A Very Venom Christmas - Kristine Allen Page 0,11

offered inanely.

“Thanks, I could use a cup,” she said with a smile. Her grandson growled behind her.

She glanced over at him and narrowed her eyes. “One cup will be fine,” she muttered to him as he glowered.

As she filled her cup, her gaze dropped into the sink. “You had company?”

Nothing gets by you, does it, Margaret?

Inwardly cringing, my mouth flapped uselessly. In my periphery, I noticed Decker running a hand over his mouth. Then he piped in, “Loralei made me a cup of coffee after I picked her up.”

A calculating gleam lit Margaret’s eyes as she looked from him to me and back. “Oh, well that was nice of you.”

“It was the least I could do after he went out in the storm to save my butt,” I said with a forced smile. My fingers nervously fidgeted with the neckline of my shirt, and the faint scent of his cologne had my aching pussy shamelessly throbbing.

Ugh! Stop!

Once we both had a cup, we sat at the table. Decker joined us, and my face flamed as I remembered what we’d done on the table his grandmother was now sitting at. Resting her coffee mug in the exact spot my ass had been hours before.

Oh, God. I’m going to hell.

As if he could read my mind, the bastard smirked.

Margaret cleared her throat. “I’m not going to be able to be there for our knitting lesson,” she began.

“Okay,” I drew out until it was more of a question. “We can do it later in the week,” I assured her. Truth be told, I didn’t care if I learned to knit. I only went to her home for her lessons because I enjoyed her company. That, and the fact that my friends were few and far between.

Okay, none was more like it.

If Mel was my father figure, then Margaret was probably my best friend. In over a year, I hadn’t made a single friend my age in the small Iowa town. I didn’t trust many people. I also worked hard at trying to quietly blend in. It was bad enough I was delivering pizzas, but I didn’t really socialize with the customers. Just dropped off their pizza, collected their money if needed, and left.

“No, we can’t. I’m leaving this afternoon.”

“Then when you get back,” I replied with a shrug. I was easy to please. It wasn’t like my calendar was full.

“I’m moving to Ankeny with Decker. I need to have surgery, and my doctor thinks it would be better if I was closer to family. Decker has limited time because his business is really busy right now. My daughter is in Florida, and her time off would only be temporary. With all that, it looks like I’ll be relocating. I’m so sorry. I’ll miss you something fierce, but maybe you could come visit,” she finished up with a hopeful lilt.

Chest caving, I fought the wave of loneliness that was slowly engulfing me. I wouldn’t be able to go visit her, because there was no way I could afford to take time off work. Losing everything and everyone that had been important in my life nearly eight years ago did a number on my head that I hadn’t realized until that moment.

“Oh. Wow” was all I could get out. “I didn’t know you needed surgery.”

She huffed before she grumbled, “Because I didn’t want to have it.”

When she didn’t elaborate on what type of surgery, I didn’t pry. After all, it wasn’t really my business.

Decker cleared his throat before he placed a key on the table. “Since your car is out of commission for now, Grams is leaving her SUV here for you to drive. We can pick it up once your car is ready.”

“What? No. That’s too much,” I argued and pushed the key back toward him. The truth was, I had no idea how long it would be before I could afford to fix my car or, God forbid, get a new one. I knew diddly shit about cars. Then again, I didn’t have any other option, and it would buy me a little bit of time. Maybe I could get a third job—go back to waitressing at the strip club in Spirit Lake.

They didn’t stay long before Decker was ushering her across the road again without a backward glance.

It shouldn’t have hurt, because I knew exactly what last night had been. He’d boldly told me in no uncertain terms that we were two consenting adults fucking each other’s brains out. There had been