Page 77 of Outside The Wire

“Alright then. I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too.”

I hung up and tossed my phone on the nightstand, pulling my covers up as I settled back into bed. But there was no going to sleep now. As I closed my eyes, all I could see was her worried face, thinking about whether or not I really wanted to be with her. She wouldn’t sleep a fucking wink and then she’d be tired all day tomorrow.

I threw off the covers and grabbed my jeans. “Goddamn woman.”

18

HOLLY

“Holly!”Noelle called from the register. “None of these items are ringing up correctly!”

“Shit,” I muttered, running from the back room to where she stood with a line of customers waiting to check out. It was all because of Asher and his stupid idea to play naked inventory. I’d kill him later, but for now, I had to get this straightened out. “We’ll write the tickets by hand and I’ll straighten it out later.”

I got to work, helping her write up the tickets as she totaled the items. It was a slow process, but we got it done without too much irritation from the customers. By the time everyone was out, the lunch rush had died down, giving me enough time to enter the items purchased and correct them in the system. Then, I just had to go back through and fix what had already been in there.

“Okay, what was that about? I thought you said Asher helped you enter all this into inventory while you were snowed in?” Noelle asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

I ducked my head, avoiding her gaze as I remembered the game we played while we went through the spring inventory. “We…did.”

“Girl, what aren’t you telling me?”

I sighed, knowing she wouldn’t let this go until I told her the truth. “We sort of…played a game while we were doing it.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, stiffening slightly. “A game while doing it ordoing it?”

I tossed my pencil at her. “Doing the inventory.”

“Thank God.” She slumped against the counter, holding her heart. “Because seriously, I thought I was going to have to burn something when I got here.”

“I told you, we already moved everything that we touched.”

“So, the couch and all those blankets that were in the living area,” she said with a knowing smile.

“Hey, it was cold!”

“The power didn’t go out.”

“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t cold.”

“It would have been perfectly warm if you had kept your clothes on. Now, about this game you played…”

“It was sort of a game to see who could concentrate most on the inventory while naked.”

Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “Nope. Don’t tell me any more. I don’t want to think about what might have occurred. Just tell me this. Is it safe to touch all the pieces?”

“Yes.” Geez, she was so dramatic. “I sterilized everything that was used as a dildo,” I threw out there just as she was taking a sip of her cocoa.

She choked, spitting everything out. Yes, it landed on the floor, but it was completely worth it to see that reaction. I especially liked it when the cocoa shot out her nose. Very entertaining.

“You bitch! Why would you do that to me?”

“Because I can.” I raised my middle finger and turned around, sauntering through the shop to the kitchen to grab my lunch. Today’s meal would be quick since I had so much to fix, but I could handle that. I took my tuna sandwich to my computerand got to work on the inventory. I had really made a mess of this with Asher. No wonder nothing was scanning right.

“Oh, hi, Mrs. Lane!” Noelle’s voice carried through the store.

“Shit!” I hit save and jumped up from my computer, rushing to the front of the store before Noelle did something stupid. That would be just like her. “Mom, what are you doing here?”

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