Page 422 of Small Town Firsts
I started to laugh. “Baby, if my penis gets warmed any more, it will be a medical emergency. The humidity is insane. And yes, I did say baby, and you can just deal with it. It may be heat stroke.”
In the background, I heard a feminine voice say loudly, “Oh, penis warmers! Yes!”
Ryan sighed. “I need a vacation from my vacation.”
“You should have thought of that before you completed not even one full week of work. Wages of sin and all that.”
“A week was all I was scheduled for, if you recall. Because April is your actual assistant. I was just a fill-in.”
“I believe actuallyIfilled, but you came through in the clutch admirably. Until you left without permission. Now let me alone so I can traverse these twisty as hell back roads in the dark and come rescue you.”
“Even though I expressly asked you not to?”
“Has anyone ridden to your rescue before, Ryan Genevieve Moon?”
“How do you know my real name?”
“A handy tool called the internet. I do like Goddess though.”
Rustling noises came over the line and then she was in a quieter environment. “I don’t want you to miss work for me. Honestly. We’re fine. A lot of the people here are senior citizens and empty nesters. Definitely not the rough crowd your way overactive imagination is picturing.”
“I’m not anymore.”
“No? You seemed rather…incensed. In full Esquire mode.”
“It’s a bad habit. I’m new to being a boyfriend and very not new to being a lawyer.”
She hissed out a breath. “I don’t do relationships.”
“Me either, since I’m still a recent virgin, apparently.”
“Wow. I did not guess that. Did you learn from YouTube?”
“Another sort of You video site, but close enough.” I squinted into the darkness at a huge, looming shape. “I think I just saw a damn moose.”
“What? No. Holy crap.”
“Or it was otherworldly. It scampered into the night. There is that road around here with the dead bride ghost. You’ve heard that tale? Anyway, we’ll have to look for it someday.” I didn’t shudder, but boy, it was close. “In the daylight.”
“Yeah, we’ll revisit that at another time. If you insist on coming?—”
“I do.”
She sighed. “Then be careful, okay? No texting or phone calls. Those back roads have a lot of hairpin curves.”
“Then get off my phone.” I smiled. “Baby.”
She hung up.
I got lost. Three times.
By the last one, she was texting me. Dare I say frantically.
I wouldn’t say I grinned as the in-dash system read them to me but?—
Okay, yes, I was.
Broadly.
