Time of Zombies (Book 2): The Zombie Hunter's Wife Read Free Page B

tone as Michelle stomped off. Sometimes it
sucked to have a friend who could read her so well. She needed to work on her
poker face.

***
    Teddy Ridgewood sat on the wooden bench, trying to
pry off his gore-covered boots.
    “Damn it,” he muttered as he pushed one boot with
the foot of the other. He couldn’t afford to lose another pair. His size
fourteen boots were darned near impossible to find. He’d been in sneakers for
weeks until they’d found this pair at a workman’s clothing store.
    Looking up, he spotted Michelle Greggs. The woman
was a firecracker for sure, always yelling at him for his dirty clothes. As if
she thought they could kill the skinbags all day and come home looking as clean
as if they’d been to the office, writing reports or something.
    He tried to be extra nice to her, but something
about him always set her off. He smiled every time he saw her. He talked to her
quiet-like, knowing his big booming voice startled some women. He spent time
with her boys, which was no biggie. The little ones tugged at his heart, making
it ache at the thought of them here all alone for months. A chill went up his
spine at the thought of the world they were inheriting.
    But the woman didn’t crack a smile at him. Although,
he did catch her staring at him at odd times. He would glance back and she
would whip her head around fast enough to wrench her neck something awful.
    “Mr. Ridgewood,” she announced as she approached. Her
hips swayed in a feminine way that made his hands itch to explore, even with
her ‘don’t touch’ airs. Her face could have graced the Madonna as a statue in a
chapel. Her voice was sweet, when it wasn’t yelling at him. Sometimes he sat
out of view just to hear her talk to her boys with those soft, dulcet tones.
    She snapped on Latex gloves and he jumped in his
seat. Miss Emily had explained that they were an idiosyncrasy,as if they all
weren’t already infected, but they made him feel dirtier than the blood, guts,
and gore alone. Her gaze raked over him and heat covered his face. He lowered
his head even though the red wouldn’t show on his dark cheeks.
    “Sorry, Mrs. Greggs. I know you got things to do. Seem
to be having trouble with my boots.”
    Michelle squatted down and started untying the
laces.
    It shouldn’t have been erotic in the least, having
his shoes taken off like he was a child, but tell that to the erection
straining against the zipper of his pants. He stared at her glossy dark hair,
pulled back into a ponytail he’d like to let loose and run his fingers through,
and he imagined her all too easily in this position, and not for untying his
shoes.
    She stood and he realized his boots were off. The
woman turned her back and held out her hand. “I need the rest of your clothes. I’ll
try to save your boots, but I can’t make any promises.”
    Peeling off his clothes, Teddy wondered, not for
the first time, what she thought when she looked at him. Even if she hadn’t been
such a petite woman, he would still have been large next to her. Even with his
boots off, he didn’t believe she would reach much farther than his chest with
the top of her head.
    He’d never considered himself an overly modest
man, but his time of being alone as the self-proclaimed King of Pittsburg had
changed him. Being alone was a lot easier than being surrounded by people all
day long in the small confines of the RV facility. Standing near Michelle and
stripping was nerve-racking as well. He needed the time away from the yard each
day before it started feeling like a prison.
    At last, he was down to his boxer briefs, which he
was able to leave on. Teddy grabbed a towel from the bench and wrapped it as
far as it would go around his ample waist. He shot a quick glance to reassure
himself that the erection was hidden. He pressed it down. Good enough.
    Michelle turned around to stare him in the face
and it returned to full attention. At least her glance seemed to stay on his
face, at least most of