Page 44 of Bombshell (Whiskey Dolls 1)

My knees felt shaky as he guided me inside, letting out a sharp whistle for Titan to follow after us. He walked me to my car where he planted another earth-shaking kiss on me before holding the door open as I climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Tomorrow night,” he repeated, like he had to make sure I hadn’t forgotten during the walk from the backyard to the front.

“Tomorrow night,” I confirmed.

With my reassurance, he closed the door for me like a gentleman and waited in the driveway with his hands in his pockets as I started my car and backed out.

I felt a wave of something I hadn’t felt in longer than I could remember as I drove home, and that feeling didn’t let up for the rest of the night.

Giddiness. I was straight-up twitterpated at the thought of spending the night with Pierce Walton tomorrow.

As I climbed into bed and fell asleep, I did it feeling like I was floating on a cloud.

* * *

“What’s got you all smiley this morning? You get yourself some last night?”

At Ms. Weatherby’s question, I choked on the sip of bitter tea I’d just taken. Charlotte had joined us for this week’s little get together, and promptly began to beat on my back as tears blurred my vision.

Leave it to my brash old neighbor to say something that could possibly end up killing me before I had a chance to see everything Pierce was working with. I had a sneaking suspicion he was working with quite a bit, and I’d be pissed as hell if I didn’t get to see it before I croaked.

“Jeez, Ms. W.” I admonished once I could inhale again. “No, I didn’t get me some last night.”

Didalmostorgasming from a little dry-hump sesh fall into the category as “some”?

“Well something’s put a little spring in your step today. So what is it?”

“It’s nothing, really,” I lied. I could feel Charlotte’s attention of my face, and refused to look in her direction, worried she’d see the truth on my face. Ever since Tali said that, I couldn’t help but wonder how much I’d given away over the years. As ridiculous as it seemed, I wanted to keep this thing—whatever it was—with Pierce to myself.

We’d agreed there’d be no expectations and we’d take it a day at a time. I was fine with that, but I worried if people found out, they’d start asking questions, and I wanted to remain in this private little bubble, just the two of us, and keep the rest of the world out for as long as humanly possible.

“I just got a really good night’s sleep last night. A solid eight hours would put anyone in a good mood.”

Truth was, I’d barely gotten five. That giddiness had stayed with me, making me feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting impatiently for Santa to squeeze his fat ass down my chimney. I was too excited to sleep and found myself tossing and turning until exhaustion finally won out in the wee hours of the morning.

“Pfft,” Ms. Weatherby lifted her bushy brows and turned her beady eyes to Charlotte. “Well, this one here”—she threw her thumb in my direction— “isn’t gonna provide me with any entertainment today, so what do you got? How’s that fine man of yours? Man like that, bet he’s got the stamina of an angry bull.”

It was Charlotte’s turn to choke while I busted out laughing.

“Dalton’s great, Ms. W,” she said. “I’ll be sure to let him know you asked about him.”

“You do that, and you tell him I’ll be expecting a visit soon. He’s stayed away too long.”

“Yes ma’am.” Charlotte said with a Cheshire grin. She got a kick out of throwing her soon-to-be husband into the wily clutches of Ms. Weatherby. She might look like an innocent little old lady, but we knew the truth. She was hilarious most of the time. Wise all the time. But there was occasion when she could be scary as hell, and something told me the big, strong, private security guy who looked like he could bench press a car was terrified of this crouched, five-foot-nothing woman.

Ilovedit.

I wanted to be just like Ms. Weatherby when I grew up.

She shifted her coke-bottle glasses back to me. “So any updates on the situation with your sister’s possibly-good-for-nothin’ husband? You get that proof like I told you to?”

I spent the next fifteen minutes getting Charlotte caught up on the story of Tali and Nick’s marriage before updating them both on the latest.

Ms. Weatherby shook her head andtsked. “These damn fool men. I swear, they’ll let somethin’ good slip right through their fingers, ’cause they’re too busy to notice they’re losing their grip.”

“Well, I have a plan,” I announced. “I’m going to confront him Monday. I’m going to storm into his office, and if necessary, help him extract his head from his ass.”

Ms. Weatherby lifted her teacup in salute. “And if I had even one good hip, I’d be right there with you.”

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