Page 7 of Relief Pitcher

I snorted at a random thought. I got a lot of those.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking about how these rubbery clothes keep us dry. Sort of like a reverse condom, but the liquids stay on the outside.”Seriously, Ty? You couldn’t stop that one with a filter? First, you accuse him of being a serial killer, then you admit your dirty Hallmark secret, and now you’re showing him how fucking weird you are.I waited for him to roll his eyes, but he laughed. A rich, warm sound.

“Thank you for that visual. I’ll carry it with me every time I have to wear my rain gear. You’ve given me a great gift.”

His flat tonedidthings to me, but I dismissed the flutter in my stomach as hunger. That granola bar hadn’t lasted long.

“I want to check the driveway. Coming with or going back inside?”

If I wasn’t getting off with Grindr guy later, I had to take action where I could get it. And pressing myself against him on an ATV was the best I’d get. “Can I drive this time?”

“Absolutely not.”

His immediate and firm dismissal made me laugh. “You’re no fun.” A thought occurred to me. “Do you have a plastic bag? I need to rescue my snacks, and I want to put a bag over the opening of the bag they’re in. Wet cheesy popcorn sounds disgusting.”

He shook his head and went inside, then returned a minute later with a cooler that he strapped to the back of the rig. “You’d better share your snacks with me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of anything else.”

Cooper pulled the keys from his pocket and climbed on. I slid behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Completely unnecessary, but I was cold, it was wet, he was hot, and I was pretty sure I’d caught him checking me out earlier. So, whatever.

“Can you teach me how to drive it on the way back?”

“Maybe if it wasn’t dark and raining hard enough to flood the creek, I might.”

“Raincheck? Nice.”

Cooper chuckled and took off. I gripped him tighter because I could.

Cooper expertly navigated us along the driveway in the dark. Clearly, he knew the land like the back of his hand. After a few minutes, he came to an abrupt stop. “Found the tree.”

I looked over his broad shoulder. “Well, fuck.” The ATV’s headlights illuminated a tree sprawled across the driveway. I swallowed.

“At least it didn’t landonmy car.” Instead, it had fallen right behind it, blocking my car and my way home.

CHAPTER5

TYLER

“Do you think if I offered to tip the tow truck driver with a blowjob, he’d clear the tree too? I don’t have cash.”

Cooper’s mouth curved into a smile. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to put things in it. “Pretty presumptuous to assume the driver will have a dick.”

“That’s a damn good point. Shame on me.”

We held each other’s stare for a long, heated moment.

Cooper cleared his throat. “You can crash here tonight. The couch pulls out into a bed. I’ve got a chainsaw, so we can move the tree in the morning.”

“Guess that tip is yours.”Mouth, seriously? Can you chill for once before the guy makes me sleep in the mudroom?

Cooper’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say no. Interesting…

I didn’t love the idea of sleeping on a couch when I had a comfortable mattress at home, but I didn’t have many options. It’d be a dick move to ask one of the guys to venture out in the storm and get my ass, especially after Dom had urged me to reschedule. If the weather was bad enough for trees to fall, I couldn’t risk their safety on a rescue mission to save me from Cooper’s couch.

“You sure?” We both knew I didn’t have a choice other than freezing in the car, but I could at least be polite.

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