Vindictive (Mystery Lake Series Book 9) by Tamsen Schultz

Author:Tamsen Schultz [Schultz, Tamsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Devil's Gate Press, LLC
Published: 2024-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“What do you do for a living?” Charlotte asked him the next morning as they lay entwined in bed. He’d kept his boxer briefs and T-shirt on, and she wore shorts and a tank top, but it didn’t surprise him in the least that his body hadn’t gotten the message that it wasn’t sexy-time.

Still, Charlotte didn’t seem to be bothered by his obvious arousal—something he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about. But he’d take the heaven of having her in his arms over the discomfort any day.

“I figure you must get grants and funding for the work you do helping people, but that can’t be enough for all of you to live on,” she added.

“It’s not. And even if it were, all of it goes to help those we help—whether that’s clothes, a deposit on a place to live, or other things needed to start a new life. Our income comes from a bunch of businesses the club owns. We have our bar, Rita C’s, and an auto repair shop—the one on the north side of town. We only work on foreign cars since we didn’t want to compete too much with Ernie and his shop,” he said, referring to the other auto shop in town. “We also have a couple of guys who are genius at restoring old bikes, and we run a pretty well-known business for that. People send us their bikes from all over the world. And the last business we own is a construction supply company. We source materials for a lot of the contractors and developers in the area. Including your cousin Josh,” he said. Josh Warwick was an award-winning architect and builder. He’d unexpectedly become a single father at the age of twenty and had still managed to build his business. Noah had a tremendous amount of respect for him.

“It won’t make any of us rich, but we do well enough that we have everything we need,” he said. What he left unsaid was that coming from the homes and childhoods they’d all come from, a safe roof over their heads, food in their bellies, and a secure, loyal family were all most of them wanted.

“And keeps you busy. I run one business and it’s a lot,” she said, tracing her fingertips over his chest.

“There are fifteen of us. We spread the work.” He set his hand over hers, stopping her motion, then raised it and kissed her fingertips. Setting it back on his chest, he flattened his hand over hers, arresting her movement. He loved her touch—but maybe a little too much.

Charlotte fell silent, but her breathing shifted, and a slight tension entered her body. She wanted something but was holding back. Staying still, he waited.

Several seconds ticked by, then she pressed her palm to his chest. “I want to touch you, Noah. Can I do that?”

Fuck him, he hated the tentativeness he heard in her voice. And he heard what she meant even if she didn’t say it—she wanted him naked, she wanted to explore his body, but she wasn’t ready for him to do the same.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.