Page 100 of The Way We Are
She screws up her nose in a way that shouldn’t be cute, but it totally is. “A little bit of column A and a little bit of column b.”
Her last three words come out in a flurry when she spots revenge brewing in my eyes.
“Ryan... don’t you dare,” she warns, knowing me well enough to know where my mind has wandered to.
“You help them steal hours away from me. That means you’ve got hours to make up for.”
She pegs a grease-covered rag into my face before bolting to the other side of my truck. I’m nipping at her heels two seconds later.
“Stop!” she squeals, wiggling in my arms. “I hate being tickled.”
She's such a liar. She loves it.
I tickle her until the hue of laughter gracing her cheeks switches to anger.
Okay, maybe she doesn’t like being tickled.
My dick braces against the seam of my jeans when Savannah twists around to face me. There's a smear of grease on her right cheek the hood of my truck shadowed earlier. Seeing her all greased up and messy shouldn’t be exciting, but it is—way more than I could ever express.
This is the Savannah I’ve always known. Imperfectly flawless.
“Promise me, Savannah—”
“I promise,” she interrupts, her smile more blinding than the midday sun.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask,” I josh, barging into her with my hip.
Savannah cocks a brow. “I know, Ry. And I won’t.”
The confidence of her last three words nearly knocks me on my ass. She knew what I was going to say before the words were even fabricated in my brain.
Don’t ever change.
40
Ryan
“Air conditioning privileges, choice of radio stations and which donut stores we visit are off limits for a rookie officer,” Regina remarks, her tone laced with a cheekiness I’ve become accustomed to the past six months.
“Come on, I’ve been your partner for eight weeks. Can’t we drop the rookie line?”
Regina laughs, assuming I’m joking. “I have wrinkles older than you, Ryan. Your rookie title isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
I roll my eyes, feigning annoyance before dropping them to the screen of my phone.
“How’s she doing?” Regina asks, knowing me well enough to intuit the reason for the smirk crossing my lips.
“Good. She’s got a few hours left before she reaches the Florida border.”
Air whistles between Regina’s teeth. “I really wish she wouldn’t drive that far. She’d be here in an hour if she weren’t so stubborn.”
I nod in full agreement. “Tell me about it. But you know Savannah...”
“As stubborn as she is beautiful,” we say in sync.
Although Regina has taken a mentoring role with me, her relationship with Savannah is more nurturing. She isn’t trying to replace Savannah’s parents; she’s simply lessening the burden on Savannah’s shoulders as she crosses from her teen years to her young adult ones.
Before I can return Savannah’s message, a call comes over our radio. “We have a 10-51PI on Tait. Emergency responders requested. Multi-vehicle accident.”