Blow Your Mind by Eric Pete Read Free Book Online Page B

I’d never do anything to hurt you, Bianca. You’re my heart. It’s just that things have been so crazy at work.”
     
    He paused, wanting me to egg him on. I didn’t. I just wanted to get cleaned up and go back to sleep. He’d continue anyway.
     
    “We’ve been going through the books.” Bingo. “You know I had to fire someone for messing with my money?”
     
    I still didn’t react.
     
    “ Our money,” he added, correcting himself to make me a part of the equation. “I’m lucky I caught the lowlife. And he’d better not try seeking a reference. Shit. He might want to move to another town, as far as I’m concerned. I have a low tolerance for thieves.”
     
    Somewhere in the monologue, I mentally wandered off. I was still hoping Pumpkin was keeping quiet and out of sight. Tanner had strict rules for having her around.
     
    After venting, he watched some business news on CNBC before taking me to shower with him. A good idea, as I thought the steam would reinvigorate me. My aching muscles seemed to soak it up, feeling looser than they had in days. I’m not quite sure where all my tension was coming from.
     
    We took turns soaping each other while kissing under the pulsating streams of water. Times like this were when the man I’d fallen in love with shone through. Sure, he had issues, but no couples were perfect. Maybe I was the one with issues, never up to par with this extreme alpha male whom fate had paired me with.
     
    “How was your lunch with Rory?” he asked as I scrubbed his back with the sponge. I was over being surprised by how much he knew. Lorenda probably told him when he came home from work.
     
    “Good,” I replied as I let the nozzle rinse away the suds. “I got to see Morris, her little boy. She rarely brings him out.”
     
    “Probably doesn’t know who the father is,” he derided. Rory was one he disapproved of, probably because she refused to fawn over him like the rest of this town.
     
    “That’s not nice. She does know who the father is.”
     
    “Oh, really?” he said, turning around to face me. It was his turn to finish soaping me. “Did she tell you?”
     
    “Well . . . no. I don’t ask those things. But I’m sure she knows.”
     
    He laughed—hearty and full of amusement. “Probably has one of those ballplayers conned.”
     
    “Will you leave my friends alone?” I said, raising my voice. “I don’t talk about yours, so . . .”
     
    “Bianca?”
     
    “So . . .” I couldn’t finish my sentence because I was too busy trying to focus. The world had begun spinning. Maybe the hot steam was too much, too soon. I braced myself in time for Tanner to catch me. He turned off the water and opened the shower door.
     
    “I’m fine, really.” A deep breath seemed to do me some good after the near-fainting spell. I tried it again to make sure I was going to be all right. “Something just passed over me.”
     
    “Let’s get you to bed. I’ll call the doctor in the morning. A checkup wouldn’t hurt. Can’t afford a sick wife.” I sounded more like a business asset than a wife with that closing remark, but took no offense.
     
    After toweling me off, he carried me in his arms, tucking me in beneath the down comforter. Tanner then donned his PJ bottoms. His physique was still admirable and, truth be told, satisfied me when I was in the mood.
     
    “Where are you going?” I asked as he headed toward the bedroom door.
     
    “Eat some of Lorenda’s soup, then do a little work in my office. I’ll check on you in a little bit.”
     
    I nodded, beginning to close my eyes for departure.
     
    “Baby?”
     
    “Yes.”
     
    “You’re not pregnant, are you?”
     
    “Ha, ha,” I answered, remembering the issues of his sperm count he’d told me about. I threw one of the smaller pillows in his direction. “If I were, then it wouldn’t be from you. Go do some work or something .”
     
    “I’d rather be doing you,” he joked, except I knew it wasn’t