Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I flashed her a quick smile.
The scary thing? The thought of marrying this girl didn’t fill me with absolute dread.
Even scarier? The thought of marrying her actually made me want to tease her about it. And possibly do it.
Me, Jeremiah Crow, the professed forever bachelor the moment my divorce was finalized with Rachel, thinking about marriage?
Yeah, that was preposterous.
And downright out of character for me.
“I’ll help you do your laundry,” I said. “And I’ll do the dishes. But I’m not gonna do anything else.”
She did this little shimmy shake that would’ve been adorable had it not turned me on so completely that I nearly groaned aloud at the move.
I was so focused on her and her thighs that I hadn’t seen her turn her hips to the counter and stare at me thoughtfully.
“So why don’t you have any children with Rachel?” She startled me with the randomness of the question. “I mean, you were married for years, right? I realize that she was kind of crazy, but… still. Kids usually come along even if you’re unhappy in a relationship.”
“I have my wires snipped.” I shrugged, as if it was no big deal when we both knew it was. “There ain’t gonna be no babies from me.”
Her mouth fell open. “You’ve had a vasectomy?”
“Yep,” I confirmed. “I had one when I was married to my wife for a month. Not that it mattered. She didn’t care. She just fucked everything else while I was at home or working.”
She shook her head. “So you gave up ever having kids of your own because you disliked your wife that much?”
I scooped up a bowl of gumbo, dumped on a small mound of rice, then handed it to her.
She took it, then cursed before settling it onto the counter a little faster than she probably should have.
“What, do you have heat resistant hands or something?” she squeaked as the bowl clattered.
“Sorry.” I grimaced. “I actually kind of do. When I was younger, I touched a live wire. It sent thousands of volts of electricity through my hand, and came out right here.” I pointed at my lower hip. “It damaged some nerve endings, and sometimes, I don’t quite notice the heat. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “What were you doing when you were electrocuted?”
I grinned wickedly. “Have you ever seen them use helicopters to fix power lines?”
Her eyes widened hilariously farther. “No.”
“The lineman is attached to a set of ropes and secured to a helicopter. He is flown over target area to complete a repair. Well, that was what I was doing when I touched something I shouldn’t have. They had to land with me dangling from the rigging. I was fucked up for a few weeks.” I hesitated. “Though my wife never came to see me in the hospital because it was ‘too far of a drive’ to make.”
She licked her lips, and shook her head before snatching up a rag from the counter and bringing her bowl into the living room next to the fire.
I scooped up my own food, twice the amount of hers, from different meats in her freezer.
“You answer my original question about your wife and not liking her, and then I’ll answer yours,” she ordered.
My lips quirked. “No. I did not like my wife enough to want kids with her. I thought at one point that might happen, but not after I saw how she was with Erich. I didn’t like how she treated him. Nor did I like how she thought that was how children were to be raised. If Erich hadn’t had his father, I think he would’ve been a total dud.”
She snorted. “I still don’t think he quite won, but I’ll take your word for it.” She spooned up a bite of gumbo, then took a hesitant first bite. Her eyes widened at the taste. “Damn, this is good.”
“The wild game?” I rasped, feeling the stirrings of my dick again.
“Oh.” She frowned. “My grandfather owns beaucoups of acreage in Utah. He has a wild game reserve that he stocks with wild game. When a rich person comes out and shoots something, he gets to keep ten percent of the meat. Usually he ships it to me overnight, because it’s his way of informing me he hasn’t forgotten about me.”
I looked at her before taking another bite of my gumbo. Then thought about how I wanted to voice what I was thinking.
“You sound like you’re not very close with this grandfather of yours,” I said. “But you’re at least hearing from him. He’s reaching out. He’s sending you stuff. Maybe, just maybe, he wants a relationship, but you’re not giving him that in.”
She sighed, then took another bite of her gumbo.
She moaned as she took another bite, causing my already semi-hard cock to stiffen even further.