out he didn’t have the same courtesy for me. Fuck, I’d tried not to think about it since there was nothing I could do until I was home, but my blood boiled every time I did. Reminding myself that I needed to speak to him before jumping to conclusions, I focused my attention on the road and let my bike lead me home while the wind carried some of my worries away.
I called Layla when I was close to town, so she would be at my house with Blue when I got there. While I enjoyed having some time to myself—and I thoroughly enjoyed my night with Sloane—I couldn’t wait to get back. I missed my little girl.
Blue tried to launch herself out of her swing when she saw me walk through the front door. “Daddy’s home,” I cooed and went right for her, not caring one bit that she was covering my face and half of my beard with her uncontrollable baby slobber.
“You must’ve had a nice evening,” Layla prodded. She still didn’t know where I went or what I did when I asked her and Copper to keep Blue for the night. From the first time I mentioned it to her, she assumed I was going out to get some pussy, and I let her think that because I didn’t want to hear her or any of the other Old Ladies harping about my safety and the dangers of fighting.
“As a matter of fact, I did have a good evening. It ended with a bang,” I teased.
“Stop!” she squealed and plugged her fingers with her ears.
“Why do you keep asking me questions you don’t want to hear the answers to?”
“It’s a bad habit I’m trying to break,” she shouted because she still had her fingers in her ears. “We had a great night. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Gotta go. Love you, Baby Blue.”
“Your aunt can sometimes be a crazy lady,” I whispered to Blue after the front door closed. Blue responded by chewing on my face.
After playing with Blue for a while, I made her a bottle and put her down for her afternoon nap. Since a nap sounded like a great idea, I decided to take one as well, though I planned for mine to be much shorter than hers.
Dropping into bed, I pulled the covers over me but surprisingly couldn’t fall asleep. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about Sloane. And not just her sexy as hell body. I was thinking about her gorgeous smile and the way she made me laugh with the funny shit she said and did.
Fuck! I was a goner.
After tossing and turning for at least fifteen minutes, I picked up my phone and sent her a text.
Bronze: Tell me about the story you’re writing right now.
Sloane: That’s creepy AF. How do you now I’m writing right now?
Bronze: Because you just told me. I meant currently.
Sloane: Um…did I ever tell you what kind of books I write?
Bronze: No, I don’t think you did. What kind?
The dots on my screen bounced for several seconds before they disappeared for twice as long. She continued to repeat this pattern until I replied again.
Bronze: You must be embarrassed to tell me…Is it amphibian shifter romance? Or maybe snuff smut?
Sloane: Wait. How do you know about those genres?
Bronze: I volunteer/work in a bookstore. I know way more than I ever wanted to know about the different kinds of books.
Sloane: Are you genre shaming?
Bronze: I’m going to say no since I don’t know what that is.
Sloane: Basically, it’s judging someone for what they’re reading.
Bronze: Uh, this seems like a hot topic. And no, I wasn’t judging.
Sloane: It kinda is in the book world.
Bronze: The only hot topic I’m interested in is you.
Bronze: What do you write?
Sloane: Erotica
I damn near choked when I read her reply. Books weren’t typically my thing, but erotica written by her was definitely something I wanted to read.
Bronze: Do you use a pen name?
Sloane: Yes.
Bronze: What is it?
Sloane: S.C. Lorcan.
Bronze: You used your dad’s first name as your last name? Lol.
Sloane: I did it to piss him off.
Bronze: I’m guessing the S is for Sloane, but what’s the C for?
Sloane: It’s my mother’s first name, Caitlyn.
Perfect. I searched her name and clicked on the first retailer link I found.
Sloane: Let me know which book you were going to buy. I’ll send it to you instead.
Bronze: Now whose being creepy AF?
Sloane: I’ve had this conversation many, many times before.
Bronze: Not something I needed to