Page 23 of Shep
I tried not to shift under his very thorough scrutiny.
“You knew what was gonna happen?”
I cocked my head. “You didn’t?”
“Hell, no.” He swiped his hand through the air as if cutting off that possibility. “I thought we were going to The Roadside. Maybe watch drunk people do karaoke or something.” He studied me with his dark eyes. Ones that I looked into as he slid his huge dick inside me, slowly and carefully. His scruff from Saturday night was now an official beard. “Obviously, you never did anything like that before.”
I couldn’t meet his gaze any longer. I thought of everything we did. All of it. My blush must’ve been as red as the ketchup on the table by the salt and pepper shakers.
“No.”
“Then why?”
I wasn’t going to tell him I was broke. That I wasplanning on sleeping in my car in a hotel parking lot tonight. That I needed his job too much to do or say anything that might get him to fire me. I couldn’t tell him how much I needed him. If I told him I wanted to feel his body pressing into mine, breathe in his scent, hear him calling me his good girl or the thick feel of him inside me, I might ruin it all.
I was the girl he’d paid for sex.
I was his employee, the one he was having anemployee lunchwith.
I had to ensure he forgot about one so I could be the other.
Tipping my chin up, I said, “I could ask the same thing. Why?”
Why pick me? Why spend that kind of money? Why even go in the first place?
He frowned, not too thrilled about answering the question either. I might be desperate for money, but I doubted he was so desperate for sex he’d pay three thousand dollars.
We were both saved by Mabel bringing our meals and then our mouths were too full to answer.
15
FRANKIE
Shep closedthe shop at six. He’d watched me pull out of the lot before he left, but I watched through his tail lights through the rearview mirror as he drove out of town in the opposite direction. Since lunch, a crazy storm front had come in. It wasn’t all that surprising or eventful in Montana this time of year. While it was snowing lightly, the wind was fierce, blowing it sideways. I drove to the community rec center to use the showers in the women’s locker room before returning to the shop.
It got dark early this time of year, which was in my favor for sneaking into a business after hours. It beingbitterly cold tonight, was not. As I’d looked out the bay doors and at the snow as it first started to fall, I’d realized my idea of sleeping in the hotel parking lot wasn’t going to work, even with the comforter from my bed I’d kept and wearing lots of heavy layers. It was just too dangerous.
Shep had given me the lock code for the shop in case I arrived before him or if he was out on a tow, but I doubted he meant ten hours early. Still, it was the only place I could think of to go.
After using the code, I entered, then pressed the button to raise one of the bay doors, drove my car in, then lowered it, cutting the chill. It was dark, the streetlight on the corner the only illumination, and with the wind rattling the metal, it was a little scary. The scent of motor oil was familiar though and the little hint of Shep’s cologne in the air made me feel safe.
I took a deep breath, let it out.
The space was heated. The door was locked. I was going to be okay, even as I shivered beneath my heavy layers.
I didn’t miss the trailer where I’d lived for as long as I could remember. Not one bit, but I never understood how it felt to have secure housing. Even with two jobs now, not having a place to live was overwhelmingand I tried not to admit that I was afraid. I’d taken care of myself for so long, I was used to it. But Marcus had come and gone from the trailer so it’d felt like I had him around. That I wasn’t completely alone.
Now… I was very, very alone.
“You’re okay for tonight,” I said to myself, offering up a little pep talk. “One day at a time.”
When payday came next, maybe I’d have enough for a place. Just a room to rent, not even an entire place. I knew now I didn’t need much.
From the front seat of my car, I grabbed my to-go container with the half of my hamburger I’d saved from lunch. I didn’t dare use the overhead lights, an obvious signal to anyone driving by that someone was inside a closed business, but I flipped on the bathroom light, brightening the kitchen area in the back corner. It was just enough to see what I was doing. l microwaved the leftovers and ate them standing up.
Looking around, I took in my temporary home. This wasn’t ideal. Heck, it was so far from ideal, but it would work for now. It had to.
16
