Free Seventeen Days by D.B. James Page B

you better not make me kiss your damn toe.” Pass. Big frickin’ pass. 
    Feet creep me out. Don’t get me wrong, I love the aspect of a guy barefoot in nothing but a good pair of jeans, but it doesn’t mean I want to touch the dude’s feet. No thanks. I’d rather be locked in a closet with no one but Sienna for an hour. 
    “Fine, I’d like my winning kiss to be placed on my lips. Not my big toe. Even though he never gets any loving. Poor toe gets a bad rep.” And he actually frowns while saying that. 
    “Deal. Should we uh … shake?” 
    “Nah, let’s pinky swear. It’s more binding that way.” 
    Harrison is a big kid. He only appears like an adult. 
    Lifting my hand, I offer him my pinky. “Game on, Captain. You’re so going down, and I’m going fishing.”
    “Oh, but you see, I’d still take you fishing if you lose. All you have to do is ask.”
    “As long as I don’t have to touch any fish we catch, I would love to go. If I lose, but I’m so winning.” 

    I lost. 
    I fucking lost the bet. Harrison was right, I couldn’t eat all of my food. Turns out, the burger was a half-pound by itself; I couldn’t even finish half of it. But I did manage to eat every single onion ring. Harrison was sad when those ended up gone and he didn’t get one. 
    When he dropped me off, I leaned in to give him a kiss and he turned away, telling me he didn’t want his payment until later. Then he proceeded to place a kiss on my cheek. 
    Stupid, stubborn, irritating, sexy man. 
    We still haven’t discussed my pay, but I’m not too worried about it anymore. My plane ticket is payment enough, but I won’t turn down any cash he passes my way. 
    Trying to contact Celene is a joke. She hasn’t answered my calls since the night we talked about me staying with Gabe. I think she’s avoiding me. I’ve left her a few messages and gotten no calls in return. Maybe I should leave a message for Gabe instead, see if my return date is okay with him. I’ve got to have his number around here somewhere, at least I think I have it. Or maybe Celene will answer a damn email. Any kind of communication from her would be nice. 
    Deciding to email her and ask to have Gabe call me, I make my way down to my aunt’s office. Not expecting to see her in there working, I let out a pathetic sounding yelp. To say she surprised me is an understatement. 
    “Sorry, I didn’t expect to find you in here. I had an email to send out before heading to bed, but I can send it in the morning. Good night.” Turning around, I start to run back up the stairs. 
    “Morgan, wait. I’d like to talk with you a bit, if that’s okay?” 
    Nodding yes, I turn around and make my way over to the chair near her empty bookcases. Who has empty bookcases?  
    “Why didn’t you ever respond to my calls or gifts? Not once have I ever had any reply from you. With you being here now, I’m not sure you ever received them. So, in essence, I guess I’m asking, did you get them?” The questions catch me off-guard. If I wasn’t already sitting down, I may have ended up meeting the floor. What gifts? Cards? I’ve only ever seen her once, and this is the first time I’ve heard of anything else. 
    “Wait, y-y-you sent me gifts? I’ve never seen one, never seen any card. Unless my mother kept them from me, but what reason would she have had to do that? Why wouldn’t she have wanted me to have a piece of correspondence? I don’t get it.” Knowing Sienna is evil, I wouldn’t put it past her to do a thing like this.
    Pulling my knees up so I can rest my head on them, I gaze up at my aunt. Could it be she wanted a relationship with me but my evil mother kept her from doing that? 
    “Sienna always has been the jealous type. She probably saw us bonding when I visited and didn’t like it. Honestly, I have no idea. I stopped trying to figure her out when we were teenagers. If I didn’t see her staring back at me whenever I look in the mirror, I’d