Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I thought you hated me.”
“I wondered what it would feel like to ride, too. Only I wasn’t thinking about the bike one bit.”
Our eyes caught, and I watched as her pupils actually dilated. Fuck. She was getting turned on. I pressed my thumbs into the arch of one of her feet, and she closed her eyes and let out a small moan. “God, I love that sound.” I heard the thickness in my own voice. My cock was growing to match it.
As I rubbed, I felt the tightness from her muscles flee. But it was replaced by a different type of tension. A raw sexual energy filled the air around us. She was relishing my touch, slowly giving into how it made her feel. My hands at her feet moved up to her calf. Her breathing became jagged with each knead. God, I missed the feel of her skin beneath my fingers. I wanted her body under mine so badly, it was almost painful to keep myself from pushing too fast. My hand slid up to the back of her knee, and I inched closer to her. Her body was so responsive to my touch.
“Chance,” she moaned with her eyes shut.
I leaned into her slowly. “Aub—”
The sound of the doorbell was the equivalent to throwing a bucket of ice water over Aubrey. Her eyes flew open and bulged from her head, and her body became rigid. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who she thought was at the door.
“What if it’s…Richard?”
“So what? We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But…I didn’t tell him about us. You showed up the other night on my doorstep and said you were leaving town. I’m pretty sure that raised his suspicion enough. If he finds you here, he’ll think something is going on between us.”
I was suddenly defensive. I stood. “There is something going on between us.”
“You know what I mean.”
The doorbell rang again. I wanted nothing more than to stomp to the front door, swing it open and tell Dick to take a hike. But Aubrey was looking panicked. I raked my fingers through my hair. “What do you want me to do? Slip out the back door?” I was being sarcastic. Although, the way she looked at me told me it was exactly what she wanted. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. I…I…just can’t let him find you here.”
We stared at each other for a long moment. Leaving like this felt monumental to me. Like I was the other guy. Not Dick. It hurt like hell, but I did what she wanted. Without another word, I left out the back door.
I waited by the back window until I saw him inside, then walked around to the front. I couldn’t watch from the outside in again. It would kill me. And there was no way in hell I could stick around to possibly watch his car spend the night. So, I left. There might have been tire marks on the street outside of her house—but I left.
Steamed, I got on the highway and headed back toward Hermosa Beach. It was either that or wallow in my own self-pity with Carla, and I didn’t trust myself to stick around at the moment. I made it about an hour before my gas light was flashing. Pulling into the combo rest stop-gas station, I parked and leaned my head on the steering wheel for a few minutes.
What was I doing? Aubrey was happy. At least she was before I selfishly showed up back in her life. I wanted her to want me back so badly, I questioned if I was seeing something that was no longer there. The hour drive had me flip flopping back and forth between being certain she only needed time to learn to trust me again and being certain I was doing the wrong thing for sticking around.
Just as I was about to get out of the car, the sky opened up. Rain started to teem, bouncing off the hot California blacktop making it steam like dry ice. It was eerie looking, really. Lonely, almost. Maybe it was a sign.
I jogged into the rest stop. Unable to beat the raindrops, my clothes were drenched as I headed to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face, looked in the mirror and tried to give myself a pep talk. I couldn’t even convince my own sorry ass that everything was going to turn out fine, yet I was trying to convince Aubrey. My phone buzzed in my pocket and, for a second, I let my hopes rise. It was a text from my carrier telling me I’d nearly reached the end of my data plan usage allotment. Now, there’s a damn sign. I was running out of time.
Grumbling to myself, I walked out of the restroom and decided to grab a bite before filling the tank and getting back on the road. I laughed when I saw my choices: Starbucks or Popeyes Chicken. It was ironic, really. Perhaps, I’d stop in the small gift shop and look for an Obama bobblehead on my way out. I was internally berating myself for being such a pathetic fuckwad.