The Slow Burn (Moonlight and Motor Oil #2) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,4
and Johnny got home (Dave worked at the garage too), Margot demanded the Gambles stay for dinner.
And when Margot demanded something, the men in her life did it.
Toby didn’t mind.
Her roast was almost as good as her cookies.
And they all got to give her stuff during dinner and she got to pretend it annoyed her.
Like always with his family the way it was . . .
It was awesome.
And like always when he was over at Margot and Dave’s he went home with a full stomach.
And that felt good.
Fifteen Years Later . . .
Tobe lay with his back to the headboard of his bed, his phone to his ear, listening to it ring.
It was late and there was a three-hour time difference.
He knew they’d answer.
They did.
Or Dave did.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dave,” Toby replied quietly.
“Son, do you know what time it is?”
“Tell Margot I got my pilot’s license today.”
“Oh hell,” Dave muttered.
Toby grinned.
“What?” he heard Margot in the background. “Is that Tobias? Where is he? Is he all right?”
“I’ll let you handle that,” Toby said to Dave, still quiet. “Love to you both.”
Then he disconnected.
He looked at his watch and timed it.
It was one minute and twenty-three seconds later when his cell phone vibrated.
“Hey, Margot,” he answered in a soft voice.
“I have a mind to—”
“I got all my hours in. I aced the test,” he assured her. “My instructor said I was a natural.”
“When you were learning to teach golf, your instructor said you were a natural at that too,” she returned.
“Well, I was.”
“And when you were up in Alaska logging, your foreman told you he thought you’d been born in the north, you were such a natural logger, when you’re southern through and through.”
“Well, there was that too.”
She sighed before she announced, “All I can say is that I’m glad you’re not doing that anymore. Did you know that logging is the number one most dangerous job in America?”
He did not know that.
Though, having been a logger for two years, he wasn’t surprised.
She kept at him.
“And I suspect being a pilot is number two.”
He had no idea.
He also didn’t care.
“You’ll be the death of me,” she declared.
He cared about that.
“You’re gonna live to be a hundred and twenty and bounce my grandchildren on your knee,” he said low.
Margot had no reply.
“Don’t tell Dad. I’ll call him tomorrow and give him the news,” Toby instructed.
“Oh, so your father gets a phone call that’s not after one in the morning?” Margot replied.
He lowered his voice further but didn’t pull the smile out of it. “Just makin’ sure I check in with my girl.”
Margot again said nothing.
“Come out to Phoenix, I’ll take you up,” he offered.
“That will happen when hell freezes over, Tobias.”
Tobe fought back busting out laughing.
Though he couldn’t beat back a quiet chuckle.
“Now that you’ve bested the skies, can I expect a call to share you’ve spent your time looking for, and finding, a special someone?” she asked through his humor.
She wanted him settled and happy.
Okay, maybe not settled. She liked he was a rambling man (though she’d never admit it out loud).
She just wanted him happy.
“Not sure that’d be a good idea, sweetheart. I’m missing green. I’m thinking of hitting Tennessee next. Always wanted a spell in Nashville. Wouldn’t be a good idea to find a woman, then expect I could drag her across the country.”
“Dear Lord,” she murmured.
It drove her nuts he hadn’t met anyone yet.
Johnny had met someone.
Of course.
It took Margot ages to like Shandra, or trust her, and Toby still didn’t know if she really did.
Of course.
No one was good enough for her boys.
Not a soul.
Then again, as far as Toby was concerned, she was right.
He hadn’t found anyone good enough for him.
Because there was no one like Margot.
Not a soul.
“Gonna let you get back to sleep,” he told her.
“That’d be nice,” she replied, but he could tell she didn’t want to let him go.
“I’ll phone at a decent hour next time.”
“That’d be nice too.”
“Love you, Margot,” he said softly.
She only hesitated a second, and he knew that second was to get her shit together, before she said, “Love you too, my beautiful boy.”
Toby was grinning when he disconnected.
“Maybe not make a phone call to check in with your girl when I’ve just let you fuck me twice and I’m trying to sleep.”
That came at him groggy as well as unmistakably ugly.
Toby looked down at the naked woman beside him in his bed.
They’d been drinking (a lot) and then they’d been fucking (a lot).