Page 263 of A Lick and A Promise
And it did. I’d been depending on me and only me since I moved out of Mom and Dad’s house at nineteen.
He drew in a breath, came to me and pulled me in his arms.
“You’ve been on your own for a while,” he began.
“So have you,” I cut in.
“Can I talk?”
I shut up.
He fought smiling.
I decided it best to stay shutting up while he did.
Finally, he said, “We both have a lot of getting used to shit. We lost a year in between. We both just went through it with my family. Mace thinks this vacation is a great idea because he doesn’t really need a man at a desk or in the control room. He needs men in the field. This is the perfect time…for me…for a vacation. I want you with me. You can’t afford it. I can. I don’t give a fuck I’m paying for you. So I don’t know why you would.”
Another good point.
“If I’m gone two whole weeks, Raye will have that stupid Tiffany’s collar on Jacques and he might get used to it, so I might have to put up with it,” I said.
He smiled instead of rubbing it in he won (or maybe his smile was rubbing it in, but since I liked it, I didn’t care) before he bent in to touch his lips to mine.
When he pulled away, he asked, “Can we start planning our vacation now?”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
“Caribbean?” he asked.
I’d love to go to the Caribbean.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
He smiled again. “All-inclusive?”
Okay, now he was rubbing it in.
“Knox—”
“Just to say, I have no interest in cooking, cleaning up a kitchen or making my bed when I’m on vacation. That doesn’t say vacation. So…all-inclusive.”
“We agree vacation philosophies so…fine.”
“Only you could pretend somewhat convincingly you aren’t excited to go to an island all-inclusive.”
“I’m only pretending because you’re rubbing in your win.”
“Oh yeah, I’m doing that,” he murmured, deep voice vibrating with humor. “But are you gonna keep it up while we look at packages?”
“Only for part of the time. Then I’ll get excited.”
To that, I got a grin and an order. “Grab your laptop, babe.”
I grabbed my laptop.
We decided on Turks and Caicos.
And I pretended to be annoyed only part of the time.
