Page 60 of Outside The Wire

“You mean, correct.”

“Same difference.”

“There’s a big difference.”

“Are we getting this or not?”

I crossed my fingers behind my back as I waited for him to make up his mind. If he said no, I might actually be forced to kill him.

“Yeah, I guess we could get it.”

“Yes!” I thrust my hand in the air and jumped up and down. This was going to be so perfect. Now, I just had to force myself tohave sex in the same room as a large rooster. Or never have sex at his house at all. If we ever actually had sex.

“I don’t know how the hell we’re going to get this to my house.”

“A big, strong guy like you? You’ll figure it out.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Come on. Let’s head up front and tell the lady we’ve chosen.”

“I’m sure she’ll be just as thrilled as we are.”

“Yeah,” he croaked out. “Just thrilled.”

I intertwined my arm with his and grinned the entire walk to the front of the store. I couldn’t wait to get this back to his house and see how he reacted when he saw this giant cock in his bedroom every morning. Personally, I found it hilarious. Maybe that would teach him to think about what he did and didn’t like.

“Excuse me,” I said to the woman, grabbing her attention. “We’ve chosen a picture.”

“Sure. Which one can I help you with?”

“The giant rooster,” I grinned.

Her smile faltered as she looked from me to Asher. “The…rooster. How…wonderful. I’ll have an associate grab that for you.”

“Perfect.”

With the way this day was going, by the time this was hanging on the wall, I would have Asher spilling his guts about what he liked. There would be no more hiding behind grays and blacks. He would tell me what he liked if I had to hang a rooster in every damn room in his house.

“You know, maybe we should get a matching one for your house, Holly Bear,” he whispered in my ear.

“What?” My head whipped around to meet his gaze. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, you just seem to love it just as much as I do. I think you should have a matching one.”

Oh shit. I hadn’t seen that coming. “It really doesn’t match anything in my house. See, you don’t have any decorations up.”

He nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I was thinking about that. You know, you really don’t have much on that one wall in your bedroom. You know, the one where your dresser is right now. You could put a smaller version there. And if I remember correctly, they had a smaller portrait back there.”

He turned on his heel to walk back and check, but I grabbed him by the elbow. “No, they didn’t. It was much too big for the space you had in mind.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“It was. Really.”

“Well, let’s just see, shall we?”

He winked at me, then took my hand and tugged me along after him. I knew I was screwed. There was only one possible way to get out of this and that was by giving in. But my daddy didn’t raise a quitter. If I gave up now, I would have to admit that I hated the rooster to begin with, and then he would hold that over my head forever.

For all eternity, as he put it.

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