Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
The silence on the other end lasted maybe ten seconds before Livie said, “Told you.”
Beau handed me back the phone.
“Take the phone back to wherever you found it, and please be as good as I believe you are,” I added, receiving two thumbs-up from Beau.
“Okay, bye, Daddy. If you change your mind, call Abuela,” Ava said. “Bye, Paw,” they chirped in unison. The phone disconnected.
“So that’s new,” I said, putting the cell phone on the nightstand within easy reach.
“They’re too smart for their age,” he said. I rested my palm on his thigh, fingertips trailing a caressing path. It’d take some time to regain that spark of romance, but I was up for the challenge. I edged closer when his cell phone dinged. “They better not have figured out how to text.”
“Of course they have.” I fell to my back, feeling like the world was trying to ruin our alone time. “I was just priming you to make my move. Let’s make love then order room service then go back to the dance club and have thirty-dollar cocktails served by handsome waiters. There were some really pretty men there. Did you think so?”
Beau ignored me as I followed his thumbs deftly moving over the small keyboard. A return text showed a picture of a handsome, buff, middle-aged rock climber. “Who’s that?”
“A new lead in the club,” Beau murmured distractedly. “He’s finalizin’ the arrangements for the Himalayas. He’s ordering our meals on the plane.”
Rock climbing attracted a certain kind of guy, but they were rarely that attractive. This guy met Beau in stature and looks. Shockingly, I had a momentary lick of jealousy, emotions I’d only had a couple of times before. It was incredibly hard to tamp down.
“When’s the climb?” I asked, lifting to a sitting position right beside Beau to read the texts. Wow. He had a beard, more substantial than the growth Beau wore. And had a fuck-boy hairstyle that I couldn’t properly pull off, but looked natural on him.
My heart gave a twist of concern. I wasn’t the young man I used to be, and got to my feet.
“Late October into early November. It’s a couple of weeks. I put it on the shared calendar.” Beau lifted his gaze to mine and didn’t focus on my cock that was eye-level. I didn’t turn hard either. What the hell? “You were invited to go. You haven’t been to that side of the world.”
No, I hadn’t. I wasn’t a fan of camping. I preferred climate control and flushable toilets. More importantly, the thought of both of us being so far from home didn’t set well. I lost his gaze to the phone again, his thumbs moving over the keyboard. He barely texted me, but this guy… Suddenly, he clicked off the phone and placed it next to mine on the nightstand.
“What did you say you wanted to do?” Beau asked, and still hadn’t touched my penis.
“I’m jealous,” I stated honestly. The only thing I wanted to do was to ride in on a white stallion and drive a saber through this sports climbing guy’s heart so he couldn’t go on the trip with my love. It seemed a fair option.
“Jealous of what? The trip? You can go…”
No. He was purposely being vague, and I cut him right off, not playing his games. “The guy you’re texting is nice looking.”
“What are you talkin’ about? Most of the guys in the club are attractive,” he said, as if that helped the situation in any way. My silence, due to being dumbfounded, had a perplexed expression knitting his brow together. “Jesse has a wife on the team. She’s goin’ with us. You’d like him and her. He’s a doctor of somethin’ smart, not a medical doctor, doctor. We can invite them over so you’re comfortable around ’em.”
His words soothed me. My jealousy vanished. If Beau didn’t genuinely understand where I was coming from, then I had to be off base. I let it go.
“It gets really chilly in here,” I said by way of an answer. “But the room loses it fast. Do you think that’s on purpose?”
I received the ‘you’re silly’ head shake from my guy, which was probably deserved. “How about dinner, dancin’ for an hour or so, then marathon sex until it’s time to leave in the mornin’,” Beau suggested.
“How about a fast shower with sex, then dinner at the sushi place downstairs. We’ll decide about dancing. I might want to walk the complex. There’s a lot going on here.”
Beau’s handsome face scrunched slightly, knowing I really wanted to stop by the Kellus Hardin art show. He was local to the Dallas art scene. And Beau wasn’t a big fan of my favorite Asian meal, but he’d get something to-go from another restaurant, and we’d meet to eat together.
He nodded and rose, heading to the bathroom. “You bottom in the shower and I’ll get a hamburger from the grill.”