Page 63 of Property of Stone
Instead of dragging fingers through her hair again, she was about to yank it out in frustration. “Good,” she somehow managed to say without shrieking. Barely.
He sat up and snagged his beer, but didn’t take another drink. He let the bottle dangle from his fingers between his thighs. He was gearing up for something…
“Okay, once your ex gets out, this is how it’s gonna be…”
She knew it.
“You ain’t goin’ back to teachin’ classes at that place in Camp Hill. You keep one of the prospects with you at all your jobs. If not one of them, one of my brothers if I ain’t available. I’m available, it’ll be me. You wanna teach cookin’ classes, there’s a thing called the fuckin’ internet. Set up a camera in the kitchen and cook.” Then he downed what was left in the bottle before setting it back on the deck.
Her eyebrows shot up. “You must have the memory of a gnat. I just told you you’re not my boss.”
“Can’t forget since it was just a minute ago.” He tapped his temple with a finger. “Got a memory like a trap.”
With all the pot he smoked, she doubted it. “Right. And that was why I had to remind you.”
“Got it.” He sat back in the chair and stretched his long legs out in front of him.
She wished she could be that relaxed right now. Only, the men in her life, both Stone and Vic, were making that difficult. “I’m not sure you do. While I appreciate yourconcern and offering your protection, I need you to stay out of my actual business.” She was talking about her professional business, but that could apply to her personal life as well. She came here to help out with this daughter and to get out from under a house she couldn’t afford, not to live with a dictator.
Her business was her only source of income.
He pursed his lips and drew a hand down his beard. “No.”
“No, you won’t?”
“Gonna treat you how I treat you. Either gonna like it or you ain’t.”
Say what?“And if I don’t?”
“You’ll get over it.”
“Wow. No wonder you’re single.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Ain’t the only single one sittin’ on this deck, babe. Anyway, bein’ single’s my choice.”
“So is that attitude.”
Stone’s lips pressed together to smother either amusement or annoyance.
Taryn’s guess? The first one.
Good God.Sunny got her attitude honestly. She was Stone in a much younger, female form. No DNA test needed.
“Wanna talk about attitude? You got a smart mouth.” A grin slowly spread across his face as he stared at her there. “What else can you do with it?”
Of course, his focused attention made her lick her lips out of instinct. “My attitude?”
“Your mouth.”
Damn.Him asking that crude question shouldn’t make her pussy twinge and her nipples ache. Instead, she should be offended. Proof her brain wasnotattached toher lady parts. Because if they were, they would not be betraying her with a bossy biker like Stone.
Maybe her unexpected reaction was due to the fact it had been a while since she’d experienced any kind of intimacy. The last time was with Vic. And that was…
Depressing.
She actually couldn’t remember the last time she’d been touched intimately. Or even shared a simple kiss with an adult member of the opposite sex.
Since she’d been busting her ass trying to grow her business—and in turn, increase her income—along with raising her son, that didn’t give her much time to date. Or, hell, even have a random, occasional hookup.
