“Well, until recently, I have been a dickhead magnet,” I explained.
“No, babe. You’re fuckin’ pretty, you dress great, and you got a fantastic body. Pretty much any guy who has a functioning dick would take one look at you and want in your pants. That’s why he asked you out.”
And Merry gives me more.
“That’s a nice thing to say,” I murmured, even though it wasn’t.
It was a bunch of amazing, awesome things to say.
“I take it you said no,” he noted.
“I’m kinda seeing someone.”
His brows shot together. “This was recent?”
I nodded and added, “He hasn’t been living there very long.”
His head tipped slightly to the side. “He hit on you and he’s got a woman?”
“I think they broke up.”
“Mm…” he muttered strangely but said no more.
“Are you gonna go apeshit on me?” I asked, feeling hopeful that, since he hadn’t yet, he wouldn’t.
“No,” he answered.
Good news.
“Are you gonna go apeshit on Ryker?” I went on.
“Absolutely,” he answered.
“Good,” I mumbled, dropping my eyes to my hand on his chest. “I’m pissed he pulled Ryan into whatever he’s got goin’ down. He deserves scary apeshit-Merry.”
“Babe.”
I lifted my eyes back to his.
“We learn a lesson?” he asked.
I was not a big fan of him asking that question with the nuance he thought I was a little girl who needed the big man to educate her.
That said, I’d definitely learned a lesson.
Not to mention, I knew better.
The minute Merry and I became an us, I should have stopped keeping things from him.
“I’ll answer affirmative to that only with the warning that if any future communications hold a nuance of condescension, especially full scale of the same, they will be responded to with knee action requiring hours of ice downs and render our sex life moot for a week,” I declared.
“You got trouble living two doors down,” Merry fired back. “You essentially knew about it. Didn’t tell me about it, even though two seconds after we became an us, the first thing I told you was that you laid that shit on me. And you’re makin’ threats because you think I’m being condescending?”
“Yes.”
He studied me.
Then he grinned as he moved my hand from his heart, curling it around his side as his other arm curled around me, drawing me close.
“It’s good you’re fuckin’ pretty and I’ve been in your pants and liked what I go so want to go back for more or you might get apeshit.”
It seemed like the crisis was averted, which was a relief.
At least for me.
Ryker was another story.
But I figured he could handle himself.
“I need to get back to work,” I told him. “Or to work at all, seeing as I didn’t even start. Ryan showed and I just let ’er rip.”
“Then I best let you go so I can find Ryker and tear him a new asshole.”
“Tear him a bigger one for me.”
He shook his head before he dipped it and touched his mouth to mine.
On the upswing, he muttered, “Came in for a drink with my girl.”
“You’re in luck. I’m a bartender and can see to that,” I replied.
“Can’t have a drink and go out and rip Ryker a new asshole.”
“Do that and then come back and hang with me.”
“She’s bossy even after she fucks up huge.”
I shrugged, being cocky, only because I could.
And again with the happy.
Because I’d fucked up huge; it was true. Merry wasn’t a big fan of me doing that; this was true too.
But it seemed he was big enough to get beyond it.
Or better, he liked me enough to get beyond it.
Or both.
So I could be cocky.
But I also felt happy because this said a lot about Merry, about me, about the relationship we were building. A fuckup like that could have led to a fight that could have torn down some of what we’d built, paving the way for us to tear down more.
Instead, we’d ended it like we’d started it.
Just us.
So yeah, I could be cocky.
And happy.
Hold On
Kristen Ashley's books
- Holding the Dream
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- Illusion(The Vampire Destiny Book 2)
- Upon A Midnight Clear
- Son Of The Morning
- MacKenzie's mission(MacKenzie Family Saga #2)
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Billionaire's Redemption
- A Convenient Proposal
- A Dishonorable Knight
- A Headstrong Woman
- A Passion for Pleasure
- Atonement
- Beyond a Doubt
- Beyond Control
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)
- Conceal, Protect
- Conflict of Interest
- Confessing to the Cowboy
- Dreams Don't Wait
- Explosive Attraction
- Find Wonder in All Things
- Forbidden Fires (Bondage & Breakfast)
- Galveston Between Wind and Water
- Game On
- Gone with the Wolf
- Honor's Players
- Illusions of Love
- Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down
- Just One Song
- Living London
- Lone Wolf (Shifters Unbound)
- Love Resolution
- Lyon's Crew
- Mountain Moonlight
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Of One Heart
- Once a Bad Girl
- Once a Thief
- Once Again a Bride
- Once and Again
- Once Touched, Never Forgotten
- Once Upon a Kiss
- Once Upon a Prince
- One Desert Night
- One More Kiss
- One More Sleepless Night
- One Night of Misbehavior
- One Night Standoff
- One Texas Night
- Only Love (The Atonement Series)
- Operation Endurance
- Primal Bonds
- Questions of Trust A Medical Romance
- Reflection Point
- Retribution
- Savage Redemption
- Second Chance
- Secure Location
- Someone I Used to Know
- Son of a Preacher Man
- Soul Bonded
- Sunset Seduction
- Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters)
- Sweet On You
- Tempting Cameron
- That Carrington Magic
- The Bridgertons Happily Ever After
- The Demon's Song
- The Dragon and the Pearl
- The Lone Rancher
- The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret
- Translation of Love
- Twisted Perfection
- Vision In White
- When Love's Gone Country
- The Lost Tycoon
- Down on Her Knees
- Love, Your Concierge
- A Demon Made Me Do It
- Campbell_Book One
- The Lady of Bolton Hill
- Born to Ride_A Clubhouse Collection
- A Question of Honor
- Blood on Copperhead Trail
- Passion and the Prince
- Top Secret Twenty-One
- Dungeon Royale
- Make Me Bad(Private Lessons)
- My Fair Billionaire
- Writing Our Song:A Billionaire Romance
- Kissed by Moonlight
- Redemption in Love
- The Masterful Mr. Montague
- Diamonds are Forever
- Every Second with You
- If You Only Knew