Page 89 of Break Out

“All right. I’m sorry I asked.”

He reached out and squeezed my thigh. “No, I shouldn’t have overreacted. I’m hungry – in more ways than one, and we have to wait before I can fuck you because we’re going to one of the best barbeque places in town, if not all of Georgia.”

“Cool.”

“What’s cool is that it’s five minutes from my place.”

My eyes widened. “That is cool. By the way, Rafferty said he’d be at your place around five.”

His eyes cut to me for a moment. “Did he text you that?”

I shook my head. “No, he snuck up on me right after I went out the back door. Scared the hell outta me.”

“Is he always stealthy?”

The thought of lying crossed my mind, but that was wrong. “When he puts his mind to it, you bet your ass.”

Steel nodded and hung a right onto a two-lane road. If it weren’t for the occasional dip and hill in the road, it would have reminded me of rural Florida. Tons of pine trees, a smattering of oaks, kudzu climbing trees where the land wasn’t maintained. On the cleared lots, the homes ranged from double-wides to ranch-style houses.

After a few miles, Steel hung a left. We passed a church before the restaurant came into view. The lot was crowded, but Steel snagged an open spot by the end of the building.

He powered off the truck, draped an arm along the back of my seat, and grinned. “Prepare to have your world rocked.”

Chapter 17

Units of Measurement

Steel

The waitress set a plate full of beef brisket in front of Simone and a chopped barbeque plate in front of me.

Her eyes widened. “This is a ton of food.”

I smiled. “It is, but we’ll take home whatever you can’t finish.”

She devoured her food like she hadn’t eaten in days. Then I recalled that the last time she probably ate was in the truck around ten-thirty. Seeing as she was eating for two, I was stunned she hadn’t bitten my head off sooner.

After she swallowed a bite of her cornbread, she tipped her glass of water toward me. “You have to tell me, where does one find a split-level hot tub? Or did an engineering brother jerry-rig that for you?”

I laughed. “You liked that, did you?”

Her lips quirked. “No, I wasn’t able to get in it. I just know some people who’d love that sort of set-up.”

Figured I knew who’d love that set-up, but kept that to myself. “As they say, anything can be had for a price. It was special order, not jerry-rigged.”

“Good to know.”

“Any of the women give you a hard time?”

She blinked at me. “More like only one of them didn’t give me a hard time.”

“Kendall, I assume?”

She nodded. “She seems so nice.”

I nodded. “She is the nicest person you’ll ever meet, and every man in a fifty mile radius takes advantage of that.”

Her mouth dropped open. “What?”

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