Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

His gaze stuttered, like he was thinking about my panty region, too. Then he remembered Kinley was still standing there waiting on a response. “That should do us. Thanks.”

She snagged Nik’s menu and headed to the back as his attention returned to his phone to type something in. “Making a note to buy stock in Kraft,” he explained with a smile.

His phone had been buzzing with texts all day. Most he ignored after a slight eye-roll. A couple of times, I’d asked him if everything was okay. He never had a straightforward response, so I didn’t bother asking about it again. But I was curious about another matter.

“Where did you slip off to earlier?” I didn’t let on about panicking when I hadn’t seen him waiting for me in the shoe department. I still felt incredibly rude for running out on Aimee. Not to mention the pain I had been ready to inflict on her.

“It’s a surprise. I guess I can give it to you now, though.”

My body flushed with heat recalling the last surprise he’d given me. “Here? At the table?”

His laugh was a low, sexy rumble as he locked eyes with me. “Not that kind of surprise, Tiggy. But, shit, now all I want to do is take you into the bathroom and surprise the fuck out of you.”

He shifted onto his hip and reached into one of his cargo pockets, then passed a slender silver object to me.

I held it in my palm. “A phone?”

“So you can call me. I programmed my number in there.”

“Wait? What? Why would I need to call you?” Fingers of fear squeezed my throat. “You’re leaving, aren’t you? The texts have been from your friends, the ones you’d been on your way to meet…”

“Yes, but no. Shit. Sorry. I’m not good at this. The texts are from Coop and Leo, but I told them to go on without me. They aren’t happy about it, but I’m not leaving you on your own. Promise. The phone isn’t just for calling. You can text or take pictures, get on the internet, play games. Shop for yoga pants—you know what, I’d better give you my credit card number. You can search for anything you have questions about, things you don’t remember, or whatever you don’t feel comfortable asking me, like, woman things. There are apps which can tell you the answers to anything and everything.”

“Really? Anything?” There were a thousand things I wanted answers to. Like how he’d learned the trick in the dressing room with his finger and were there any tricks I could use on him? And was there any way to get him to sleep more? And how do you tell a man you’re pretty sure you’re falling in love with him even though you’ve only known him for a couple of days and might be going to prison soon? And what do you get a man to say thank you for saving your life multiple times and introducing you to bacon, ranch dressing, French fries, and orgasms? “Show me.”

He went through a quick tutorial as Kinley came by with ice-cold mugs of beer and our salads. “Oh, you know what? Aimee, the woman who helped me, gave me her phone number. She wanted to give me a link to a store with great stuff, but I ran off before she had a chance.”

I withdrew the card she’d given me and put her info into my contacts. With Nik’s help, most of the basics of cell phones quickly came back to me. I dialed Aimee’s number as Nik tapped the card decorated with ornate flames on the table. One look at it had him rolling his eyes. Between the quote promoting the leadership seminar series—“It only takes a Spark to Ignite a Blaze!” and the one promising a network of sisters—“Some women are lost in the fire, some women are built from it!” it did seem a little much. But I couldn’t shake how good laughing and shopping with another woman had felt.

“Hey, it’s Thea,” I said as Aimee answered. “From the mall? Sorry for darting off so fast, but I wanted you to have my phone number.”

“Thea!” I couldn’t hear the rest as her voice became muffled by a flurry of loud, sharp sounds.

“I can barely hear you. Are you okay? Is that a dog?”

The sound of the barking faded. “I’m fine. Sorry… Passing a car with dog in it. Hey, I’ll text you that link in a bit, okay? Don’t forget to try the oil. Give some to your friend, too. You’ll love it, so relaxing.”

“Okay, yeah. I had a lot of fun shopping with you. Thanks for all your help.”

“We’ll do it again soon. You have a good dinner, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. Bye.” Did I tell her I was having dinner?

Nik pushed his nearly clean salad plate aside and took another long drink of his beer. “Everything okay?”

“I don’t know. It’s a little early to assume I’m at dinner, right? Then there was a dog barking in the background. I could’ve sworn it sounded just like Titan.”

Nik shoved his chair back from the table and bolted out the front doors before I could stop myself from saying, “I’m being paranoid.”

Kinley brought out our steaks. Without Nik at the table, her bright smile disappeared along with the mooning baby in her shirt. She was no Wanda, but since she brought a deep bowl of ranch dressing with a piece of bacon sticking out of it, she was a keeper.

I snagged the crispy strip of heaven dipped in desire, devouring it before she finished setting the last of the plates down. She glanced up as Nik entered with Titan in tow. I’m pretty sure every pair of female eyes and even a few male ones turned to lust after the hunk with the beast. All except for the hostess. Her eyes looked ready for a good cry. After a few curt words she nodded numbly,