Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“His name is Trey,” she told him.
“Hmm, Trey. Not a bad name.”
“My baby girl will not be called Trey,” Saxon told Renard with a glare. “I’ll see you later. Are you going back to the restaurant?”
“Malina finally arrived and it’s my day off. I have other things to do.”
“Like installing a security light?” Saxon asked.
“Yep.” Renard pulled out his wallet.
“You are not paying for that!” Opal told him.
“It’s my security light; I’m paying for it.”
Oh. It was for him?
“Um, sorry. I’ll go get one for my house,” she said, turning away as Renard paid for that one.
She was embarrassed that she’d thought Renard was buying that light for her.
A hand reached out and lightly grasped her wrist. “Where’re you going?”
“Back to grab the light I put down,” she told him.
“Nope.”
He started to tug her out of the building.
“Hey! What are you doing?” she exclaimed. “Let go of me! I need to get a security light.”
“What was wrong with yours?” he asked, pausing.
“It broke.”
For some reason she didn’t want to tell him that it had been smashed into little pieces.
Renard grunted. “Good thing we’re installing a new one.” Then he started pulling her gently out of the shop again and onto the sidewalk.
“You said that wasn’t for me.”
“I did?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Huh. Must have lied. It’s definitely for you.”
“What do you mean, you lied?”
He turned and stared down at her. “I lied.”
“Why?”
Renard raised his eyebrows, looking incredulous. “To get what I wanted, of course. Why else would I have lied?”
“I just . . . I don’t . . . I can’t believe you’re just admitting it!”
“Ahh, so you’d rather I lie? You know, you should work on your communication skills. It can be hard to understand you.”
It was hard to understand her?
He was . . . running rings around her.
The rat!
“You’re just trying to distract me so I don’t point out the actual issue here,” she said as they headed toward his truck.
“There’s an issue? Do tell.”
“The issue is that you bought me a security light when I was going to buy my own. I also wanted to get some other things, but you dragged me out of there before I could.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Like pliers.”
“I have pliers,” he stated as he opened the passenger door.
“Um, what are you doing?” she asked, staring from him to the open door.
“Opening the door for you,” he replied. “Do you want me to lift you in? Not sure how you can get up in those heels.”
“I can do anything in these heels,” she countered.
“Good to know,” he said, “Now, get in my truck.”
“Um. Have you ever heard of the word ‘please?’”
He grinned. “I have.”
Damn, he was so sexy when he smiled.
“Have you ever thought about using it?” she asked.
“Hmm, can’t say that I have.” He rubbed a hand over his beard, but she saw his grin widen.
“You’re terrible,” she told him without heat.
“I know. Now, get in the truck. Daylight’s wasting.”
“It’s only noon.”
“Yeah, but who knows how long it will take to get this security light secured?”
Opal sighed. “Look, I get you think you’re doing something nice—”
“Something nice? Me?” He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think so. Pretty sure I don’t know how to be nice.”
“Pretty sure that you like people to think you don’t know how to be nice, meanwhile, you’re going around behind their backs doing all these nice things.”
He crossed his arms over his chest while giving her a stern look. “Don’t be spreading any rumors about my niceness.”
“No?”
“No. I’m mean. I’m grouchy. I’m sarcastic. And I like it that way.”
Hmm. Seemed she’d touched a nerve.
Part of her wanted to keep prodding at him until he exploded and showed his true colors. That’s what the old Opal would do. But now, with Doctor Susie’s help, she could recognize those bad behaviors and stop herself.
Mostly.
She shouldn’t assume that everyone was bad until they proved they were good.
Apparently, it was meant to be the other way around.
But she still had problems thinking that way. It just seemed like she’d be constantly disappointed.
“You like being mean?” she questioned.
“Yep. Just ask my sous chefs. They’re probably fucking up my food as we speak.”
“Shouldn’t you go check on it, then? Wait. Didn’t you say this was your day off?”
He grunted. “Yeah, it is. The new chef that Saxon hired was running late so I started doing the prep for her.”
She winced, wondering if he’d yelled at the poor woman for being late. “Were you mean to her when she arrived late?”
“Nope. Her car broke down. Not her fault.”
And he just kept showing her glimpses of that marshmallow inside.
“Careful you don’t show me too much of your insides, I have a sweet tooth,” she warned.
“Am I supposed to know what that means?”
She didn’t want to explain it. Because she couldn’t believe she’d just said that.
“It doesn’t matter. Why do you care about replacing my security light? You didn’t break it. Why are you doing this?”