Page 57 of The Reading

“While I did have two guys in my past try the test, it’s not something that I mention if I don’t think the guy can take a joke.” I shrugged. “The first guy had passed with flying colors, but the second guy, not so much. He ended up canceling our second date, telling me that he was more than just his penis.”

“Ouch,” she winced.

“It’s just…yeah, you can’t mow a lawn without a lawnmower, and the weed eater just doesn’t get the same results,” I said. “What men fail to realize is that we don’t need porn star status; we just want them to know what the hell they’re doing.”

“Amen,” she praised.

That got a huge grin out of me. “It’s not rocket science.”

“I was lucky,” she said. “My Patrick was everything that I could ever want in a man, husband, and father for my child.” My chest thumped at how she was so obviously still in love with her husband. “The stories I could tell you.”

Before I could ask her to dish, a dark shadow fell over the both of us, and when I looked behind me, Taylor Mannis was standing behind me, looking sexy enough to irritate me.

“Oh, Taylor,” Ellen gushed. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” he said, and I was unreasonably annoyed by his sincereness.

“Surprise,” I muttered to myself.

*****

Taylor~

Iwasn’t insecure when it came to the size of my dick. I was packing enough inches not to concern myself with failing Rachel’s toilet paper roll test. However, I had no interest in hearing how my mother and father used to get down in the bedroom.

Now, while my mother was smiling up at me, happy to see me, Rachel Graham’s entire demeanor changed, and it wasn’t because I’d caught her talking about penises with her charge. For whatever reason, my mother’s caregiver didn’t like me, and I had no idea why. I’d never been rude, obnoxious, late on a payment, nothing. Nevertheless, Rachel didn’t care for me, and she wasn’t very sly about it.

The unfortunateness of it all was that Rachel Graham had a beautiful face, sexy body, and intelligent mind all going for her. If the woman didn’t dislike me so much, I’d have asked her out ages ago. Yeah, she was my mother’s assigned caregiver, but it wasn’t like I’d fuck things up if I ever got the chance to be with her.

Through conversations with my mom, I had learned that Rachel Graham was thirty-three, single, had a bevy of best friends, and was as kind as they came. She also had light brown hair, dark brown eyes, a heart-shaped face that came with dimples whenever she smiled, and she wasn’t the size of a celery stick. The woman was thick, curvy, and I loved that shit. While I didn’t go around judging thin women, I wasn’t attracted to them as much as I was to women that were soft. While weight was considered a serious health issue, I liked women that were confident enough not to starve themselves for the sake of fitting in or whatever.

No doubt about it, Rachel Graham made my dick hard. It was just a shame that she had some sort of grudge against me. I also refused to bring it up to my mom because I didn’t want to upset her. She absolutely adored Rachel, so the last thing that I wanted to do was cause any static between the two.

Placing a kiss on my mom’s cheek, I took the empty seat next to her. “Hi, Mom.”

“Well, I guess I’d better let you guys talk,” Rachel said, already standing up.

“No need,” I replied. “Feel free to stay.”

Those dark brown eyes of hers flashed with something. “I’d rather not,” she said boldly. “I know how precious our residents’ time is with their families, and I would not want to intrude.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Mom chuckled. “There’s enough of me to go around.”

Rachel smiled, and I wanted to lick her dimples. “While that is true, your son is a busy man, Ellen. Whatever time he manages to carve out of his day to visit you should be spent with just you.”

There was nothing wrong with her words, but my ears didn’t hear them that way. Somehow, there was a dig in there, and I found that shit was startingto piss me off. Unless my mother’s been telling her shit stories about me, Rachel had no cause to be so rude to me.

“Well, that’s appreciated,” I bit out, and I didn’t miss how my mom’s eyes slid my way.

With a tight smile, Rachel nodded at both of us. “Text me when you’re ready, Ellen.”

As soon as Rachel was out of earshot, Mom asked, “What was that all about?”

I did my best to play it off. “Nothing,” I lied. “It’s just...it’s been a long week.”

“It’s only Tuesday, Taylor,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, I know,” I replied, letting out a heavy sigh. “I had to work on Sunday, and I also volunteered to work Thanksgiving weekend.”

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