A pitiful whimper snatches my focus. The heat fizzles into guilt when I notice Spud’s sunken spirits. From his hanging head and hunched body, his sad eyes peek up at me. He’s acting like I punished him.
“Not you, sweet angel. I was talking to Daddy. You’re so good. The best dog.”
Spud perks up at my upbeat voice.
“Do you want more bacon?”
His nails click on the hardwood when he begins to dance.
I gladly give him another piece to make amends. “There you go. All better.”
He woofs and wanders off to scope out the rest of the joint. Meanwhile, Colton looks like a sullen gambler who didn’t win the jackpot. I strut toward him, receiving a confidence boost when his desire roams over my curvy assets.
“Do you need a treat too?”
“That’d be nice.” His timbre is gruff from indignation.
Without warning, I hop onto the balls of my feet to peck his cheek. “Thanks, Stalker.”
He whips his face sideways to align with mine, brushing our lips together in the process. “For what?”
My shoulder hitches. “I dunno. Everything you’re doing right?”
“Does that shift weight off what I’ve done wrong?”
The answer has the ability to change where we stand, which makes me smother it. “I’m gonna get the bath going.”
“Need a hand?”
“No,” I purr. “But I think you need a cold shower.”
Bianca’s fingers skip along the radio dials and knobs as if fascinated by the vintage style. “Why Fern?”
My thumb taps on the steering wheel to the catchy song that’s playing, but I stop as her question registers. “She’s green.”
“There’s gotta be more to it than that,” she muses.
I avoid her stare that’s burning into my profile. “It’s the same color as your eyes.”
“Really?” She sounds shocked at the revelation, or maybe it’s that I compared the shade of her irises to a plant.
In all honesty, I haven’t thought about the connection until recently. It’s just one observation in a complex, complicated collection. Bianca is everywhere I go and in everything I see. Amoment doesn’t pass without her. My truck didn’t have a name until she first looked my way.
“You shouldn’t be surprised,” I murmur.
She blows out a thick exhale that I feel in my chest. “I’m not. You’re very… consistent.”
It’s a small miracle that she doesn’t mock my obsession. That doesn’t mean she won’t eventually.
I glare at the road straight ahead. “Am I scaring you yet?”
“Hardly,” she scoffs. “I might be your captive and you stalked me for years, but you’ve never given me a reason to fear you. Even when you pulled out that gun like it was second nature, I wasn’t worried about me. You were ready to eliminate the threat. We’ll circle back to that later.”
My gut tightens along with my hands on the wheel. The last thing I want to do is reveal more of my dark past to her. I stay quiet, allowing her to fill the void.
“For now, you’re taking me to town against your better judgment. I didn’t even have to try that hard to convince you. It’s worth the risk to find out if anyone is missing this cutie pie.” Her fingers scratch Spud’s belly while the dog sprawls across her lap like an actual sack of potatoes. “So, yeahhhh… you’re a softie. Totally harmless where it counts.”
That’s laughable, but my expression remains flat. Her perception of me is purposefully skewed. She’d be singing a different tune if she had access to the skeletons in my closet. Instead, the lyrics ofRun Itby Jelly Roll are spilling from her lips.
