Page 64 of Hot for the Jerk

Dom smirked.“You’re asking me thisafteryou ate it?”He grabbed a napkin from a stack on the table and wiped the green icing off his son’s cheek.

“Yeah,” Silas said, all bright-eyed and totally unaware of the hilarity.“Is it okay?”

“And if I said no?”

Silas shrugged.“I’d say,‘Whoops!’because I already ate it.”

Dom rolled his eyes, smiling.“It’s fine.It’s Christmas.You better still have room for the healthy stuff though.I expect to see turkey and some vegetable on your plate, young man.”

Silas beamed at his dad, then nodded and gave a salute.“Yes, sir!”Then he took off to go find his cousins again.

Dom turned to me.“Did you guys get up to anything when you had to huddle together to keep warm in the chilly B&B?”

I glanced away for a moment, picked up my beer, remembered it was empty, and set it back down.“I … alleviated some of her pent-up frustrations … with my tongue … with the hopes that it might remove some of her prickles.”

Dom tried to hide his amusement by sipping more from his beer, but failed.“So, either she’s just too prickly, or you’re not very good at it?”

I flipped him the bird.“I’m fantastic at it.Fuck you very much.She’s justthatprickly.Too prickly.I even took her a cactus because when I saw it in the store, it immediately reminded me of her, and she was prickly about getting something prickly.”

My brother snorted and shook his head.“You’ve got your work cut out for you with that one, it seems.”His gaze turned soft and loving when it fell back on Chloe.“Though, the best ones are worth the extra effort, in my opinion.”

“I don’t even know if Iwantanything with her.”Shoving my hands in my hair, I scraped my nails against my scalp, welcoming the sting.“I can’t stop fucking thinking about her though.”

“And do you think she feels the same way?”

“I told you I can’t get a read on the woman to save my life.When I knocked on her door yesterday, she told me to go away before she even opened it.”

Chuckling, Dom shook his head some more.“Fuck, that’s funny.Did she know it was you?”

“Yeah.The little she-devil.”

“I know nothing about the Vino Vixens or why they’re all single moms.I don’t know their traumas, or their histories.All I know is that they inherited the vineyard and property from their late aunt.Other than that, the women keep their pasts pretty hidden.”

“You also don’t give a shit about that stuff,” I pointed out.“You avoid island news and gossip like it’ll give you shingles.”

“I hear more than I care about just being a bartender.Why the fuck would I seek any more?”

“Fair point.I can only imagine that if Jolene Dandy or any of the Sewing Circle ladies got wind of anything juicy, the whole island would know about it in no time.”

Dom nodded.“Look how fast news about Chloe and I got around.We’re amazed they’re still in the dark about her pregnancy.”

“Well, she isn’t showing yet.So that helps.”

“So besides alleviating Ms.Aaronson’s stress, what else did you guys get up to?”

“You’re really committed to this being my Christmas present, aren’t you?”

Dom finished his beer.“I’m a great gift giver.”

“Apparently.”I filled him on all the benign shit that happened on Wayman Island at the B&B.Like getting drunk the first night, chopping firewood, the drunk seniors, making the chili, and doing the puzzle.It wasn’t my place to fill him in about Raina’s deceased husband or how unkind he’d been.Not that I thought Dom would tell anybody, but Raina trusted me with that information.I wasn’t going to betray that trust.

“Sounds like one hell of a couple of days,” my brother said when I was done.“And the whole keeping a steak knife in her car is weird.”

“Right?”

“You gentlemen look far too sober,” said Clint, setting two fresh beers in front of us.Bennett and Logan were behind him, and the five of us crammed into the booth.“What are we talking about?”

Dom glanced at me and shrugged.

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