Page 64 of The Complete Truth Duet
He grinned. “Good. Because I like doing those things for you. And I’ll especially love eating the thank-you dinner you’ll hopefully cook for me tomorrow night.” His head came back down so he could nip at my earlobe and he murmured, “I vote we throw it in reverse and go back to where it all began with turkey bacon burgers and beer.”
I offered him a genuine—but very forced—smile.
I could do that. I could cook him that dinner. I could sit in my room while he put together my bed. I could even lie in the aforementioned bed and let him kiss me breathless all over again.
But what I could not do was hope that I was going to be able to keep him.
Because, the minute I did, he’d be as good as gone.
“Okay. I can do that.”
He pecked my lips. “Despite the cupcakes and cash I’ve been slipping them, I’m not sure your girls like me.”
“Well, they’re gonna have to get over it, because I think after tonight we have an official relationship status.”
He kissed me again, this time with a smiling mouth. “Woman, you’re insane. We’ve had an official status for weeks. I spend every damn night in your bed.”
I slid my hand around his waist and down to his firm ass, giving it a long and lingering squeeze, throwing in a moan for good measure. “You know, for the record, none of this would have happened tonight if we were having sex.”
His eyes flashed wide, and his smile grew. “Is that so?”
“Yep.”
“Well.” He returned the ass grope, kissing me as he groaned down my throat. “The good news is we got seven hundred years to remedy that.”
I slapped his chest.
“The bad news is I gotta run next door and get my tools. Go get changed and two beers ready. I’ll be right back.”
I glowered as he stepped away, but it only made him laugh.
However, with heat licking at my core, I found not the first thing funny.
The wolf whistle I threw his way as he walked out the door with my gaze glued to his ass remedied that though.
Penn
“What’s the chance you’re here to bring me some amazing food Cora cooked to thank us for helping with the bed?” Drew asked, standing at the microwave, counting down the seconds until whatever the hell frozen dinner he’d popped in three minutes earlier would be done.
“None,” I clipped, walking past the kitchen to the bedroom. I navigated around the foot of the new bed I’d bought at the same time I’d gotten Cora’s. Hers was nicer. But considering I’d not slept in my own apartment since our first date, it was really a purchase for Drew.
The microwave beeped as I dug through my toolbox in search of my Allen wrench.
“That was some heavy shit tonight,” Drew said around the tail end of a three-bite burrito that was exactly one step above eating cardboard.
“Those kids are smarter than they look.”
“Well, your bullshit was top-notch. All that ‘and, by extension, you and Savannah are safe too.’ You sold the hell out of that crap.”
“It wasn’t crap,” I said, going to my closet to grab a pair of sweats to sleep in.
“I’m sorry. What?”
“I said it wasn’t crap.”
He arched an incredulous eyebrow. “Yeah, asshole. That’s the part I heard, but surely, you misspoke.”
I tossed my sweats over my shoulder and gave him my full attention. “Change of plans. The three of them. Package deal.”
He ground his teeth. “Fine. When this is all over, we’ll turn the kids over to Social Services. It’s gonna kill your woman though.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and began unlacing my boots. “She’s not my woman. But she’s not gonna be here when we leave, either.”
He barked a laugh. “First of all, I’m not touching the ‘she’s not my woman’ bullshit you just laid down. I do not have time to talk you off that ledge after I tell you that she’s in love with you. And, worse, you’ve got it fucking bad for her.”
My gut wrenched. This was not news to me. No man could spend as much time as I had with a woman like Cora Guerrero without catching it bad. And I’d seen the way she looked at me—all dreamy and lovestruck.
The way she held me every night when she fell asleep, her soft curves pressed so tight against my side that it was like she was trying to crawl inside me. She never tossed. She never turned. And when she was woken up by one of the women in the building, she only moved far enough away to grab her phone and then she was right back at my side.
Then there was the way she cried when I did sweet things for her. And those sweet things were utter bullshit. Sweet would have been replacing her piece-of-shit car, buying her designer handbags, or taking her to five-star restaurants just to hear her moan with every bite. No. The only sweet I could give Cora were simple necessities.
