I gather I’ve insulted her by the way she snaps me a death stare. “Look, most writers would kill to be me. I sat in a room with Johnny Nicholson last week going over lines and scenes.I think you’ve heard of him. His last two movies made a billion dollars.”
I roll my eyes and laugh under my breath. “Who the fuck cares?”
Her mouth drops open, and she stares at me with wide eyes. “Why are you like this? It’s been five years, Brooks. Maybe it’s time you move on.”
“Move on? Did you move on? No, don’t answer that. I’m sure you moved on a few dozen times by now. I bet those California guys were thirsty as fuck for some naïve little country girl playin’ in the big city.”
A smile lifts onto her face and she stares at me with some sort of evil I can't quite identify. “You’re insane.”
“You act like I don’t know you. You need constant attention. I am one hundred percent certain you didn’t go three weeks without fuckin’ some blonde surfer dude who probably doesn’t own a hammer and will never work for‘the man.’But hey, who am I to question your life choices?”
She rolls her eyes and scoffs. “Does that threaten you, Brooks? Blonde surfers from California with their hands all over me?”
“Honestly, it does. It’s hard to imagine you’d prefer that over me.”
She twists her long hair back and smiles as she looks away. “Right, well, I’ve been alone.All by myself. A naïve little country girl, turning away dick left and right.”
“Okay… sure.”
“Ya know, why don’t we actually be honest? We both know you haven’t been doing the same. There’s no way in hell a giant man with biceps like yours hasn’t been putting it in every woman he can get his hands on. You’ve got a void inside of you only the weight of a woman can fill. So, what are their names?”
I tilt my head to the side, a coy smile lifting my cheek. “You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?”
Her arms cross over her chest. “Why are you even talking to me? I can wait for the ambulance myself.”
I huff out a harsh breath and stare toward the girl I’ve missed like hell for the last five years. “How’s your mom?”
“What do you care how my mom is? You’ve got a harem of women. Are you asking them all how their moms are?”
“Calm down,” I groan. “There wasyou.Then there was thinking aboutyou.Then there was missingyou.That’s all of them.”
“Bullshit! You’re a fifty-year-old man. You’re not dead. Five years with no sex? Let’s cut the crap.”
“So you’re sayin’ you couldn’t go five years?”
“I have, but it’s different for me. I’m a woman. Little known secret about us, we don’t make life decisions based on getting laid.”
“So, you’re better than me?”
“Absolutely,” she grins, “I am better than you.”
What is it about this sparring that turns me up so damn much? No one else does it like her. She gets so enthusiastic. “Baby, baby, baby.” I shake my head and smirk.
“Stop calling me baby! I’m not your baby!”
“It’s a term of endearment. I realize you’re not an actual baby, Kelsi.”
“Baby… is not a term of endearment. It’s you telling me you’re in charge.”
I drag in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to hold back a grin… and my erection. “Iamin charge.”
Her hand lands on her head. “You’re impossible. Let’s just sit quietly until the ambulance comes.”
“If that’s what you want.”
She lets out a heavy sigh and pulls out a cell phone.
“What are you doin’ with one of those things? You hated phones when you lived up here. You said they were ruinin’ the world, and you refused to own one.”
