Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“Aren’t you going to roll over?” I asked. “When my back hurts, I find it helps to sleep on my back, let the spine straighten itself out.”
Wes cracked one eye open. “Can’t.”
“Can’t? Do you need help?”
“Nope.”
He looked over at my face and must’ve read the confusion because he sighed. “My body hasn’t gotten over how much it liked the massage, Juliette.”
“Oh,” I answered before the meaning sank in. “Oh!”
Wes gave a tiny shake of his head, almost amused, before his eyes closed again. I lay with my eyes open, staring at his face in the dim light. He looked so handsome, even half asleep. My pulse quickened with thoughts I probably shouldn’t have indulged. What would he do if I leaned in right now and kissed him? Would he kiss me back? Would he flip me onto my back and pin my wrists over my head? I knew he would be the kind of lover who didn’t ask, but took. Rough, commanding. Addictive. And God help me, I’d love every second of it.
My dirty thoughts kept me wired long after Wes turned over and drifted off, his breaths evening out into a steady rhythm of sleep. Desperate for something to quiet my own mind, I inched closer and gently rested my head on his chest.
***
The next morning, Wes slept in. I went downstairs in search of some coffee and wound up sitting at the kitchen table with his mom for more than an hour. She told me half a dozen stories from Wes’s teen and tween years, each one funnier than the last. Apparently, he’d started noticing girls at a young age.
“Then when he was eleven, he got this crush on one of his brother’s friends,” Joanna continued, smiling. “She was three years older, like Luke, and Wes decided that if he grew some muscles, maybe she wouldn’t notice that he hadn’t even started puberty yet. He asked me to buy him some weights, but I wasn’t sure if boys that young should be pumping iron, so I told him to wait a year or two.” She shook her head. “But Wes was determined. He usually walked home after school with some friends because I worked until five o’clock, but one day I came home early and saw that the boy next door had come home, but Wes hadn’t. I asked Billy where my son was, and he said Wes had started going to Costco every day after school. I thought that was strange, so I took a ride over—and found Wes lifting the display weights.”
We both laughed, and Wes walked in mid-cackle, frowning as his head ping-ponged between us. “Oh, this can’t be good…”
I grinned. “I’m glad you’re up. I was thinking about going to the gym. Maybe we can go together.”
He cocked his head, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Okay...”
“Or maybe you’d like to go to Costco instead?”
Wes shut his eyes. “I’m going to kill you, Ma. How many stories have you told her?”
“Oh, just one or two.”
I chuckled. “Or six.”
“Great.” He crossed over to open a cabinet, pulling out a mug and filling it with coffee from the pot. “Just what I needed.”
He carried the mug to the table and sat down opposite his mother, who looked between us and smiled. “How did you two meet?”
I opened my mouth to tell the story we’d told Mario and Natalia—how Wes had pulled me over for a traffic stop, and we later met at the bar. But I didn’t think that timeline would make sense, as his mother probably knew he’d been off the force for a while. So I extended a hand to Wes. “I’ll let Wes do the honors. It’s so much funnier when he tells it.”
Without missing a beat, Wes spoke with a straight face. “I saved her ass.”
His mom chuckled. “What does that mean?”
“I was in Dunkin Donuts getting my morning coffee, when the woman ahead of me in line darted to the ladies’ room. I figured she really had to go.” He shrugged and sipped his coffee. “A few minutes later she came back, and there were like six more customers in line, so I told her she could cut in front of me since she’d been there before I was. When she did, I noticed her entire ass was hanging out. She’d accidentally tucked the back of her skirt into her underwear.”
My eyes widened, mortified.
The corner of Wes’s lip twitched. “She also had some toilet paper in there.”
I blinked at him, unsure if I should be impressed that he’d made up that story so quickly, or a little scared.
Joanna patted my arm. “It happens.” She looked over at her son. “Did you not sleep well, Wes? You look tired, and it’s not like you to sleep so late.”
“I had a little trouble falling asleep.”