Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 106538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
He lifts his eyebrows.
I get a glass of water. “After our weekend sexcapade at your house, I had a killer UTI the following week. I think you deposited six gallons of sperm into me.”
While narrowing his eyes, he corkscrews his lips. “You didn’t hydrate enough.”
I pause my glass of hydration at my lips. “Uh.” I cough. “Okay. Sure. It was all on me.”
Ozzy tries to offer a guilty grin, but it looks far more cocky than regretful or apologetic. “You want me to wear lucky condoms.” He nods several times.
“Or we could space things out a little more.”
“So lots of sex with condoms, or less sex but no condoms?” He scratches his chin.
“I feel like I’m talking to a sixteen-year-old boy, not a grown man.” I laugh.
“Maren.” He steals my glass and refills it with water, taking a few gulps before handing me the rest. “When it comes to sex, all men are boys. When we’re not having it, we’re thinking about it.”
“Can I ask you a question about Lola?”
He buckles over, stumbling back a few steps. “No, no, no. You can’t say my daughter’s name directly after I tell you I think about sex a lot.”
I finish the glass of water like a good girl and smile.
“And what have I said about you asking me if you can ask me a question?” Ozzy stands straight and rolls his shoulders back with a hard sigh.
“What do you do when Lola gets sick, and you have to take her to the doctor, or she gets sick at school and needs to come home early? Do you make her ride her bike?”
“I’ve walked to her school and carried her home. A friend picks up her bike and brings it home. And I have a family doctor who makes house calls, but thankfully, Lola rarely gets sick.”
“A family doctor who makes house calls?” I ask.
“For Lola, yes.”
“You’ve carried her home from school?”
He nods.
It seems silly to say you can fall in love with someone over and over without falling out of love first, but I fall in love with Ozzy every time we’re together. Or maybe I just fall deeper. I’m starting to think there’s an infinite depth to which I can fall for this man.
“What?” he asks with a funny grin.
I slowly shake my head. “You’re the man, Ozzy.”
“Thanks. That’s reassuring, since I’ve always considered myself a man.”
“No. Not a man. You’re the man. There’s a difference.”
He narrows his eyes and parts his lips like he’s going to say something, but then he wets them and saunters toward my sofa. As soon as he plops down, Bandit jumps onto his lap.
“My backup fiancé will never see the inside of this house because I rescued that cat for your daughter.”
“Whoa, what?” Ozzy eyes me. “Backup fiancé?”
“Yes,” I say, nestling into the corner of the sofa, hugging my knees. “Will’s my backup husband if we’re both still single in two more years.”
“Still single? Are you single now?”
My heart soars when it detects frustration, or maybe even jealousy, in Ozzy’s voice. “I’m single until I find a man who says he loves me,” I say, inspecting my nails.
“What do I have to do to prove myself?”
I shift my gaze to his. “You have to say it.”
“Pfft. Actions speak louder than words.”
“They don’t. It’s just a cliché. There are a lot of silent actions. But words can be very loud.”
“Unless you’re deaf,” he counters.
“But I’m not.”
He moves his lips without speaking.
“You’re such an ass.” I smack him with one of the throw pillows, and Bandit flies off the sofa and runs upstairs.
Ozzy grabs my wrists and pulls me onto his lap. “But am I the ass?” He guides my arms around his neck and kisses me before I answer.
I pull back and smile while brushing my nose against his. “I don’t even want you to say it now. I know you’re saving it. So it better be epic when you do say it.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.” He leans forward and kisses my neck.
“Can you help me refinish my wood floors?”
I feel his lips bend into a smile against my skin. “I can.”
“New kitchen cabinets and countertops.”
“Mmm-hmm.” He slides his hands up the back of my shirt, unhooking my bra, and I can no longer think about renovations.
I close my eyes as my head lolls to the side. “Ozzy, are we in love?” I whisper.
He presses his hand to the side of my head, lifting it while the pad of his thumb brushes my bottom lip. “We’re so in love,” he says before kissing me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The following day, I pick up groceries and Lola’s favorite doughnuts. When I pull into my driveway, Ozzy and Lola are sitting on my front porch steps, laughing about something.
I put my RAV in park and watch them for a few seconds while slowly unfastening my seat belt. I would never steal another woman’s husband or child. I would never steal another woman’s life.