Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
He tipped his head toward the coffeemaker and she headed in that direction while he placed the full plates on the table and took a seat.
Once she had her first sip of the much-needed fuel, she settled into the chair across from him. “I’m surprised you’re not using some of that bacon fat to grease me up for this discussion.”
He shoveled a small mountain of scrambled eggs into his mouth. Of course he was still chewing when he stated, “Won’t need it.”
“Why’s that?”
“The only discussin’ we’re havin’ is comin’ up with what to tell the kids. Ain’t a debate whether I’m moving back into my own bed.”
He shot her a look when she opened her mouth. She shut it and took another sip of her coffee. Clearly, she’d not had enough caffeine to deal with this yet.
“My own bed with you in it.”
Like she needed that clarification.
“Shoulda put that in the initial agreement.”
“If you had, I wouldn’t have agreed to move in.” It was bad enough she’d moved into the house of a man she didn’t know, but to immediately share his bed with him?
That would be even crazier.
His steaming mug of coffee hovered near his mouth as he eyed her over the rim. “But now you got to try out the goods.”
“Contrary to what you believe, you’re not irresistible.” Taryn tasted a forkful of the eggs. They had a surprising kick to them. “What did you put in these?”
“Shot of hot sauce.” He shoved a whole slice of bacon into his mouth at once.
“Any milk?” She nibbled on a slice herself. The bacon was perfectly crisp. Had he been lying about not being able to cook?
“A touch. Like how I flicked the tip of my tongue against your clit last night.”
Her mouthful of bacon almost went down the wrong pipe. She cleared her throat and studied the shirtless biker sitting across the table.
While eggs, bacon, and toast was a simple breakfast to make, a bad cook could even screw that up in so many ways. By under- or over-cooking the ingredients, or over- or under-seasoning it, burning the bacon, not cooking it enough…the list was endless.
But even the bread had been toasted to a perfect brown.
“You lied.”
He cocked a dark eyebrow at her. “About?”
“Not being able to cook.” She swept her fork over her plate. “You made cooking a hot breakfast seem easy.”
He shrugged. “Can handle that, but not much else.”
Baring his straight, white teeth, he sank them into the crunchy, buttered toast. Just like he sank them into her breasts last night. She fought her shudder at the memory, but lost.
Good thing Stone didn’t notice her reaction. “Made this for dinner shitloads of times for Sunny. Didn’t want her eatin’ cereal for breakfast and dinner.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t care.” Kids usually loved cereal.
“Maybe not. Didn’t need Sheena up my ass about it.”
“Her mother cares about her diet?” From the little Taryn had heard about her from both Stone and his biker brothers, that would be surprising.
Stone snorted and stabbed at his eggs with more force than necessary. “Fuck no. But the bitch is always lookin’ for ammo to use against me. Anyway, let’s get this over with before the nut nuggets roll downstairs.”
Taryn groaned. “Calling Wren a nut nugget is worse than Baby Bird.”
Of course that went ignored. “When they sit down for breakfast, gonna tell them the news.”
“Stone…”
He tipped his head and lifted a hand with his palm out. “Know your concern. Think I’m a bad influence for your kid.”
That was a given. It was one of the quandaries she’d had to work through before agreeing to move in. “You can’t deny that none of you Kings are upstanding citizens. That’s a fact, not a criticism. However, that ship has already set sail and disappeared over the horizon. This is more about him thinking we’re together and going to stay that way.” Like a normal couple.
Nothing about this agreement was normal.
Nothing in her life was normal right now.
She had to face the fact she might be failing as a mother.
Would a good mother move her six-year-old in with an outlaw biker?
Would a good mother allow that six-year-old to hang out at that biker’s clubhouse?
None with a lick of common sense.
Even so, her decision had mostly boiled down to self-preservation.
Between her lingering trauma from what Vic had done, plus her worry about what her ex could do—take a mother away from her son in a very violent way—held more weight than whatever Wren witnessed while they lived with Stone.
That could fade and be forgotten. The death of a parent could not.
She sure hoped she was right this time because her batting average was horrible.
Stone hadn’t been offended when she said he was a bad influence. But then, she wasn’t offended when anyone pointed out her mistakes. The truth might be hard to swallow but that was what it was. The truth.