NERO
It’s a frigid morning in Darkwater Hollow, but the temperature inside my truck feels even colder.
Blake glowers at me from the passenger seat as I pull into the lot outside my office.
“You’re very pushy, do you know that?” she snaps.
“It’s just for a few days.”
“I can’t believe you’re dragging me to work with you. I’m not a little kid.”
“Trust me, I’m aware,” I grumble.
We argued for thirty minutes this morning until she finally relented and agreed to come with me to the office. Seeing her so fired up made me want to tie her up, gag her, and give her a good spanking. Blake’s stubborn, but I’ve got over a decade of experience negotiating with stubborn Italians. Even she’s no match for that.
“I told you I can handle my godfather.”
“He’s our godfather now.”
She gives me a confused look. “What?”
“As in, he’s now my problem as much as he is yours. I don’t want to risk him showing up to see you at my place while I’m not there. It’s a liability.”
“Isn’t me hovering around your place of work also a liability? What if I spill coffee on an important document? Or jam the printer? Or—”
“Babe, just don’t do any of those things and we’ll be fine.”
“Babe?”
I park the car, turn off the ignition, and turn to her. She’s looking at me with alarm.
“We’re dating, remember? We’re in love. Do people look at each other like that when they’re in love? No, they don’t. So stop it.”
Her eyes narrow. “How am I looking at you?”
“Like you wish you’d thrown me into the fire and left me locked inside your house.”
“Too soon. Not funny,” she says, but her lips twitch slightly.
I poke her cheek. “You’re smiling. Now come here and give me a kiss.”
“What!?”
It seems my tactic for getting Lyle off her mind is working. She’s so comically aghast that I can’t help but laugh. You’d think I toldher to climb onto my lap and grind against my dick. “We need to practice. You have to kiss me at the office.”
She shakes her head. “No, I don’t.”
“That’s what couples do with each other. They touch, they kiss, they—”
She makes a crossing motion with her arms. “I’m anti-PDA. It’syuck. Gross.”
I arch a brow. “Seriously? How old are you again?”
“Look, making out at your work is not something I’m comfortable with,” she says emphatically.
I sigh. “It’s going to be hard to make the town believe we’re dating if you’re anti-PDA.”
She purses her lips, clearly conflicted. Finally, she relents. “I can kiss your cheek. That’s it. The rest… I need some time to build up to it.”
