“I’m coming! Geez, woman. I had to fix my hair. It takes time for this perfection,” he says, strutting out to the jeep.
I can’t help but smile, watching him. It takes me ten minutes. Hell, he’s been primping for forty. I can’t say it wasn’t worth the wait, though, especially when I get a look at his latest t-shirt.
“Seriously?” I ask him.
“What?”
His shirt is black, and on it, it has two figures in a square. The first square is a depiction of a woman like you would see on a restroom sign with the triangle dress. Under that square, it reads: Your Girlfriend. The next square has a naked woman with huge tits bent over and offering her butt, and it reads: My Girlfriend.
“You’re ridiculous, you know.”
“Just bragging on you, babe,” he says. “What can I say?”
I ignore him with a smirk and hand him my duffle bag that has my clothes. “Remind me again why we’re moving so early?”
“We need to make tracks, sweetness. I plan on getting you to Kentucky today.”
“I’m not sure I’m as excited for that as you are.”
He slides his hand under my hair and pulls my face to him. “I promise you, you’ll love it.”
“If you’re wrong I’ll—”
He puts a finger to my lips, hushing me. “I wish you’d quit threatening my balls. They love you. You hurt their feelings.”
I smile despite the worry and stress I’m feeling. “I’ll see if I can make it up to them later.”
“I don’t know. They’re pretty upset. Still, a tongue bath might help them. They respond to physical attention.”
“You’re a freak.” I place a gentle kiss on his lips. “Now let’s go for food. I’m hungry.”
Torch fake sighs. “Your wish is my command. Too bad you didn’t wish for me to bend you over the hood. That would’ve been more fun,” he complains, throwing our bags in the back of the jeep. He walks me over to the passenger side and helps me climb in, then secures the seatbelt around me like I was a little child. It should annoy me, but instead, I like it. I feel like he’s trying to take care of me and I’ve never had that.
Thirty minutes later, we’re pulling into a small restaurant that has a big sign up advertising breakfast twenty-four hours a day. He helps me to my seat, then slides in beside me instead of across from me.
“Couldn’t we talk better if you’re over there?” I ask, pointing to the empty seat.
“I like feeling you close to me. Plus, I can’t sit with my back facing the door, sweetness. Too many years of training have taught me not to do that.”
“I could—”
“That would leave your back exposed and me unable to protect you. Not happening. Besides, you’ll like me eating next to you.” He dips his head down and his lips find my ear. “And eating you.”
“Pervert.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He laughs, his teeth nibbling on the side of my neck.
“Hunter,” I whimper, because I like it and don’t want him to stop, but we’re in the middle of a restaurant—yet again. “You can’t be horny. There’s no way, after the morning we had. Not to mention the night before!”
“You bring out the animal in me, Katydid,” he murmurs near my ear. “What can I say?”
The waitress comes and takes our order and saves me from responding, which is good because I have no idea what I would say. Once we’re alone again, Torch pulls me around so I can face him in the chair.
“Tell me about Gabby.”
His question surprises me, but Gabby is a topic I love to talk about, so I immediately warm up to the conversation.
“She’s amazing. She has these dark eyes that I swear glow they’re so beautiful. And her laugh. I don’t think there’s a more beautiful sound in the world. She’s quiet. I’ve never seen a child her age so quiet. She watches everything, takes it all in, you know? Plotting and determining. It’s kind of scary, considering she’s just two.”
“Does she talk? What are her favorite things? Tell me.”
I laugh, he seems so eager. Who would have thought he’d want to know about a child?
“She does talk,” I admit. “I mean, not a lot. She’s only two. But she says ‘mom’ and she calls me Kay-Kay. She knows ‘juice’ and ‘nuggets’. She’s always climbing, and she loves when people draw. She watches, entranced. I swear she’s going to be a famous painter someday.”
“You sound like a proud aunt,” he says with a strange look on his face. His hand had been under the table, but he brings it up to run his thumb over my lip.