“No,” Will ordered. “Only one straw. Yours. And you can’t reload.”
“Bummer,” I snickered as I stuck my straw into my milk and took a hefty swallow.
“Mmmm,” I moaned, taking another gulp.
“You know you have to pay for each one of those, right?” Ashlie asked. “Uncle Will limits us to two, so he says we have to have water, too, if we’re going to drink like that.”
I turned serious eyes to the girls and said, “One day, when you’re making your own money, a man won’t be able to make those decisions for you. Like me. I’m a grown-ass adult, and if I want to drink my milk fast, and have four of them, then I’ll drink my milk fast and have four of them.”
“Amen,” the waitress said as she hitched her hand on her hip. “Y’all getting’ the mile-high onion rings? Or are you ready to order?”
I grinned at her. “We’re getting the mile-high onion rings. And make sure to put them on my tab. With my four chocolate milks.”
“I can’t wait to have my own money,” Ashlie sighed. “I’m going to buy that pony I always wanted.”
“Since when do you want a pony?” Will asked, leaning back and placing his hand on my thigh once again.
Brianna huffed and stormed off, tired of being ignored.
I grinned and widened my legs, causing Will’s fingers to momentarily drop between my thighs a little farther than he intended.
He froze, allowing his fingers to stay there for a few long seconds before he moved them to a more respectable position.
I felt butterflies tingle inside of my belly for a few short seconds before I returned my attention to the table.
“She was lovely,” Jane said. “What exactly does she do with you?”
“She helped train me for Paris PD,” Will explained, watching with amusement as I all but siphoned up my chocolate milk. “She’s known as the department shark because she literally fucks everything that has a relationship.”
Dick snorted. “We had a couple of those. There was this one lady that slept with all the department married men, and single men alike. Your mother hated her guts.”
“I can imagine.” I shook my head. “Hell, Will and I aren’t even in the ‘labels’ stage and I already hate that chick’s guts.”
Will froze beside me. “Labels?”
I looked over at him and said, “You know. The ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ stage.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m your man, and you’re my woman, and if you don’t understand that, I think that maybe I need to have a serious discussion with you.”
My mouth went a little dry at his words.
“I…” I paused, unsure what to say.
“You’re mine,” he declared, right there in front of the entire table. Hell, even the waitress was still hanging around, waiting for us to tell her what all we wanted. He turned to her then, dismissing me. “Yes, we’ll have the onion rings. And some more bread.” He tilted his head. “And all of her stuff will go on my ticket.”
I felt my face flush. “You will…”
“Sir, yes, sir.” The waitress winked and left before I could finish my sentence.
I growled under my breath just as Petra said, “I’m just going to get a man and have him pay for all of my stuff. Working sounds like it sucks.”
There was a long moment of silence and then, “Working does suck.”
That came from Jane.
I sighed and leaned farther into Will, willing to admit when I’d been beat.
We spoke for a short time about what was next for the Schultz crew, and it was decided that it was best for everyone to cut the vacation short.
Not only had Dick’s truck been maimed, but there was supposedly something that had gone wrong with their pipes in their house, and Will had been doing his level best to keep it together without them there to take charge.
After hearing about her house, Jane decided that she needed to be here where she could help redecorate.
Dick went along for the ride, and Ashlie and Petra were secretly happy to be home.
And I had a feeling that had a lot to do with me being in the picture now, and not because of their uncle.
“Do you ever do your nails?” Petra’s eyes gleamed as she asked the question.
Just as I was about to answer, our food was brought over on the largest tray I’d ever seen.
The waitress looked as if she did orders that large every day, and didn’t spill a single drop.
Once the food was set in front of us, Jane said grace, and like I did every single time I was going to eat, I mentally told myself that the food I was about to eat was something that O’Ryan would’ve hated. And he would’ve berated me for even wanting it. And I was really fuckin’ happy that I could give a mental finger to the woman he’d turned me into for a year.