Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
When I glanced over at Rome’s closed bedroom door, there was a lightness in my chest—until I thought about Eamon, and then it faded almost immediately. Eamon had loved me. He’d healed what Rome had broken. Yesterday had been the start to a friendship. Nothing more.
There was probably a woman—Nixie or whoever—in there with him. Naked, curled up against his side.
Doing my best to shove that thought away and convince myself that it did not matter to me, I made my way to the kitchen. I heard a voice about the same time I smelled the bacon.
“You were gone a long time yesterday.”
I spun around to see Lick standing down the long hallway that led to the backyard.
“Hey,” I replied. “I didn’t see you back there in the dark.”
He stepped forward until the light from the stairs illuminated him. “You doing okay after talking to the cops?”
I was, but I wondered if I would have been if Rome hadn’t come to get me and taken me away from here.
“It was…stressful,” I admitted, “but, yes, I’m fine.”
“You going into breakfast?” he asked me.
“Yes. Have you eaten?”
His gaze slowly glanced at the door, then back at me. “Not yet. Let’s go.”
Oh, so we were going in to eat together.
I didn’t know what to make of Lick. He was…odd. There was a dangerous, sexy thing he had going for him, but something was off with him. Like perhaps there were a few emotions that he hadn’t been given. A coldness that didn’t at all go with the man who had saved me, then scooped me up to carry me away from the nightmare.
I started toward the door, and when I got to it, his large, tattooed hand was already there, reaching over me and shoving it open. I thanked him before entering the bright area, where there were few bikers up since it was only nine.
Nina and Goldie were working behind the counter while Pepper sat at the bar with a cup of coffee in her hands, laughing at something one of the other two women had said.
All three pairs of eyes swung over to me—or I guessed us since they all shifted from Lick, who was behind me, then to me. Pepper’s eyes widened just a bit, and then she drank from her cup. The curiosity was so blatant on her face that she might as well ask me what it was she wanted to know so bad.
“You’re up early, Lick,” Nina said pointedly, as if accusing him of something.
I walked over and took the stool beside Pepper.
“Better biscuits in the first batch,” he replied as he pulled out the seat on the other side of me and sat in it.
Goldie cocked an eyebrow at him. “Or better scenery perhaps.”
He smirked as his eyes fell to meet mine.
I felt my cheeks warm, and I smiled before turning to Pepper. “I don’t think you ever sleep. You were awake when I went to sleep and gone when I woke up.”
She gave me a smug look. “Not all of us had a full day out, exploring.”
“Yes, please, tell us about that. Inquiring minds want to know,” Nina piped in.
Goldie took a plate of food over to Lick. “We need to gossip. Could you take this elsewhere to eat?” she asked him, smiling so brightly that I didn’t think anyone could tell her no.
“Maybe I want to hear the gossip,” he said, putting the plate down and picking up a slice of bacon. Clearly not going anywhere.
Goldie sighed dramatically. “It’s girl talk. You don’t wanna hear that.”
He chewed the bacon while holding her stare, then swallowed before saying, “You ever think she don’t want to tell the three of you her business?”
I sucked in a breath and dropped my eyes to my hands, which were clasped in my lap.
“Sure we did. But that’s not how we work. We want to ask, and she’s not gonna tell us shit with one of you sitting there. So, be nice and go somewhere else,” Pepper informed him.
I could feel Lick’s eyes on me, but I didn’t look up.
“You want to talk to them about shit?” he asked.
No, not particularly, but I also didn’t want to be rude to them. All three of them had started to feel like friends. And I desperately needed those.
“I don’t mind,” I said, giving him a quick smile before straightening my shoulders and trying not to appear awkward.
“All right,” he drawled, shoving his stool back and picking up his plate.
Why did that make me feel as if I’d let him down? Ugh. I didn’t like this.
“Thank you, Lick,” Goldie chirped.
He grunted in acknowledgment and headed for the door we’d only come in minutes ago.
Nina leaned her elbows on the counter, looking from that door to me. “Someone has warned you to be careful with that one, right? Because Lick is a crazy MFer.”