Page 51 of CowSex

I take a swig of my water as Koa sips his coffee, watching me with those brown eyes of his over his mug.

“No, I don’t swallow on the first date.”

Coffee sprays the table as he chokes and splutters. I throw my head back and laugh, doing nothing to help him. When he finally regains his composure, he gets up and collects more napkins from the counter.

He sits back down opposite me and begins to wipe up the mess he left behind.

“Not swallowing implies that you do suck, though.”

I shake my head.

“I don’t suck or swallow on the first, second, or third date, Cowboy. And just so we’re clear, taking me to breakfast does not count as a date, so get any ideas you might have regarding me or my mouth and any suck, spit, or swallow action out of that dirty mind of yours because it ain’t happening.”

I eat the last mouthful of omelette that I can manage, well aware that he’s watching me. Yeah, I give all the old bollocks about not giving it up on the first date, but looking at him in all his fineness, I so would.

“Can we please stop talking about sucking, spitting, and swallowing?”

“Course we can, Cowboy. What was your question?”

I tilt my head back and sip on my water, making sure to swallow hard so that my throat moves. When I’m done, I circle the bottle with my swollen right hand and screw the lid on with my left. I may then stroke the bottle up and down, maybe once, twice or twelve times. When I’m entirely sure I have Koa’s full attention, I use my ring finger to wipe non-existent drops of water from each corner of my mouth. And then I slowly lick my lips.

“Question, Koa, what was it?”

His eyes shift from my mouth to meet mine, and he clears his throat.

“So, huh, yeah.” He fumbles, shifts in his seat, and clears his throat again.

“What we discussed before, about interiors? I was wondering, if I were to let you stay for free at Emily’s place while the renovations are done, would you give me some help with the interior stuff? Usually, after I’m done with renos, I have a company come in and dress them, but I’m not sure that I wanna sell the old place yet.”

“Why would you wanna sell it? Didn’t you say that your dad built it?”

He nods. “I did, yeah. Before I was even born.”

“Do you need the money? Is it a financial thing?”

He shakes his head and puts his knife and fork down, not having touched even a half of what’s on his plate.

“Fuck no. I earn decent money flipping houses and what the band brings in alone has me set up for life.”

“Then why sell?”

He puffs his cheeks and blows out a breath. His fringe moves, which has him raking his fingers through it in an attempt to push it back from his face.

“This town holds a lot of memories for me. Not all of them good.”

I nod, totally understanding where he’s coming from.

“The tree where it happened is gone. Had to be chopped down after the accident, but I still have to drive past that spot every time I come in and out of town. And it’s not just me it affects, I have to think of Kai, too.”

“I thought he lived with your mum?”

Mention of his son reminds me of what he’d said earlier. Two kids.

“That’s just a temporary thing. Kai decided he didn’t wanna go to college, wanted to learn a trade. So, I took him on as an apprentice carpenter. Money’s not great, but he’s learning a skill that will eventually bring him a good living if he sets his mind to it.” He takes a sip of his coffee and continues. “He’d been doing great until I got a knock at the door late one Friday night. It was Nelson.”

“The same sheriff who showed up to rescue me the other night?”

He gives me a look before saying, “Yep,” and wrapping both his hand around his mug. “My legs almost gave out from under me when I opened the door and saw him standing there. I can’t, even to this day, put into words the fear that had a grip on me so tight that I couldn’t bring myself to say a single fucking word.”