AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How well does it pay?”
“Not too well. But the benefits are excellent. Wink-wink. Nudge-nudge.”
He laughed. “I don’t think you’re meant to say the words, wink-wink, nudge-nudge, pretty girl.”
She grinned at him. “No? Silly me.”
“But still . . . those are some damn good benefits. I’m tempted to become your human heating-pad.”
“Yeah, it would be way better than being a cowboy,” she said. “I promise to remember to feed you every so often. And water you.”
He snorted. “So generous of you.”
“I thought so.”
They fell silent and he just held her.
“I don’t want to go back in,” she eventually said.
“Me neither, pretty girl.”
“Do you ever feel like your life is speeding by and you haven’t done any of the things that you wanted? As though you’re trapped with no way out?”
Fuck. Where had that come from? No, he guessed he hadn’t thought of his life like that. He was actually pretty happy with everything he had.
Especially now that he’d found her.
“Fuck, Lilac. Is that how you feel?”
She stiffened. “What? Of course not. It was just a . . . a question. I don’t feel that way. I’m happy as pie. Although I’ve often wondered how pie can be happy. It can make you feel happy. But it’s pie. It doesn’t have feelings, right?”
She was babbling, which was damn cute. However, he didn’t let it distract him. And when she tried to move from his lap, he tightened his hold on her hips, keeping her in place. He wasn’t having that.
“Tell me the truth.”
She huffed out a breath. “What makes you think I wasn’t telling the truth?”
“I know you weren’t.”
“What are you? A human lie detector? I wouldn’t tell people that. They might lock you up and use you.”
“Not a human lie-detector. Also, you’ve been watching too much TV. Is that the way you feel, Lilac?”
“Sometimes,” she whispered. “It’s hard not to feel that way.”
“Is there something you want to do with your life? Something that’s holding you back?”
Whatever she wanted to do . . . whatever she needed in order to do it . . . he’d give it to her.
“I want to be free.”
Tanner scowled.
“And that’s the end of my break.”
“Lilac, we’re not finished talking about this,” he told her. No way was she walking away.
“I just . . . I didn’t think my life was going to end up like this, you know? Figured I’d be doing more by now.”
