Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
And don’t forget, you pegged him wrong from the beginning.
I shrugged. “Of course I like you. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t.”
“True,” he agreed. “But you don’t want to because of your ex.”
I sighed, not wanting to think about that asshole again. “I thought we said we were going to keep this light.”
“I said fun. I never said light. I want to get to know you better, see what makes you tick.”
I groaned. “Believe me, you don’t want to go there.”
He chuckled, then yawned, and when I glanced more closely at him, he seemed exhausted. “Hey, you okay? You look beat.”
“Yeah, just stayed up late studying the last couple of nights,” he replied as I pulled up to his apartment. “I’d still invite you up if you want to…”
“How about you get some sleep instead?” I swiped my thumb under his eye, which looked puffy, probably from being tired. “I’m gonna check on you in the morning and make sure you went straight to bed.”
He rolled his eyes and leaned over to kiss my cheek, which made my stomach flood with warmth. “Okay, Dad.”
“But hey, listen,” I said, surprising myself. “Um…I told Bree to go hang out with her friends, and she finally scheduled something. So I’m going to have a night with Hailey and—”
“Okay, I’m in,” he said, suddenly perking up and gripping my arm.
“What?” I snickered. “I didn’t even—”
“Yeah, but you were about to,” he pointed out, and he wasn’t wrong. He was the first person I considered when I planned my night with my niece. What that meant…I wasn’t going to think about right now. “What should I bring?”
“Yourself?”
“No, silly.” He stared off into space as if considering it. “She’ll want to do makeup and nails.”
I held up my hands. “Whatever you want. I’m certainly not going to stop you. She’ll love whatever you decide.”
He grinned but then sobered a bit. “So, am I allowed to ask about Hailey’s father?”
I gripped the steering wheel. “Mark is a truck driver, and so yeah…he’s not home a lot, but he’s trying to get better about it and support his family in all the ways they need him, if you know what I mean.”
“Thanks for telling me.” He frowned. “I promise I’ll stop with the twenty questions until the next time I see you.”
“You pain in the ass,” I teased. “Now get over here and let me give you a real kiss good night.”
“Such a romantic.” But his eyes softened as he leaned over with his lips puckered, and I got a good taste of that cotton-candy lip gloss. Before we got too carried away, I pulled back, told him to go to bed, then watched him walk inside his building. I considered getting out of the car and following him inside just to sleep curled up with him again. And that was the exact reason why I didn’t. Sex—just casual, toe-curling sex. Nothing else.
Except maybe more of those kisses.
27
Jesse
Okay, so this wasn’t something I’d probably admit to anyone, but I was a little nervous about going to Dane’s to babysit Hailey with him. It felt so…boyfriend-y, which was stupid because we’d hung out with Hailey how many times now? But this would be the first time since we’d decided to have fun with each other while not having fun with anyone else, and the first time since we were continuously fucking, though I was still waiting for the continuously part.
Seth was planning on dropping me off at Dane’s place before he went to an evening class. He frowned when I came out of the room with a huge-ass bag.
“Are you moving in with him?” Seth teased.
I rolled my eyes. “No. It’s babysitting supplies. Duh.”
Seth chuckled. “Well, I’ve never babysat like this, so I guess I didn’t know it required so much…stuff.”
Maybe it didn’t, but my babysitting hangout did, damn it. I really fucking wanted this to be fun, not just for Hailey, but for Dane too. He didn’t have enough fun in his life, and I was going to make sure that changed.
“You are so into this guy.”
“You are so mistaken.”
“I’m not.”
“Are too,” I countered.
“You said you had a crush!”
I shook my head. “So? I didn’t say I was so into him. Now are we going to go, or what? I have the best party in history to attend.”
Seth chuckled, grabbed his keys, and we were on our way. Honestly, I’d probably overpacked for this event, but again, I wanted it to be special. I loved kids, and I’d always wished I’d had siblings so I could have nieces and nephews and get to spend time with them like this, and also, you know, so some of the family pressure would be taken off me, but that wasn’t the point.
When we pulled up to Dane’s place, it was already dark, but then it got dark early this time of year. “Thanks for the ride, sweets.” I kissed Seth on the cheek.