Naked Love(27)

Resting my hands on my hips, I huff out an exasperated breath. “Would it kill you to treat me with a little more compassion and humanity?”

He opens the bathroom door and looks back over his shoulder. “Ask me that when you don’t have a steering wheel stuck around your neck.” Holding up his phone, he takes a picture and his mouth twists into a stupid smirk just before he shuts the door.

“Did you seriously just take a picture of me!?”

“Yep.” He hollers from the other side of the door. “I needed a good snap. Thinking of letting my friends caption it.”

Bastard!





CHAPTER EIGHT





Turns out Avery is the first customer to get her head stuck in the steering wheel.

“Jake!”

The attendant coughs to hide his amusement as I work it over her head.

Her hands claw my arms. “My hair! Oh my god, my hair! My neck. My earrings. Stop!”

“Get in the truck.” I point to the door after she stumbles backward, realizing her freedom. I hand the steering wheel to the cashier while pinning her with a firm look. “Don’t touch anything. Don’t step in anything. Straight to the truck. Can you handle that, Princess?”

Her hands ghost over her hair, surveying any possible damage. She nods. I think she’s actually shaking a bit. Unexpected tussles with steering wheels will do that to you.

She inspects her hair all the way to the truck as the cashier scans my bottles of water.

“Just a sec …” I sift through a cubby of T-shirts, looking for my size. “This too.”

A minute later, I’m out the door, shrugging off one shirt and pulling on my new one. Avery slaps the visor mirror shut when I open the door. Of course she was messing with her hair.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She eyes my new shirt.

“If I have to explain it, then it’s clear why you’ve had relationship issues.”

Karma is Like 69

You Get What You Give

“I’m not a fan of Karma at the moment.”

I start the truck. “And 69?” Rolling my lips together, I hide my grin.

“It’s …” She shrugs, drumming her fingers on her legs, lips twisted. “Efficient.”

Chuckling, I pull out of the parking lot. Most of the time I want to wrap my hands around her neck and shake, but there have been moments, like now, that I find myself intrigued, mildly entertained by her remarks.

“And if you ask me if I’m efficient, I will jump out of the truck. I don’t like talking about that stuff.”

“Are you efficient?”

She giggles, shaking her head while giving her focus to the window. It’s a surprisingly pleasant sound. “Sorry. I’m still mad at you. We’re not having this conversation.”

“No conversation works for me.” I turn up the radio.

She grabs a container that Addy sent with her. I give her a quick sidelong glance.

“I’m not sharing. You didn’t share your berries with me yesterday.”

I grin, returning my focus to the road.

“God …” She hums. “This is the best chocolate zucchini bread I’ve ever had.”

“It is.”

Avery licks her fingers. “No Pilates. No calorie counting. I’m going to pay for this.”

“How so?”

“Hello? Hips, ass, abs. All the places excess food likes to settle on my body.”

At the stoplight, I give her the once-over. “Nothing seems to be settling on your hips, ass, and abs.”

“Yet,” she mumbles over a mouthful of bread.

“Happy, healthy, helpful.”

Wrapping up the rest of the bread, she shoots me a questioning glance. “I’m not following.”

“Instead of hips, ass, and abs, you should focus on happy, healthy, and helpful. Are you happy? Do you have your health? At the end of every day, can you say that you helped someone?”

“Helped someone?”

I nod. “It doesn’t have to be grand, like donating a kidney. Something as simple as opening the door for a stranger. Did you make someone feel good? Did you put the needs of another above your own? Did you make a difference in the world?”

After a few seconds, she releases a long exhale, turning her attention back to her window. “Are you happy, healthy, and helpful?”

“Well …” I shoot her a quick look. “There’s a stranger in my passenger seat and her dog in my backseat. I’d say I’m quite helpful. I exercise every day and eat real food. Yes, I’d say I’m healthy.”

I pull into an angled parking spot in the downtown.

“And happy? Are you happy?”

Turning off the ignition, I shrug. “I’m content.”

“Cont—”

Shutting the door before she can respond, I glance up at the partly cloudy sky.

Happy? Two out of three ain’t bad.

My phone vibrates.

Deedy: Hey! Just wanted to thank you again for taking Avery and Swarley back to L.A. : ) You are a kind human, Jake Matthews. Please never forget that.

“Deedy …” I mumble, walking around to the other side of my truck. “I’m enduring this for you—only you.” Opening Avery’s door, I hide my gritted teeth behind my tightlipped smile. “S’up, Princess?”