Page 10 of Wicked Bite
His face fell into confusion. “I’ve not heard that one before. Is it an American thing?”
I snorted. “No, it’s a Piper thing.”
“Explain.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked like he was settling in.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“Oh, I’d say my attention is fully piqued.” He waved me on. “Explain about the picker and what it does, and how it works, and what exactly is wrong with it. I find myself intrigued.”
Laughter bubbled from my lips. “It’s a me and Dice thing. If there is a guy who is unreliable, disappointing, and most likely a narcissist of some sort, I will attract him like a fly to shit, and to top it all off, I will be attracted to him.”
A smile played on his lips as he pressed his hand to his chest. “Should I be offended?”
“Only if you’re unreliable, disappointing, and or a narcissist.”
“I think I’m safe from all of the above.” He licked his lips. “You really do get stuck with the sorry sort, don’t you?”
I nodded then shrugged. “It’s life.”
“Well, I’m not that sort.”
“Oh, my darling Grayson, isn’t that something one would say to try to outsmart the broken picker?” I teased and bumped him with my shoulder.
“One would.” He winked. “Let us test the picker then.”
Excitement ran through me. Was this a little game of get to know me we were playing? Or was this just more games. “Test away.”
“What do most of the disappointing disappoint on?”
“Two things, actually: showing up and actually doing what they say they’re going to do. Wait, no, three things.” I held my fingers up.
He grabbed my hand and placed a small kiss on the tip of each of my three fingers. “What’s the third?”
I was hypnotized by his mouth and the way his lips kissed and sucked at my skin. “Umm, what?”
“The third thing, Little Creature.” His accent rubbed over me like silk.
I shook my head, clearing away the haze of want. “The third is when they hear about my sad, sad story and baggage, they run for the hills.”
This was always a good way to get the dirt out in the open and see where my picker had taken me.
“All right, let’s hear it then and see if you can get me running for the hills.” He waved me on.
I squared my shoulders and arched my eyebrow at him. “Okay, I’ve been a foster kid all my life. When I aged out, I moved in with Dice and that’s it. My sad little story, no family, no real connections. Just my one best friend who is like my sister.”
He didn’t move.
I waited.
He still didn’t move.
I waited some more.
He said nothing.
“Well?” I didn’t want to stand here and have a staring contest.
“Well, what?”
