Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Then why haven’t you been willing to have dinner with me?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just…” She hangs her head. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be very good company right now.”
“Shouldn’t I be the judge of that?”
“I’ve had a lot on my mind.” She walks to the counter, grabs a towel, and begins wiping it down.
“Hasn’t your mom gotten back to you with any possible solutions to our puzzle?”
“She hasn’t, and that’s just part of the problem.” Ava leaves the rag on the counter and pulls the hairnet off her head. Her hair is tied up in a messy bun. “My mom is a smart woman. Not just smart, but shrewd and clever. An excellent detective and investigator. But if she hasn’t come up with anything yet? Especially with all the code-breaking apps she claimed to have? Something’s rotten here.”
I walk toward her. “That does seem strange.”
“It’s my family, Brendan. Like I said, it’s not you at all. I’ve been ruminating on this for almost a week now, and none of it makes any sense.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I would, but there’s not really anything to talk about. It’s more feelings.”
“Then we’ll talk about feelings.”
“It would bore you to tears.”
“Ava, nothing about you could ever bore me to tears.”
She smiles then. Sort of. “You know what? I’ve missed you.”
“Good news, then. From now on? I’m only three buildings away.”
She smiles. “Your place is done? Already?”
“It’s all done. No more sleeping over at my mom and dad’s house. I’d love to give you the grand tour of my tiny place. I’ll even cook for you.”
She tilts her head. “You cook?”
“More like I fry hamburgers on my George Foreman grill, but yeah.”
“You know?” This time her smile is genuine. “I’d like that, Brendan. I know I’ve been blowing you off, and I’m sorry. I haven’t wanted to.”
“That’s some consolation, I guess,” I say. “But let me make my position clear on this. I like you a lot, Ava. I’d like to see where this goes. I know we jumped into bed pretty quickly, and believe me, I’m not sorry about that. But I want you to know that you’re more than just sex to me.”
“I know that. If I thought I were just sex to you, I never would’ve gone to bed with you a second time.”
“Yeah, that was your idea as I recall.” I laugh.
“It was, and now that I look at you”—her eyelids flutter—“I have no idea why I have been depriving myself for a week.”
“I don’t either.” I cup her cheek. “Come on. I’ll make you some supper.”
Ava turns away and grabs something. She hands me a bag of large rolls. “Buns. For the burgers.”
I take the plastic bag from her. “Perfect. Thanks.”
“I’m a mess. I need to shower first.”
“You can shower at my place,” I say. “In fact, I think I could use a shower myself.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
AVA
He’s inside me, fucking me up against his newly tiled shower wall.
Again, the burn. Brendan is so huge, and he tunnels through me like a flaming freight train.
The water sprinkles over us, and my hair is plastered to my face and shoulders, as is his.
He pounds into me and brings me to orgasm. His pubic bone presses against my clit with each thrust.
“Brendan!” I scream out.
“That’s it, baby. You come. You come for me.”
He thrusts, thrusts, thrusts…
Until—
“Yes, God,” he grits out.
I feel his release even as I’m knee-deep into my own. It makes me soar higher, ever higher, until finally…
He slides out of me, and my feet hit the floor of the shower.
We wash each other’s hair then, and I was right. Brendan’s hair is even longer than mine, and so silky. I love the feel of it between my fingers.
Once we’re both squeaky clean, Brendan turns off the shower. He gives me a large white bath towel and helps me wrap it around my body. Then he takes another towel and dries my hair for me.
All this while he’s still standing naked and dripping wet.
Too soon, he covers himself with a towel and dries his own hair.
“You know,” I say, “I came over here in my apron and my work clothes. I don’t have anything to change into.”
He lifts his eyebrows. “I don’t think that’s a problem at all.”
“Do you have a T-shirt I could put on?”
“I was thinking we’d just stay naked tonight.”
“You want to fry hamburgers while you’re naked?”
He laughs then. “Interesting point. I’ll find us both something.”
Moments later, he’s clad in jeans and a Dragonlock T-shirt, and I’m wearing a simple white T-shirt that falls midway to my knees.
“What can I help you with?” I take a look at his brand-new kitchen. Stainless-steel appliances, white and black tile that contrasts nicely with the hardwood throughout the rest of the small apartment.
“Nothing. You already did your part by making the hamburger buns.”