Stripped Bare (Stripped #1)(67)

“Go ahead.”

“Did the maid of honor really ask you how much it’d be for the honor of sucking your cock?”

“My ‘fine-as-f*ck cock,’ you mean,” he corrected me with a wide grin. “And yes, she did. Quite shamelessly and loudly, actually. I was almost impressed.”

“Almost impressed?”

“Well, it was her guts more than anything.” He paused, flipped the steaks, the put the spatula down, and grabbed his beer. “She quite literally grabbed my dick and asked me.”

My eyebrows shot up. Wow. “I’d almost be impressed too.”

“Oh. You’re not getting angry with me this time?”

I pursed my lips. “It can be arranged.”

“Would it help if I said the steak was ready?”

“It’ll delay it, not necessarily help it.”

He caught the teasing tone in my voice and flashed me a quick grin before he put the steaks on the plate. He carried them over to the table near the grill, and I joined him there.

“Do you want a glass of wine?” he questioned, setting the plates down. The next thing he grabbed was a large wooden salad bowl.

I shook my head. “I’m driving.”

“Are you sure?”

I eyed him curiously. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you wanted me to so I can’t drive home.”

West sat down, looking the picture of absolute innocence, his eyebrows raised. It didn’t wash with me—I knew that the man was the embodiment of temptation, of the ultimate sin.

“Me?” he asked. “What makes you say that?”

I spooned salad onto my plate. “Because it falls in line with absolutely everything I know about you.”

He dropped the innocent look and smirked. “You know me better than I thought you did.” He cut into his steak.

I wrinkled my nose at the look of the almost-raw meat and the blood that was very visible.

“What?”

“I think your steak is still mooing.”

He paused, his steak knife still stuck in the meat, then laughed loudly. “And it’s delicious when it moos.”

“Is mine like that?” I pointed my fork at mine. “I mean, I’m all for a little pink, but I don’t even know why you cooked yours.”

“No, yours isn’t still mooing, as you put it. I hedged a bet on you being a medium-well kind of woman.”

“What made you think that?”

He was right, but I was interested. Guessing someone’s steak preference was quite the talent.

And it actually made perfect sense that he, alpha extreme, liked his steak still half mooing.

“Most of the women I know like it cooked until it’s virtually charcoal. You’re not like most of the women I know. You’re in a completely different league.”

My brow furrowed as he took a big bite of his half mooing dinner. “Different league? Is that a good thing?”

He swallowed his food, and his lips twisted up into a smile. “Yeah. You’re like Major League Baseball, and they’re...throwing-the-ball-in-the-backyard league baseball.”

I blinked at him. “So, basically, they’re collecting quarters in their piggy bank and I’m a millionaire?”

“Pretty much. Let’s just say they never got to see me enjoy eating a cow.”

“That’s still mooing.”

“Definitely not one that’s still mooing.”

“What an honor. I can barely contain my amazement.” Or my disgust at its redness.

“Sarcastic shit.” He smiled then sipped from his beer.

We fell into an easy silence as we ate. Unlike the others from earlier, it wasn’t awkward or tense, and it didn’t promise anything except comfort. It was a little scary, how at ease I felt here with him, just eating.

I lied. It was a lot scary. Despite the fact that I’d been hungry when I’d arrived, I couldn’t finish the steak or the salad.

There were too many thoughts whirling around in my mind—thoughts that morphed into questions I needed answers to. It was easy for Allie to tell me that sleeping with him and then leaving was the easiest thing to do, but in fact, it was the hardest.

I cared about West, and leaving someone you cared about was never easy.

“Can I ask you another question?” I asked as he brought out a filter jug of water and two glasses half filled with ice.

West set them between us, the glasses clinking as they went down, and poured the water into them. “You’re inquisitive tonight.”

“The last question wasn’t really serious. I just wanted to know if it’d really happened or you just said it to get back at me for what I’d said.”

“Get back at you? I’m almost thirty, Mia. I don’t have time for games like that.” He sat back down. “If I did and I wanted to get back at you, I’d have told you I didn’t charge her and let her suck me for free.”

“Fair enough,” I muttered.

“Ask your question. Something is obviously on your mind.”

I knew I shouldn’t, but it tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop it. “Why did you get married?”

West stilled. Yet again, my abruptness had caught him off guard. I really needed to work on not blurting shit out.