Chapter Nineteen
Greta
“I WANNA GO BACK TO Rockton.”
My hand froze in the air with a piece of pizza in it. “Um, now?” My gaze darted to the sun setting out the window. “Like, now?”
It was half past seven, and I was about to try my first taste of Colorado-style pizza. I had my little dish of honey ready for me to dip my crust, and I was one bite away from heaven. At least, that was what the owner of Beau Jo’s Pizza had told me on the phone when I ordered.
“Well, you can finish eating, but yeah?”
“You do know I’m the one who is supposed to be homesick and wanting to go home, right?”
Bear chuckled and shrugged. “We took care of everything today. It’s gonna be at least two weeks before I can get mom’s ashes, and there isn’t anything else we need to do here.”
“And your bounty hunter sense is wanting to get back to hunt down Dr. Douche,” I guessed.
“Well, yeah. As much as I wish this guy would just walk into the police station and turn himself in, that isn’t going to happen.”
I knew the whole reason we were in Colorado was because of Bear’s mom passing, but now that we had everything squared away, I thought we would do a little vacation of sorts. At least, that was what we had planned when we got here.
“Fine. I was really wanting to eat pizza and have sex, but if you want to start heading back home.” I flipped the lid to the pizza shut and tried to stand.
“Hold up, mama.” Bear caught my arm and held me in my seat. “We don’t have to leave now. We could start heading back toward Wisconsin in the morning.”
I shook my head. “I can eat my pizza in the truck, Bear. It’s fine.”
“Maybe I was jumping the gun. There isn’t a point in leaving right now. It’s almost dark, and I need to park the Bronco and load up the other one.” He reached and flipped back the lid of the pizza. “Let’s just go with what you had planned for the night.”
I smiled wide and grabbed my piece of pizza. “If that’s what you want.” I took a huge bite and moaned.
“Did you just play me?” Bears asked.
I wiped my mouth with a napkin and shook my head. “Of course not,” I cooed. “We can do whatever you want, lumberjack.”
Bear shook his finger at me and grabbed a piece of pizza. “You totally just used sex to make me change my mind.”
“As if anyone can make you change your mind.” I took another bite and moved the dish of honey closer to me.
Thank God I wasn’t going to have to pack up the honey and an entire pizza to eat in the passenger seat of Bear’s Bronco. I didn’t exactly play Bear, more like steered him to see the advantages of waiting ‘til the morning to leave.
Two slices later, I was blissfully full and watched Bear finish off the rest of the pizza.
“You’re not going to poop for days,” I laughed. I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and even I had my limits when it came to cheese. Limits I had to learn the hard way. The really hard way.
Bear scowled and dipped the last bite of his crust in the honey. “I think I’ll be okay, mama.”
I sat back in my chair and rested my arms on top of my head. “Only time will tell.”
Bear grabbed the empty pizza box and dumped it by the garbage can. I gathered our dirty plates and ran water in the sink to wash them.
“Was there anything you wanted to do before we leave town tomorrow?” he asked.
I shook my head and pumped some soap into the water. “Not really. I didn’t even know what Colorado style pizza was before I picked up the phone two hours ago, so it’s not like I know anything about what I want to do here.” I was just a small-town girl who was happy with the mountains surrounding her and delicious pizza in my tummy.
Bear moved behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “You can leave those in the sink, mama,” he whispered in my ear.
I leaned back into him and rested my head on his shoulder. “Do you have a maid that sneaks in the middle of the night and cleans?” I asked.
“Not in the middle of the night, but once I leave, she comes in.”
Oh. “Fancy.”
“More like I never wanted to waste what little time I had at home cleaning. I figure hiring a cleaning woman for after I leave was the best thing to do. As soon as I leave, I shoot her a message, and she comes in and cleans.”
“Those bounty hunter dollars must be lucrative.”
He chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m good at what I do.”
“How does that work?” I asked. “I mean, being a bounty hunter. Do people just call you up and ask you to find people? Or do you like have some secret hotline that you can like listen to fugitives you can look for?”
“Uh,” Bear hemmed. “A little bit of everything you just said. Well, minus the hotline.”
“Interesting.” I still didn’t understand how he did what he did, but I guess as long as he knew what he was doing, that was all that mattered.
“The majority of what I do is finding skips.”
I tipped my head to the side. “Is this the confusion you feel when Luna and I are talking about something you don’t know about?”
Bear laughed and reached forward to turn off the water. “Skips are people who skip out on bail. I have connections with about a dozen bail bondsmen around the country who tend to keep me busy enough.” He brushed my hair to the side, and his soft lips pressed a kiss to my neck. “It’s pretty much a lot of driving, then waiting around for the idiots to mess up, and then I throw them to the bail bondsmen.”
“And then you’re on to the next one,” I whispered.
“Yup.” His hand splayed on my stomach, and his tongue traced a thin line behind my ear.
“So, uh, how many do you...” His hand on my stomach pulled up my shirt, and he popped open the button of my jeans.
“How many what, mama?” he whispered.
I couldn’t think when his hands and mouth were on me. “I don’t know,” I mumbled.
“I think it’s time we move onto the second thing we thought we could do tonight instead of heading back home.”
My breath hitched at him calling Rockton home. I’m sure he called it home without meaning to, but it gave me pause that there was hope that Rockton could be Bear’s home.
He pushed down my pants, and his hand covered my pussy. “The dishes can wait for later,” he growled.
Bear turned me in his arms and tugged my jeans and underwear down to my feet. I stepped out of them, and he kicked them over by the table. “Won’t be needing those for the rest of the night.”
“I like that sound of that,” I laughed.
He pulled his shirt over his head and sailed it across the room.
“You do that too well, lumberjack. Makes me wonder if you’re just randomly taking your shirt off all of the time.”
He chuckled and lifted me. “You think too much about shit, mama. All I did was take my shirt off.”
That may be all it was to him, but for me to watch it was like a front row seat to a strip tease. “Where are we going?” I asked. As much as I liked being in bed with Bear, I knew he wasn’t comfortable there.
“Five feet to the right, mama.” He moved three steps, then set me on the counter.
“That’s a bit cold on the ass,” I laughed.
“I’ll warm you up.” He delved his fingers into my hair and devoured my mouth. The advantage of sitting on the counter was I was the perfect height to kiss Bear without tipped my head back or him bending down.
I wound my arms round his shoulders and just held on. Kissing Bear was an experience you just needed to let happen. His rough but tender hands held me in place while his lips and tongue drove me insane. I grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head. I wasn’t as graceful as Bear at it because I snagged it on my jaw and yanked my head back.
“Mama,” he chuckled. “Maybe you should leave that to me?” He reached behind me, deftly unhooked my bra, trailed it down my arms, and dropped it to the floor. “See, no one got hurt.”
“Showoff,” I muttered.