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My eyes fluttered closed as I remembered him rubbing it over my clit while endlessly pumping his fingers inside me, and the sucking noises his mouth had made while I writhed on my back like a flipped cockroach.

“Oh my.” Roxi’s hand covered her mouth, her fingers pulling at her bottom lip a little. “You’re gettin’ turned on just rememberin’, aren’t you? I’m so jealous! Maybe it’s not so weird if the llama guy wants my hair. If I can have orgasms brought on by somethin’ other than my little rose vibrator, I might be able to look past it.”

I laughed but dropped my face into my hands, trying to rub the embarrassment away until I realized I’d probably smudged my mascara.

“I’m too old for this. People my age don’t have four orgasms in the span of an hour.”

“Oh man,” she said. “I think I might need to sit down. This is too good. Wait. Halt. Rewind. Did he stay the night?”

“No. But that’s not what I’m worried about. What are people gonna think? I mean, he paid my damn taxes. Five thousand dollars, Roxi. That’s… I don’t even know. But is it wrong? I mean, is it wrong that I accepted the money, and now he’s givin’ me orgasms? I feel like?—”

She shook her head. “Unless you demand money before the orgasms, it’s not wrong. He offered the money freely, right? You didn’t ask for it?”

“I didn’t. He offered becauseyoutold him I was up shit creek.”

“So then it’s not wrong. And I know you’ll pay him back.”

“Yeah, I will. I’ve already started a spreadsheet to see where I can whittle down my expenses?—”

My phone rang, and Roxi jumped in place while I pulled it from my pocket. All her keys and her handcuffs and mini flashlight attached to her uniform vest tinkled and thunked. “Ooo! Is it him?”

I’d labeled his contact in my phone as only R. I didn’t have a picture of him to assign to his profile, but the R told me enough when I saw it on my screen.

I nodded vigorously.

Roxi groaned, clenching her fists in the air, and she shook them. “Goddammit, I have to go to work! Okay, answer it and then call me after. And don’t think you’re gonna get away with skimpy details.”

“Yes, Officer Fitts.”

“Good. See ya. Oh, and by the way, you’re welcome!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

RYE

Aubrey answered my call.She didn’t say anything, but just knowing she was on the line made me smile.

“Hey, Spitfire.”

I was pretty sure I’d rocked her world last night. At least, I hoped I had, but now that I was back at the ranch, staring at the same four log walls I always did, she felt so far away. Already, I missed the lightness of her house and all the pretty things she’d decorated it with. The only thing decorating my wall was an old, metal PBR sign, and I’d nailed a couple hooks next to my front door that I hung horse tack on.

Actually, what I missed was Aubrey and the lightness of her laugh.

I left my uncle’s place before dawn this morning, and I cussed myself out the entire drive home for leaving after she’d asked me to stay. Hadn’t slept all night thinking about it.

“Hi.”

“You get my text last night?”

“Yes.”

What was with the one-word answers? Had I blown out the language center of her brain when I made her come on mytongue? Three times in a row and then watched a fourth time while she masturbated with my cock in her mouth.

“Did I wake you?”

“No.”

“I’m not gettin’ a real proof-of-life feelin’ right now with these one-word answers. Are you okay? Have you been kidnapped by pirates and they’re standin’ over you, not lettin’ you talk to me?”