Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Nothing needed to be said as to why Bernie hadn’t been happy over the last couple of years. It was obvious what Max was implying.
Jasper was the reason that Bernie was hurting.
And he needed to help her, because it was Jasper’s fault.
Which thoroughly pissed me off.
“I’ll help you figure it out,” Apollo said. “Go home, though. Jasper’s not in the middle of this anymore. From now on, your only point of contact is me. If that changes, we stop helping. Capiche?”
Apollo’s words took the wind out of my pissed-off sails.
Jasper shot Apollo a look that I couldn’t quite interpret before it was wiped off his face, and Apollo shook his head in a way that had me curious. But not curious enough to ask him while Max was still in the room.
“I don’t know…
“If you want out of this, you’ll take my help,” he said. “And when you’re done, for repayment, you’ll take someone home to New Orleans with you and help him get settled.”
Max opened her mouth but closed it before any words could make it past her lips.
Apollo jerked his head toward the door. “Leave your rental. You’ll ride back to my place and we’ll get this taken care of. Then you can take an Uber back to your hotel. In the morning, you’ll get on a flight back to New Orleans and you won’t look back.”
“Wait!” I called out.
Apollo and Max turned, but I didn’t have anything I wanted to give Max.
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed three boxes of cookies, hurrying back toward Apollo.
“Take these with you,” I urged. “I don’t have the capacity to eat fifteen dozen cookies.”
Apollo flashed me a grin. “Nice. Merry Christmas, Calamity Jane.”
I whipped my head around and glared at the jerk behind me.
He shrugged as he started to dig into my food again.
Max and Apollo disappeared outside, and I locked the door behind them. I did, however, watch them walk to Apollo’s car.
They were inside and driving off before I took a good look at mine and Jasper’s yard.
The ice was making the blow-ups droop, and icicles were forming on the wooden Rudolph that dominated the majority of the yard beside Jasper’s mailbox.
I absentmindedly raised the back of my camisole up to scratch my lower back. I kept scratching it even as I turned around and gave the winter wonderland outside my back.
When I did, my heart started to slam against my ribcage.
Twenty
I’m not feeling very worky today.
—Jasper to Cutter
JASPER
I never thought I’d find a woman in sweatpants and a camisole sexy, but I decided that in all likelihood, I just hadn’t seen Calli so underdressed before.
I’d been her neighbor for months now, and I’d never seen her anything less than perfect.
There’d been no running out to check her mail in short shorts.
There’d been no tight Lycra pants and tight tank tops.
Calli was always fully dressed.
That was why, seeing her so haphazardly clothed, even if she was in a ratty pair of sweatpants and a worn-out camisole, was really turning me on.
I’d just shoved my hand down the front of my sweatpants to readjust my dick when she turned around and locked eyes with me.
My hand down my pants froze, fingers wrapped around my cock to position it better down the length of my thigh.
Her eyes took me in, hands down my pants, dick hard and straining the gray fabric, and a look of torture on my face.
Her eyes went from my torso to my hand, back to my face, then back to my hand.
I pushed my dick down, which didn’t really work, and removed my hand from my pants.
“You know,” she said softly.
I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t.
Which had me so goddamn curious that I put my food onto the counter and leaned a hip against the granite.
“Know what?” I pushed, making no effort to hide my hard-on even though I probably should have.
I couldn’t have her.
I’d made Searcy and Doc promises when they helped Calli find a home. I’d promised to always watch out for her. And somehow, I didn’t think fucking their sister was on the list of appropriate things they’d wanted me to take care of.
“I don’t know.” She licked her lips, her eyes once again trailing down the length of my exposed chest.
If this were any other person, I’d think they were staring at the scars. But with Calli, I didn’t think she even saw them.
It was like they were there, but they didn’t affect how she saw me.
Sometimes, when I’d catch her staring, I’d just know that she was looking at something other than my imperfections.
Her cheeks would always heat, and she’d look away.
For the longest time I’d told myself it was because she was uncomfortable around me. Uncomfortable around everybody.
But the more I stood there thinking about it, the more I realized that it was literally just me.