Page 80 of His Hot Mess

I bagged the woman’s purchases, but she stopped me before I folded up the last piece: a worn-to-buttery leather motorcycle jacket.

“I’ll wear this one out,” she said, shedding her wool coat and slipping on the badass jacket.

“You going to be warm enough?” I asked, glancing over her shoulder at the ever-increasing snow blowing around.

“My boyfriend’s keeping the car warm outside.”

“He’s been waiting outside this whole time?” I laughed. She’d been in the shop almost an hour.

“He loves me,” she said, grinning.

There was a time when an offhand joke like that would have sent me into a downward spiral. Why didn’t I have a boyfriend who would wait in the car for an hour for me, probably after taking a long detour in a near-snowstorm no less, to go someplace just for me?

Only now, I did.

She skipped out of the shop, promising to come back soon.

“That was supposed to be my jacket,” Casey said, after the door closed. “I’ve been lusting after it ever since it came in!”

I laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have put it aside for you.”

“I already have two leather jackets at home. I couldn’t justify a third.”

“Okay,” I said. “If I see you try to buy another one I’ll stage an intervention.”

Now it was Casey’s turn to laugh.

“Nice of you to come by in this weather, anyway,” I said.

She sighed. “I’m not here to shop, sadly. Graydon asked me to pick up Lucy. I’m heading over there for dinner after I pick up Sam from school. Aren’t you and Chris coming?”

“No,” I said. “We’re staying in tonight.”

The way I said it must have been suggestive of something because Casey waggled her eyebrows. “Ooh, tell me more.”

“No way!”

Just then the door chimes dinged and I looked up to see the man in question come through. I sucked in a breath. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of feasting on this man with my eyes. Despite the snow outside, he was only in his t-shirt, having just come from upstairs. The gray fabric was damp with sweat and clung to every hard angle of him.

Maybe we’d skip dinner and go straight to the bath together.

“Hey you!” I said. “Done already?”

“Not quite,” he said. “Hey, Casey.”

She smiled and waved at him. “Hi, Chris.”

As he came toward me, Casey did that eyebrow thing behind him. I choked back a laugh, but when I looked up into Chris’s eyes, I couldn’t help it, I reached up and grabbed his shirt, going up on my toes to kiss him. I did it with a bit more intensity than the moment called for. But he just looked so damned hot.

Chris seemed surprised, but he went for it too, just as hard as me.

“Um, I’m going to go back and get Lucy, if that’s okay,” Casey said awkwardly.

I’d forgotten she was there. “Sorry,” I said, pulling away sheepishly.

But the minute she went through to the back, we leapt on each other again.

“God, Sadie,” Chris said, wrapping his hands around my back and cupping my ass. “If we were alone…”

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