Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
“Shit,” he whispered.
I held out my hand, palm up. “Hand me my phone.”
He put it in my palm.
I tapped out, I will. I’ll think hard, Dad. Please be careful.
I didn’t send it.
I considered ending it with Love you.
Instead, I added a little blushy-smiley emoji and sent that.
Then I blew out a big breath.
“Get your spit back?” Hugger asked.
I rolled my eyes.
“Painting’s not gonna spit-shine itself, babe,” he remarked.
I rolled my eyes again.
Hugger got up and returned his chair to the window. He slouched in it, put his boots on the sill, ankles crossed, and fired up his phone.
With nothing for it, considering I had a mortgage to pay, and that required me getting work done so I could earn my paycheck, I turned to the painting, reached for a Q-Tip and got to work.
7
WHEN ISN’T IT?
Hugger
Hugger sat across from Diana at her dining room table, knowing.
Down to his gut, he knew.
Even so, he didn’t trust it.
Maybe it was because he never expected it. Maybe it was because he never really wanted it. Or maybe it was more to the point he never thought he’d get it. Or maybe it was because he knew to his soul from the moment he could cogitate he’d never have it.
But whatever.
It was happening.
Although it had been brewing since he caught her wrist in the elevator, and definitely agitating during their discussion at lunch, and what happened after it, Hugger became aware of it when they hit her pad after she was finished with work.
They walked in to see Big Petey and Suzette camped out on the couch in her living room.
Pete was watching TV.
Suzette was tucked into the corner beside Pete, coloring, adult style, with fancy pencils.
“Saw your books, thought you wouldn’t mind,” Pete explained for Suzette, who just looked at Diana and blushed like she’d been caught doing something wrong.
With an expression on her face like Pete had announced that some doctor had cured cancer, Diana replied, “Not at all.”
Indication about how withdrawn Suzette had been, not that Hugger hadn’t noticed it already.
Then came the news that Big Petey had told Eight it was chicken tacos for the night and Eight, Muzzle and Driver wanted to know if they could pitch up.
This pissed Hugger off. She didn’t need to be feeding their crew every night.
It didn’t piss Diana off.
“Absolutely!” she chirped. Then, without delay, she hightailed her phenomenal ass to the kitchen where she opened and closed cupboards, the fridge, dug out that pad of paper from her drawer, scribbled some things down, ripped the page off the pad and lifted it in the air, waving it and asking, “Who’s going to the store?”
Pete clearly didn’t want to leave Suzette, so Hugger went to her closet to grab his empty saddlebags in order that he could haul groceries on his bike.
When he was in there, it struck him, as it didn’t the night before when he’d unpacked, that her closet was big, but it wasn’t full. She’d given him his own space with rods, shelves and drawers, but it wasn’t difficult for her to do.
After he grabbed his bags, he walked back through Diana’s place, seeing the same thing everywhere.
She had her shit tight, but there wasn’t much of it.
This was a life beginning.
She might have the cake to make it nice, but it was clear what she said at lunch was true.
She wasn’t that woman.
She wasn’t a wealthy attorney’s daughter who had a ton of shit, being given it, going into debt to get it, or blowing everything she earned to have it.
She was building, doing it right, but smart.
This hit Hugger, and it did it hard, like pretty much everything about Diana did.
When he walked back to the kitchen, he saw Suzette was in it with Diana, Big Petey had a beer and retained command of the couch, and Diana had the list, which she handed to him on a smile.
Fuck.
That smile.
He felt it right in his cock. Every time.
This time, it was more.
No, she wasn’t pissed a bunch of bikers were horning in on dinner, or a bunch of bikers were hanging around at all.
The opposite.
It seemed like she was in her element. Like this was exactly what she wanted to do after work on a Friday night.
She told him where he could find a grocery store. Pete told him he’d informed Eight they were in charge of bringing beer. Hugger took off and came back to a dining room table set for dinner. Diana and Suzette were in the kitchen doing shit. And Eight, Muzz, Driver and Pete were lounging in the living room, drinking beer and rapping.
“Awesome!” Diana exclaimed in his direction, coming right to the bags he put on the counter. “Okay, dinner in about twenty,” she announced to the room while digging stuff out of the bags.