Page 7 of Spiritwarrior

Jody blamed himself; he knew before he had fucked her that the pleasure didn’t outweigh the negatives.

“I need to get that shower.”

“Come on, Jody …” She slid her hand down his chest to his cock. “Call one of your brothers,” she coaxed. Her caressing his cock didn’t tempt him to make the call. “It’s untelling how long before you come off that mountain again.”

Not anytime soon, if he could help it.

Removing her hand, he slid out from under her legs and went to the bathroom to take a short shower. All he wanted to do was get away from Baylin. She had to have a screw loose for her to say he was putting his brothers over her. How was he putting his brothers over her? She acted as if he had never stopped coming around, that they had been in an ongoing relationship.

He toweled his body dry and walked out of the bedroom with the towel wrapped around his hips, giving an inward groan at seeing Baylin had pulled on leggings and was putting on a black workout top.

“I’m hungry,” she stated, seeing he was watching her. “I thought we could grab breakfast on your way home.”

He was about to refuse but felt bad when she sent him a pleading look.

“You were going to fix yourself breakfast, anyway,” she cajoled. “Eating breakfast out will be quicker.”

“There’s no one open this early for breakfast.”

Baylin’s face broke into a smile. “The diner reopened. I saw it when I drove by yesterday. I just checked on my phone, and it opened at six. We can eat breakfast, and then you can go to work, and I can go to the gym.”

He wanted to kick his own ass at Baylin’s instant comeback.

As he was getting dressed, he thought it over. He knew he wouldn’t be seeing Baylin anymore from the way she was acting. He could tell her here or put a stop to it at the diner. From the angry glimmer in her eyes, it was safe to assume he wouldn’t be walking out that door without a huge argument. The restaurant was a safer bet—Baylin wouldn’t want it getting out around town that his interest in her was in her imagination.

“Sure, we can do that. You ready?”

“I am.” She grabbed a black jacket and put it on.

Leaving her bedroom, he grabbed his truck keys from the kitchen counter. In the parking lot, he waited until she was in her car then followed her to the diner.

From the outside, the diner looked the same way as it always had since he was a kid. Getting out of the truck, he opened Baylin’s car door for her. When she would have taken his hand as they walked to the diner, he shoved his into his pocket.

Opening the door for her, he let Baylin go in first. As they stared around the empty restaurant, he saw a woman, who had her back to them, making coffee then turn around.

“Have a seat. Take any table you want,” she greeted them warmly.

His mind on the coming confrontation with Baylin, he didn’t pay attention to the waitress, more concerned with trying to decide which table would be the best option to sit at tokeep the waitress and any other customers from hearing their conversation.

“Let’s take the back booth,” he said, placing a hand on the small of her back as he led her to the booth farthest away from the front counter and the door.

Letting Baylin sit first, he slid into the opposite side of the booth.

“How are you two doing today?”

Looking away from Baylin’s set face for not sitting next to her, Jody raised his eyes to the waitress.

He felt as if a thunderbolt had come from the ceiling to strike his nuts and could only stare at the woman, not making any move to accept the menu from her. Treepoint was a small town, so the fact he didn’t recognize her told him that she was new to town. If the woman was meant to be important to his family or him, his brothers would have seen it in the stars. Because they hadn’t, his inexplicable reaction to her shook him.

Seeing where his attention was centered, Baylin reached out to take both menus, laying his down in front of him.

“We’re good,” Baylin answered for them through tight lips.

“What can I get you this morning?” the waitress asked, giving them a friendly smile.

“We’ll take two coffees,” Baylin ordered.

“Okay, I’ll get that for you.” She smiled at Baylin then gave him a sympathetic glance, as if he wasn’t all there. Jody couldn’t blame her; he was acting like a dumbstruck idiot. “Look over the menu, and I’ll take your orders when I come back.”

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