The Slow Burn (Moonlight and Motor Oil #2) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,45

also a good kisser,” she shared.

“I got that when I gave you half of one and you raced up the stairs with me.”

She smiled up at him, it was sassy, sweet, satisfied, and she moved a hand to rub the backs of her fingers along his beard at his jaw, a touch he felt warm his chest and twitch his dick.

She did all this drawling, “That would be you dragging me up the stairs after I gave you half a kiss.”

“I remember it differently.”

“Whatever,” she mumbled.

As much as he was enjoying this . . .

“Need to get food in you,” he reminded her.

She lifted her gaze from watching what she was doing at his jaw to his eyes.

“It’s pot luck and it’s happening in a couple of hours, and if you don’t show at my place for dinner after all of this, I’m never speaking to you again. But we both know if I don’t shovel down a truckload of Margot’s chicken, I’ll never hear the end to it, so I don’t need to fill up now.”

“I’ll make you a smoothie and you’ll be all set for Margot’s chicken, and I’m absolutely showing tonight and I’m also absolutely spending the night.”

She grinned up at him as she pressed into him.

Right.

Apparently, they didn’t need to have the convo about being on the same page.

They were on the same page.

“Where’s Brooks?” he asked.

“I dropped him at Margot and Dave’s before I came over here,” she answered.

“Does she know you came over here?”

She shook her head. “I just told her I had some errands to run. She’s keeping him the afternoon and they’re bringing him home when they come tonight.”

“Right.”

“She’s also gonna watch him three days a week instead of him going to daycare.”

Uh.

Say what?

Toby’s frame went solid and his repeat of, “Right,” was tight.

“And I’m gonna talk to Johnny tonight to defer payments of the loan for a while,” she said softly, watching him closely.

Holy fuck.

He did not dig into that, harp on it, anything.

He just forced his body to relax and whispered, “Good.”

“And I’m gonna eat your food and use the money you gave me to hang tough until I can find a job that’ll keep me in Matlock, or closer to it than the city. A job that pays more that’ll cover Brooks and me so we can stay close to family, but I can take care of both him and me without fucking shit up.”

That made Toby close his eyes, tighten his arms, and drop his forehead to hers.

He opened them and again whispered, “Good.”

“You were right,” she whispered back. “I’m proud. I don’t know what made me that way. If Mom had a Margot, we’d have been with her and not alone with Izzy heating up soup and making us cheese sandwiches. And if someone handed Mom ten thousand dollars, it might have smarted, but she would take it and be gracious and grateful and get her girls things we needed, and other things we wanted just so we knew we were loved and cared for. So one day, I’ll want to pay you back. We’ll sort that out later. But now, Brooks needs onesies and Christmas cookies even though he won’t remember them, and I need to stop acting like I’m all alone and lean on people who are hurting because I’m not letting them help me.”

“You were trying to make her proud,” Toby told her.

“Sorry?”

“She did it that way. You were trying to do it like she did it. Her sacrifice, your sacrifice. Like you get it. Like you’re both in the same club, paying the same dues.”

“God,” she mumbled, her gaze drifting away. “You’re right.”

“She didn’t want to be a member of that club, honey.”

Her gaze came back, and she replied, “You’re right.”

“My guess, me telling you that you don’t have to pay that money back won’t get in there with you,” he surmised.

She bit her lip.

He gave her a squeeze and murmured, “That’s okay.”

It was because this was going to work.

She was funny and feisty and lost her mind when he’d been out of line with her son—not her, her son—and came to his home to get in his face about it.

Half a kiss, and five minutes later, she had her jeans down her ass and was on her knees, offering her pussy to him, so it was safe to say they had chemistry. Give them time and a situation that was not extreme—like both of them wanting to go there for seven months,