Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“It was terrible. Name one good scene.”
He falls silent, absently rubbing a thumb down the side of my arm. It’s so comforting and I’m so tired from all the sex that my eyes flutter shut. Drowsiness envelops me. When I’ve almost fallen asleep, I hear him say, “The baseball scene?”
I laugh tiredly and hug him close. I could never love a man as I do Leka. Who else would rack their brains to find one good scene just so I wouldn’t fall asleep disappointed? No one. “Don’t leave me again. I won’t make it.”
“I won’t.”
“Promise?”
“We’ll be together forever.”
Those words are almost better than sex. Almost. I drift into unconsciousness with a smile on my face.
* * *
A month passes. A blissful, glorious month where the only thing we fight about is who gets to make breakfast. I win most of the time because Leka surprisingly has zero self-control around me. It’s as if the first time we kissed poked a hole in his emotional dam and the hours of sex has fully battered it into dust.
I try not to take advantage of his vulnerability. Audie would’ve demanded that I squeeze him for jewels and cars and property just in case he changes his mind later on, but the only thing I want from Leka is his love, which he is showering all over me.
"What are you doing up so early?" Leka comes up behind me and pulls the silk of my robe aside to place a warm kiss on my shoulder.
"I'm working a double shift today. Cindy, the girl who does the day shift, is taking her grandmother to the hospital to get her hip replaced."
Leka frowns. "Did you tell me this yesterday? Because I don't remember."
"No. I knew you wouldn't like it and I didn't want to spend a lot of time arguing about it, so I saved it for this morning." I lean back and give his tight jaw a kiss. The one thing that makes Leka unhappy is my job. He believes I should sit home on my butt and do nothing.
"Two shifts?" he replies stiffly.
I flip the eggs over carefully and check the butter and cream sauce. "Two shifts. It's not the end of the world."
"You're already tired after one."
"I know, but I don't mind. It's honest work and I like getting my paycheck. It's nice to be able to pay for things with the money I earned myself."
"All right," he says.
Surprised, I nearly drop the egg off the spatula. "No argument?"
He scrubs a hand through his hair, the ends sticking up in an adorably messy way. "If you like it, then I wanna be happy for you. I guess it'd get boring sitting on your ass all day."
"It would be very boring."
"You could join one of those clubs," he suggests.
I finish plating our breakfast. Leka carries the plates to the table and holds my seat for me.
"What clubs are those?"
"I dunno. Sometimes the bankers I, ah, work with talk about clubs."
I hide a smile. "I don't think these clubs are the kinds you want me hanging around. They're mostly populated by over-inflated egos who like to rack up points by seeing who can sleep with the most models or actresses or some kind of combination of the two."
Leka immediately scowls. "No clubs. Definitely no clubs."
"I am going to join a spin class. There's a gym close by work so I can go there before class and then go to work. I'm hoping I can get on the night shift so our hours mesh better."
"I don't really have hours."
"I know that, but you're generally gone at night and that way we can spend our days together instead of me skipping out on you in the middle of the afternoon."
He toys with his food a bit. "You never ask me about my work."
"I didn't think you wanted to share."
"I don't," he admits, "but couples share shit, right?"
"I suppose, but we share everything else from the bathroom to the bed." I reach over and squeeze his hand, which has formed a fist. “I don’t have to know this stuff. You love me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s nothing more that needs to be said.” There’s a niggle in the back of my head, a little alarm that goes off that suggests that I’m not entirely right about this, but I ignore it because Leka loves me. That’s all that matters.
36
Leka
Cesaro is back, supposedly to oversee the shipment of some weapons through the territory, but I fear his true motive. It’s been a concern of mine since I abandoned him at the club to take Bitsy home. To help me sleep at night, I’d convinced myself that he’d forgotten about her.
But he has returned for an unprecedented second visit in as many months. As Justin bends over the stove cooking Cesaro’s dinner, I run my finger across the fillet knife. It’s sharp enough to slice a man’s throat. Mary used a knife just like this four years ago to kill Gerry. I could use it to kill another man at the very same table.