the previous night. He didn’t have to wonder if she enjoyed the ass up-face down pounding. Lusty moans and her pussy creaming all over his cock were dead giveaways.
“We should be going,” Arnie muttered in a gravelly tone. He cupped Summer’s elbow to encourage her compliance.
She allowed him to call the shots but stood her ground long enough to say goodbye to her unlikely friend. “I’ll drop by the Vet Center in a couple of days with a tray of tamales from the restaurant. Is next Thursday good?”
“Thursday it is, Missy Sunflower. Enjoy your dinner.” Cy smiled at Summer while simultaneously glaring in Arnie’s direction. “Be a good girl now, ya hear?”
As they drove away, all he could think about was Cy’s last comment. Be a good girl.
The greenish glow from the car’s dashboard displays settled around Arnie. She could feel his emotions but wasn’t having much success deciphering his mood. Was the color green a clue he was jealous?
She wasn’t sure why, but something about meeting Cyrus got under his skin. Everything was fine and friendly until it suddenly wasn’t. Summer had no idea what caused the sudden shift. Guys were so strange.
“I love Cy,” she softly but earnestly murmured as if stating the obvious was going to even out Arnie’s disposition.
“Yeah, I got that,” he muttered in response.
“He’s old enough to be my grandfather.”
“Yep.”
Lifting her chin, she replied in a rush of words. “Why are you suddenly so grumpy? Stop it. Cranky and disagreeable set me off.”
“I’m not cranky,” he growled. “Drop it, Summer. It’s guy stuff.”
Was he out of his mind? “Oh, pfft,” she snarled with a dismissive gesture. “Guy stuff. Really? That’s your answer?”
When he didn’t have a comeback, she laid down a few facts to remind the blond Adonis just who the hell he was dealing with.
“I come from the bluest of the blue collar,” she dryly told him in a snarky tone. “My dad had a lapel pin from the Blessed Order of Saint Shutthefuckup.” She flipped her hair back over one shoulder with Kardashian-style exaggeration and arched a brow. “And let’s not overlook what it’s like to have an older brother who is career military. Don’t embarrass yourself by painting a shitty attitude as guy stuff,” she growled with air quotes.
Her words struck a nerve, and he flinched. Good. Being young wasn’t the same as being a pushover. Same for the girl-next-door thing. Anyone mistaking her normal friendliness for a lack of self-awareness was in for a shock.
“What is your problem?” she squawked. “I’m serious, Arnie. What?”
After some seat shifting, a dark sigh, and some obvious hemming and hawing, he finally grumbled so miserably she had to bite back a laugh.
“He knows, okay?”
Hmm. Knows what? She thought about it for a second before it dawned on her what he meant.
“Oh,” she exclaimed with surprise. “Do you mean he knows we’re, um, sleeping together?”
He turned his head, narrowed his eyes, and grunted. “We don’t do a lot of sleeping, Summer.”
Feeling defensive and shy at the same time, she blurted out, “Nobody should care if we’re doing it.”
“Young girl, older dude luring you to surrender your innocence in exchange for sinful perversions. The moral corruption is implied.”
You know what? He needed to lighten up.
“Sinful perversions? Did we do any of that?” Her teasing tone worked. He backed down and quietly chuckled.
Her mouth asked a question and made a comment that her mind hadn’t vetted before she blurted the words out.
“Did you know how possessive you could be? Just asking ’cause I sense surprise.”
There was a quiet wonder in his voice when, after another chuckle, he said, “You sense surprise? Man, I need to write a memo to the universe about script-flipping and what that shit means to a guy like me.”
She had no idea what he was getting at. None. Nada. Zilch.
A chill ran up and down her neck, and she stared at him in the darkness. The greenish hue was gone—replaced by a halo of flashing twinkles. In profile, it looked as though a cluster of sparkles clung to his eyelashes. When he exhaled, delicate, wispy trails swirled in the air. She focused on one here and one there before they disappeared.
A voice, hers, whispered in Summer’s mind, suggesting the possibility that she, a mere mortal, was in the presence of a supreme being.
Shocked and unsettled, she tried to slow her breathing and get a grip. It wasn’t just her fanciful daydreams this time. Arnie’s spirit, vigor, and commanding nature were not made up.