Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
I tried not to notice how sexy his walk was. All long limbs and confidence.
My sex clenched involuntarily as I remembered my legs on the sides of his, his hard length pressed against me, his lips on my mouth, my neck, my breast.
“Rue,” he said, shooting me a lopsided smile as he got in front of our little group.
“Hey, Kylo,” I said, feeling awkward.
“And you must be Rue’s grandmother,” he said, zeroing in on her with no problem.
“How did you know?” I asked, brows pinched.
“You have the same eyes.”
My grandmother straightened up at that.
“My dear?” she prompted.
“Oh, right. Kylo, this is my grandmother, Claudia. Grammy, this is Kylo. My… friend.”
Ugh.
That hesitation was painful.
“Nice to meet you,” Kylo said, seeming genuine.
“And this is Loretta,” my grandma said, gesturing to the book lady. “And Barbie,” she added about the D-name lady. “And Katherine,” she said about the last woman who hadn’t said a word since I’d walked up. But I was pretty sure I spied that same steamy book in her purse at her feet. Along with her knitting.
“And please allow me to apologize for their behavior,” I said, shaking my head at them.
“Speak for yourself, my dear,” my grandmother said.
“Young man,” Barbie said, leaning forward. “Could you tell me the name of that handsome gentleman with the wheelbarrow?”
Kylo’s lips twitched at that.
“That is Dixon,” he told her.
“Dixon!” Barbie repeated, shooting Loretta a Told you so look.
“His last name is Cider,” he added.
There was a beat before all four women broke off in delighted laughter.
“What?” I asked, looking at my grandmother.
“Oh, my dear,” she said, reaching under her glasses to wipe a stray tear away. “Put it together.”
“Put what together.”
“Dicks,” she said, spelling it out for me, “inside… her.”
“Oh. Oh,” I said, feeling my cheeks immediately heat.
Kylo shot me a bemused look before adding, “His brother’s name is Caymen.”
“Now you’re pulling our legs!” Barbie said with a bark of a laugh.
“I’m not. On their birth certificates and everything,” Kylo said, clearly loving their reactions.
“Wow, well, look at the time,” my grandmother said, checking her invisible wristwatch as she hopped out of her chair and reached to immediately fold it. “Ladies, we have business to attend to.”
“What buis—“ Loretta started to ask, only to get an elbow to the ribs from Barbie as she too got up. “Oh, right. Business. Very important business.” Loretta and Katherine both rushed to gather their things.
“Ernest said he wants to stay with Grammy again tonight,” my grandmother declared, tugging him along with her. “Have fun catching up with your… friend.”
I watched them—and the social buffer they provided—disappear before I turned back to Kylo.
My stomach seemed to be attempting to tie itself into as many knots as possible as I forced my gaze up to meet his.
“I was here to pick up my dog. She refused to give him back last night. I caught them all out here being creeps to Dixon.”
“Between the two of us, Dixon gets a kick out of the attention. Why else would he be putting down mulch so late in the day… shirtless?”
“Oh, well that’s a relief. So, you live here?” I asked, hoping my tone came out as casual as I was trying for. No peeping in your windows or making soup out of your beloved pet here.
“I do. I can’t believe that your grandmother lives here of all places. I’ve probably seen her a dozen times already.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about them. It turns out the elderly are a lot more, uh, I’m trying to think of a nice way of putting it—”
“Horny,” he supplied, eyes warming at the little bark of laughter that escaped me.
“Yeah, actually.”
“Yeah, we were shocked too. It’s not just the little viewing party here,” he said, waving toward where the women had been parked, the grass still pressed down from their chairs. “A couple of the men keep coming over to the clubhouse to hang out.”
“What? No way.”
“It’s our own fault. The first time one came over to complain about the music, he may or may not have seen one of my friends chasing a topless woman around the house. As a game,” he specified.
“Yeah, that’ll do it. So, you live with your friends? I thought you had your own place?”
“I do. I stay here too,” he said. Was there a false note in his voice? I couldn’t tell. Even if there was, I couldn’t imagine why he would want to lie about something silly like that.
“We’re having some friends over, if you want to come check things out. Meet Mackie.”
“The trash-talking parrot?”
“Yep. There’s a tortoise too.”
He was making it kind of hard to say no, even if my anxiety was whispering in my ear that he was only asking me because he felt somehow obligated since he’d accidentally run into me.
“And Eddie is putting out a spread. Best food you’ll ever eat.”