Page 33 of Hot for the Jerk

“Thank you,” I said.Even though I was too warm for tea, I appreciated the gesture.“I didn’t mean to upset you.”She sat down and tucked her seat in, gently knocking my knee below the table.That caused her to instantly scoot it back out a bit.“We don’t have to talk about it anymore if you don’t want to.I appreciate you answering my initial questions though.Thank you.”

With her head down, eyes laser focused forward, like she was trying to see one of those 3D hidden pictures, she merely shrugged.But it was what shedidn’tdo that really struck me as peculiar.

Whenever my brothers spoke of their late wives, their postures changed.Their shoulders rounded a little, their lips pressed tight, and they swallowed more like they were trying to keep down the rising tide of emotion.Their eyes would go a little glassy, even their voices would get softer.You couldfeelthe love they had for their wives in every breath, in every syllable of their words.I wasn’t getting any of that from Raina.And yes, everyone grieved in their own way, but there was something else.Something … odd.

“My husband was quite a bit older than me,” she said quietly with a deep exhale, cradling her mug in both hands and blowing the steam off as it rose toward her nose.“I was his third wife.”

“Oh.”I didn’t see that bit coming.

“Josiah wasn’t exactly aniceperson.He was verbally and emotionally abusive.He yelled a lot.Threw things.He was sexually selfish, and a massive misogynist.He believed women were good for three things: cooking, cleaning, and having babies.”

My mouth dropped open, but before she looked up, I snapped it shut.“Fuck,” I breathed.“I’m really sorry.”

She lifted a shoulder.“He’s dead.I don’t have to deal with him anymore.”

Fuck, the way she said that had me wondering for half a second if she offed the guy herself just to be rid of him.But as much as Raina Aaronson was a redheaded pistol of a woman with brass ovaries, she didn’t give me murderer vibes.

Glancing sideways, she made sure the seniors weren’t listening before she started speaking again.“It’s kind of ridiculous … stupid really, that my preferredporn,” she whispered the last word which made me smile, “is what it is, considering Josiah never did that.Considering …I’venever done that.Or … had a man do that for me … to me … whatever.”

Now I was unable to stop my mouth from dropping open like a goldfish with a broken jaw, nor could I snap it back closed.

“I ghosted you because when I saw you, I got scared.That I wouldn’t be enough.That I would be too naïve.Too inexperienced.Too … sheltered.Our chats were great, but seeing you in person … with your beard, your glasses, your blue eyes, andwaytoo many muscles bulging out of your T-shirt, I realized, I needed to start with a tricycle, before I tried riding a unicycle.”

At that very moment, I’d decided to take a sip of my tea.Big fucking mistake.I sprayed it all over the table and puzzle pieces.“Shit,” I exclaimed, standing up at the same time as Raina, both of us running to the kitchen, but getting stuck on the threshold of the doorway between the dining room and kitchen because it wasn’t meant for two people to go through at the same time.

Her growl made me stand back so she could enter first.She snatched the tea towel from the oven handle and rushed back out to where I was already blotting the mess with a stack of napkins I found on the console table.

She wouldn’t look at me as we cleaned up my mess.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, unable to keep the smile from my mouth or voice.

“It’s fine,” she dismissed with a huff.“Not sure where that diarrhea of the mouth came from.”Her head shook, and she rubbed furiously at the table, even though the spot she focused on was now dry.“Just ignore me.Forget what I said.”

“It’s, uh … it’s hard to forget a confession like that.And me without my priest’s costume.”

Her snort was cute and seemed to ease some of the tightly growing tension around us.

Reaching forward, I rested my hand on hers, making her stop her scrubbing.“Raina, look at me.”

She hesitated at first, so I growled just a little and her gaze snapped to mine.

“Good girl.”

Fire ignited in the green of her eyes, and she swallowed.

“There is no need to be embarrassed about anything you just told me.I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about.And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry your marriage was so terrible.That your sex life was so … unfulfilling.”I shrugged.“I mean, I watch alien porn, and it’s not like I’ve ever had sex with aliens.”I narrowed my gaze for a moment.“That I can remember anyway.I did wake up one morning after a very strange dream and my buttholedidfeel looser.”

She fought the smile for as long as she could, the quiver around her eyes betraying her.But my charm eventually won out and she smirked.Then came the eye roll and the headshake.

Okay, good.We were back on track.

I removed my hand from hers and we finished cleaning up my mess.

“To be fair though, youdidliken having sex with me to riding a unicycle.So me spitting out my tea is not the most ridiculous reaction.”I stuffed the napkins into the garbage under the sink as she tossed the soaked tea towel into the hamper in the laundry room.

“Notsexwith you.Dating, in general.God, ego much?”

We exchanged smirks as we sat back down to the table again, our knees bumping underneath for a second time.But what was interesting was, this time, neither of us pulled away.We kept our knees there.Touching.

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