“Likewise.”
“Nick, you, my brother, are fully fucked. Have a nice night.”
He slammed the door and I climbed from the backseat into the passenger seat and buckled up. “What did he mean by that?”
“No clue,” Nick said as he put the truck in drive and headed for my place. He pulled up to the curb in front of my house and I was relieved to see that it was mostly dark. No one waiting up for me.
“Well, go ahead and do it,” I said. “Say what you’re going to say. I’m ready for it.”
“Only one thing to say,” Nick said, leaning toward me, one arm slung over the steering wheel, the other on the back of the passenger seat. “Are you going to take your spanking like a good girl or a bad girl?”
17
Nick
The poor girl looked shaken. I could hear the wheels turning in her head. And maybe this was a little cruel of me, but damn it, how the hell was I supposed to react when I get a call at night that she’s stranded herself in a parking lot?
“You’re kidding,” she said.
“About what?”
“The spanking.”
“Am I?” I lifted an eyebrow and she scowled at me, like she did when she was a kid and I wouldn’t play by her rules.
Was I going to confess to the occasional fantasy of putting this Nora over my knee and whacking her ass for making me feel all the feels – I was not. I was having a hard time coming to grips with it myself.
“Why in the world did you head out to Chester when you work for amechanicand you have an over-protective father who is going to give you endless shit for doing this on your own?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and I looked down. Followed the movement, like some pervy dude. But I was helpless. All I wanted to do was watch her, see her. Her breasts curved so sweetly under that sweater she wore and I had to turn away from her and grip the steering wheel so I wouldn’t do something crazy like reach out and touch her. Pull her from that seat to my lap.
I waited for the guilt and shame to wash over me, but surprisingly it didn’t come this time. Part of my brain had come around really quickly to this new reality where I saw Nora as a woman and not a little girl.
And part of my body was very happy about that.
I coughed and shifted in my seat
“Is it so hard to believe that I could do this on my own? I’m an adult. Adults buy cars. I don’t need my daddy or my boss to make these decisions for me. You were taking too long and Dad is busy with a million other things, including his non-adult children, who actually need him. Just because I fucked up my life doesn’t mean I’m going to fuck up every decision I make in life after that.”
I turned my head in the direction of the Chevy that was currently hanging off the back of my tow. As if the car told a different story.
“It’s a good car,” she insisted. “I’m sure it’s something as stupid as it needs a new battery.”
I’d tried jumping it, but the car had been deader than a door nail.
“Everyone in this town is making me think…” her voice trailed off.
“What?”
“Like I’m the world’s biggest idiot. And I’m sick of it, Nick. I fell for a professional con man. Half this town would do the same.”
“Okay, fair enough. You go inside and I’ll haul the car to the garage and take a look first thing in the morning.”
“Nick-”
“No buts. I’m not having you out at night driving an unreliable car. If you think I would, you don’t know me as well as you told Wyatt you knew me.”
“Fine.” She huffed out a breath, like she’d conceded so much and I was wearing on her very last nerve. But she didn’t get out of the car. Which meant she wanted to talk about something else and I would bet a million dollars it had to do with my half-brother.
