Page 41 of Grumpy

“What the fuck are you listening to?”

Kelly jumped, but thankfully kept the car steady on the road. “Jesus! Warn a girl!” She reached over and hit the Pause button. “It’s an audiobook.”

“Are you sure? Because it sounded like porn.”

Kelly narrowed her eyes at him, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. He was slumped against the window with a pillow between his head and the glass. “It’s erotica. And yes, it’s explicit, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. At least my porn has a better storyline than a girl not being able to pay for her pizza or rent.”

Grumpy snorted. “Wasn’t judging, Kell Bell. Just was not what I expected to wake up to.” He started to sit up. “Where are we?”

“Almost to Louisville. Maybe another forty-five minutes. You doing okay?”

“Yeah. Just gotta take a piss. You?”

Kelly groaned. “Well, now I do—because you mentioned it.” She started looking for some place they could have dinner, too.

They were silent another minute before Grumpy said, “So is that the sort of book you usually read?”

Kelly tried to stay relaxed and not automatically assume offense. “When I have time to read, yes.”

“You sound defensive, and I don’t know why.”

Shit. Apparently she wasn’t doing that great of a job then. Kelly let out a long breath and visibly loosen her muscles. “People get weird about romance books. I don’t know why. They think it’s improper or something. Crude, even. The whole ‘smut slut’ thing. I don’t know. Personally, I read for the romance, for the connection. If there’s open door sex, then that’s fine. I like those books. But some of my favorite romances are closed door, too.”

Grumpy was silent for a beat before asking, “Open door, as in the characters have sex with their bedroom door open? Like, public sex?”

The laughter exploded from Kelly before she could stop it. She tried to smother it, and ended up snorting painfully out of her nose. She had to grip the steering wheel tightly with one hand as she covered her mouth with the other.

“No! No,” she choked out, lowering her hand. “No, that’s not what that means. ‘Closed-door romance’ is when the scene fades to black. The characters have sex, but it’s not detailed on the page. ‘Open-door’ means that it is on page, with all the creative words for people’s genitals.” She made a face. “Don’t even get me started on ‘member’. Every time I hear or read that, I think about those big box stores and being asked for your membership card.”

Grumpy chuckled. “Can’t say I’ve ever considered calling my dick my ‘member’.”

“What about ‘love stick’?”

Grumpy made a choking sound. “Fuck no.”

Kelly laughed. “Good to know. By the way, my acceptable words are ‘pussy’, ‘hoo-ha’, or just simply ‘vagina’. I know the medical terms aren’t supposed to be sexy or whatever, but I’ve never understood that. And ‘vagina’ is way better than ‘love sheath’ or ‘cave of passion’. What about you?”

He cleared his throat. “I can honestly say I’ve never called a woman’s, ugh, parts her ‘cave of passion’.”

Kelly smiled, glancing his way in the dark. “Good to know. But I meant, what do you like to read?”

“Generally non-fiction. I like military memoirs or mechanic journals. Especially ones about the brass era.”

“Oh, wait!” Kelly slapped the steering wheel in excitement. “I know this. You told me about this once. That’s like the original cars, like the very first automobiles. Back in the late 1800s and such.”

“You remember that?” Grumpy sounded surprised.

“Yeah. It was one of the first true conversations we ever had.” She did not add that it was also the first time Grumpy had called her by her name, and one of the few times he’d referred to her as “Kelly” before he shortened it to “Kells” and eventually “Kell Bell”.

“Just surprised you would remember. It was eight or so years ago.”

Kelly stretched over and gently touched his leg. “I tried to remember everything we talked about, especially when it came to the things you were most passionate about. Plus, it’s not every day that I get to learn something new like that.” Feeling a bit embarrassed, like she’d revealed something extremely personal, she was glad when she saw a sign for a country chain restaurant. “You good to eat there?”

“Anywhere is fine with me.”

Good, because she really did have to pee now. “I haven’t been in a long while and I love their country stores.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, you know.”