Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“If you’re asking me that question, Chief, you definitely haven’t been paying attention.”
“Wait. What did you mean when you asked if I was doing a Costco run? Is that code for something?”
I flapped a hand in the air. “You’re too old to get it. Don’t worry about it.”
He grunted.
“I’m thinking of letting Ella set me up with a guy she knows from work. She was going to set me up with Monroe, but I guess you beat me to the punch there.”
“Hey. I didn’t do anything with Monroe. Remember? I drove you home that night, not him.”
“Yes, Chief,” I murmured. “I remember.” In fact, I had his fleece in my car. Thank god he hadn’t caught me in it.
He threw a giant vat of olive oil into the cart before reaching for the spaghetti sauce. “It’s complicated because I’m older than you are.”
“Ah, yes. You’re in your fifties, yes?”
“Shut the hell up. You know I’m forty.”
“I only know it because you were trying to tell me how not-old you were,” I reminded him.
“And you’re part of a current permit suspension,” he continued.
I nodded. “Practically a hardened criminal. Bad for your reputation. I get it.” I pointed to the cart. “You probably want the spaghetti noodles to go with all that sauce.”
He grunted again and grabbed for the noodle boxes. “And I…” He closed his mouth, clenched his jaw, and admitted, “I still have feelings for my ex.”
This was news to me. “You have an ex?” What was I saying? Of course he had an ex. The man was forty years old. “Who? Why’d you break up? What happened?”
He didn’t answer the questions I peppered at him. Instead, he said, “So maybe that explains a few things, okay?”
Not okay. I wanted all of the details. “Was it Kaidee?”
“No. I already told you we’re just friends.”
“Was it a woman?”
His eyes were stormy, not with annoyance but sadness, his jaw still clenched so tight I felt a moment of genuine concern for his molars. “I’m not talking about it with you.”
I reached for his arm and stopped his forward motion. He blew out a breath of frustration like he was expecting me to ask more questions. Instead, I simply said, “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. Anyway, now you know why the mixed signals.”
We started walking together again down the next aisle. “Have you hooked up since your breakup? You said you tried to pick up my cousin. Was that before or after? Before, right?”
He shook his head.
“After?” I asked in surprise. “Your breakup was a long time ago.”
“Yes, I’ve been with other people since. But only for sex.”
I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation in Costco, next to an industrial-sized box of granola bars. “Then why… why can’t we…” I couldn’t get the question out because it would put me right in the crosshairs for another rejection.
“You’re looking for more than that. You’ve been saving yourself for someone special, and I’m not him.” Kincaid’s long legs stalked down the aisle, pushing the cart so hard it nearly took out a display of early bird Halloween candy before he yanked it back on track.
This was so fucking frustrating.
I rushed to catch up with him. “It’s not like that. I was a late bloomer, okay? And then I was busy getting multiple degrees while also working full-time. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to screw around; I just didn’t have the time. And then…”
Kincaid lifted an eyebrow without slowing down. “And then?”
I blew out a breath and dodged around some clearance patio furniture. “And then I was into someone. Someone I did wait for. But he… disappeared, so.”
I deliberately avoided telling him the man had died since the snack foods aisle didn’t pair well with awkward and morbid declarations.
“So here you are?”
“Here I am. Ready. Beyond ready. I just…” I glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “I didn’t exactly want to give it up to a random guy in a bar bathroom, you know?”
He slowed, finally, as we reached the toiletry aisle. “I’m glad you didn’t. That shit can be dangerous.”
“You should take me on,” I blurted. “Show me the ropes. Like a teacher.”
As I spoke, Kincaid’s eyebrows shot up. “Like a teacher?” he asked in disbelief. “A… sex teacher?”
I thought about the best way to play this. “Well, not everyone’s cut out for teaching, and you did say you were kind of old…”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t reverse-psychology me.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s for the best. You seem very dom-toppy, and I’m more of a bottom. At least, I think. You probably wouldn’t be the best teacher in my case. I’ve read that bossy tops can be insensitive or oblivious. Not the most patient. And I don’t want to be rushed or pressured.”
“I would never rush or pressure you,” he ground out, in a voice low and fierce as if forcing himself to stay calm and not throw me across the toothpaste aisle.