Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Lucky for her she knew how to hack a system, and her new friend was excellent at figuring out where hidden things were.
He also could order a pizza.
“What the hell is Srirancha?” He had polished off three slices in no time at all. They’d had to negotiate about toppings though. He was apparently a hardcore carnivore.
That would make a cute shirt. She drizzled her beloved condiment over the slice of pepperoni with mushrooms. She’d had to fight hard for that delicious fungi. “It’s a combo of Sriracha and ranch. It’s delicious. You know when you order from this place you can ask to play Reaper Roulette.”
A brow arched over his eyes. “Dare I ask.”
“Before they put the cheese on they put a couple of drops of ghost pepper sauce on one slice, and no one knows where it is. But they figure it out fast.”
“Hot, huh?”
“The Sriracha I put on pretty much everything registers at 1000 to 2500 on the Scoville scale, depending on the peppers they use in it. The ranch on this particular version cuts some of the heat.”
“There’s a scale for peppers?”
“How did you live with Sean Taggart and not know this? Yes, there is a heat index for peppers, and Carolina reapers register somewhere between 1.4 and 2.2 million.”
He hissed at the thought. “Damn. Have you ever done this roulette thing?”
“It was so hot I could feel steam coming out of my ears,” she said with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure I drank a gallon of milk, and somewhere in all of that pain, I saw like dead relatives and stuff. The crazy thing was we’d played it the week before and no one said anything. So I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I thought it was all bullshit, but what happened was Boomer got the slice and he didn’t think it was all that hot so he didn’t say anything. Something’s wrong with Boomer. We need to study him medically. He went on to eat two pizzas after he ate the reaper. I was in a fetal position begging God to take me.”
Kyle…his name was Kyle, and she wasn’t going to forget it because he was actually pretty cool…took a sip of the ridiculously expensive Scotch he’d found by running his hands over the panels of the walls of the office until he found the hidden safe.
How he’d cracked that sucker she was afraid to ask.
Captain America had a bad-boy side, and it was totally doing something for her.
Mostly taking her mind off that damn phone call.
“There it is. I thought we’d chased it away with pizza and Scotch and crimes we won’t go to jail for, but there it is.” He pointed with his pinky as he held the crystal rocks glass.
She sighed and sat back. He’d been open with her about the not sleeping thing and that he feared his brother’s cat’s judgment.
Perhaps it would be easier to talk about this with someone who didn’t really know her. It might also help if he was an asshole about it. She was starting to get some warm feelings toward this guy that she shouldn’t feel. Dangerous feelings. He still wasn’t her type, and she was sure she wasn’t his. If he blew off her pain, she would be able to view the guy the way she had from first impressions.
“My dad called.” She took a thoughtful sip of the Scotch. Even as emotional as this discussion was going to make her, she wasn’t about to disrespect the Scotch. She let the caramel flavor tease her tongue and then waited for the burn to warm her chest. “So the short story…”
“I want the long story.”
“It’s not that long, and it’s pretty ordinary. Do you have a good relationship with your bio dad?” She’d never met Grace Taggart’s first husband, and no one talked about him around the office which seemed pretty normal since Grace and Sean had been married for over a decade.
“He died when I was a kid. I remember it being good. He was a good dad. My brother had more time with him. I mostly remember how hard it was to lose him, how hard my mom worked to keep us on steady ground,” he said quietly. “It’s why I’m all for her marriage and happy to be part of the family. I don’t see it as… I wouldn’t say David thinks it was disrespectful for Mom to remarry. Not at all. He thinks Sean is great for our mom, and he loves our siblings. I think he worries it’s disrespectful for him to love Sean as a stepdad. Like it erases our dad, but it doesn’t. It gives us more family.”
If only that had been her problem. “Well, my father didn’t handle things the way your stepdad did. My dad has always been gentle and kind and utterly in need of someone to lead him through life. I didn’t know what to call it for the longest time, but now I know my dad requires a strong top, and not in a keep-it-to-the-club way.”