Press my face to her neck.
Pull her against me.
For fuck’s sake. I don’t like her, can’t have her, yet it’s like every molecule in my body is a magnet and she’s the only thing it seeks.
“Something’s different,” she whispers, and the rasp of her voice goes right to my cock.
Christ Jesus.
“The door. They painted the door.” She swallows and leans forward, like she’s trying to see it better, and in doing so, she pushes her ass out farther. Her long, lean legs stretch, showing me muscle and smooth skin, and I have to adjust my cock in my pants. “I like the red. Jazzes it up.”
Why am I suddenly proud of myself for choosing a fucking paint color?
“Needs flowers,” she mutters to herself, then shrugs a shoulder, as if she’s pushing that thought aside. Jules always did talk to herself. I always found it endearing. “I wonder what’s behind that window on the second floor.”
My eyes follow her gaze, and I take a sip of my coffee.
It’s a bathroom. Needs to be gutted.
Suddenly, her phone rings, and Juliet jumps into the air and lets out a little squeak. She’s shifted so I can see her profile, and her brows pull together as she looks at the screen.
Who the fuck is calling her at six in the morning?
“What.” Her voice is devoid of any emotion as she answers the call. I tilt my head to the side, intrigued.
I’ve never heard that tone from her before.
“No. You’re not allowed to call or text me. Email only. You know the conditions. I’m not sending you any more money this month. Figure it out for yourself.”
She hangs up and starts walking again, but after she slips the phone in her back pocket, she wipes a tear from her cheek, and that pisses me off.
Who the fuck just made my wildfire cry?
“How much money do you think I have?” Birdie asks me. She’s perched on my lap in the backyard of Bridger and Dani’s house, eating a hot dog, having a conversation like she’s thirty.
“About ten thousand,” I reply and take a bite of my steak. “Give or take.”
“Not that much,” she says and bites her hot dog. “I could buy a house with that much.”
My lips twitch, and I lean in to kiss her cheek. “Okay, I give. How much do you have?”
“Eight dollars and twenty-seven cents. I’m saving.”
“What are you saving for?”
She scrunches up her nose and looks around to see if anyone is listening.
This should be good.
“A puppy.”
I lift an eyebrow. “You’re just gonna go out and buy a puppy without your parents knowing about it?”
“I can hide her in my room.”
I nod slowly, as if I’m thinking it over. “How are you going to feed her? Take her out to go potty and exercise?”
“When they aren’t looking.”
