“I have to text Brett. He’s waiting to take me home.”

“His car took off before I closed the door.”

I felt my eyes get big. “He told me he was waiting.”

“And I told him he was relieved of duty.”

“You didn’t leave your house.”

“He got my message.”

The head gesture.

Men’s form of sign language.

Okay, again…

Moving on.

“Right then, can you take me home, uh, after we’re finished?”

“No, ’cause you’re staying here with me.”

Um!

“Pardon?”

“Hattie, if you’d shut up, we’d make out to make up, but I’m not doin’ you on my couch or in my bed before I’ve even bought you dinner. We’re gonna make out to make up. You’re gonna sleep in my bed. I’ll sleep on the couch. I got shit on for tomorrow, some of that trying to figure out who’s dicking with you, so I gotta take off early. You text when you wake up. Me or one of the guys will come get you and take you home. And we’ll go out to dinner tomorrow, finish talking through shit, and start getting to know one another.”

Oh boy.

I really wanted to do all that.

But we were already hitting a rough patch.

I started it with, “I have to be at work at nine.”

“Plenty of time for me to take you somewhere and that be someplace nice.”

“Well, yes, but I go to my dad’s every night to make him dinner.”

He didn’t miss a beat before he said, “If your father can’t cook his own meal, he’s getting delivery.”

“Axl—”

He put his finger to my lips.

That was a way better way to interrupt me.

“I know you don’t like it when I cut you off, baby, but this is a big deal. One kiss and a whole lot of mindfuck and we’re here. We’re here because we both want this, we both know it and we both know how bad we want it. I wanna hear about your dad. I wanna know about your life. I just wanna know you. But we just unfucked this. Give me twenty-four hours, at least, of unfucked before we court fucking it up again.”

“Okay,” I whispered against his finger.

“Okay,” he whispered back, taking that finger away, his gaze drifting again to my mouth.

And his head following it.

“I didn’t mean to mindfuck you,” I kept whispering.

His head didn’t lift, but his eyes did, when he said, “One kiss, Hattie, and it was all worth it.”

Oh my God!

So nice!

Then he slanted his head and gave me kiss two.

And he was right.

So right.

It was all worth it.

Totally.

Chapter Eight

Keep Putting in the Work

Hattie

I woke feeling comfy and snuggly.

Also rested and refreshed.