and forth, his hands sliding up against my back.
A tingle raced up my spine from his touch, but I half scowled at him. “We’re sleeping together. Of course, I like you, you idiot.”
He stopped rocking us and his forehead moved down, resting on mine. I could feel him getting serious and held my breath. He said, almost quietly, “I like-like you too. Like, like like like like you.”
A slight laugh escaped me. “You are not funny. That’s not something to laugh at.”
“You’re the one who just laughed.”
“Because you said you ‘like like like’ me.”
“No.” He was still serious. Almost solemn. “I said that I ‘like like like like’ you.”
“Such a difference.”
“It is. There’s a lot of difference between like like like and like like like liking someone. I like like like like you and I might even go so far to say that I like like like like like you, a lot.”
“You can be kinda…” I was going to say stupid, but he wasn’t. He was being sweet and funny, and he was making me smile. And he didn’t care that I’d been irrationally jealous seconds ago.
“What? I can be what?” His hand was moving over my back, sensually.
I was really starting to like like like like like how he was touching me.
I shook my head. “Intense sometimes, and sweet at other times.”
His head lifted, but he kept studying me. “Is that an okay thing?”
I nodded. “That’s an okay thing.” My break was almost done. “I need to go back in. Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
I gave him a look.
He just grinned back at me.
“Can you put an entire seat between you and your ex?”
He laughed but nodded. “I can do you better. How about I put an entire building between myself and her?”
I stilled. “What?”
“She took off.”
“What?”
“As soon as you left, I took the wine and told her there’s no fucking way I was spending that much money on her ass.”
A surprised laugh caught in my chest.
He smirked. “You are just not getting it.”
“Getting what?”
His eyes flashed, fierce, for a second. “That there is no one in my past you need to worry about. No one. Literally. The only one I’ve come to care about…” His hand reached up and touched a strand of my hair, tucking it behind my ear. “…is you.”
Warmth burst inside of me, and oh boy. I recognized that feeling. It was way beyond all the likes put together.
17
ZEKE
A month later