“So?” Joe asked.
“So, Dane’ll be sleeping on the couch so you can’t.” This was one of the two reasons he couldn’t, Mike being the other one but I thought I’d start with Dane because mentioning Mike might make Joe mad and Joe naked and mad meant me acting again like a slut (or more like one, whatever that would be).
“Wasn’t gonna sleep on your couch, buddy,” he told me and I blinked then I finally came to myself.
“You can’t sleep with me.”
“In your bed right now,” he pointed out.
“Yes, but you carried me to it and threw me in it.”
“You didn’t struggle much then, Vi, and pointin’ out the obvious, you aren’t doin’ it now.”
He was right so I pushed off and tried to slide away but he gave me more of his weight which meant resistance was futile.
So I glared up at him and demanded, “Get off.”
He looked like he was trying not to laugh, a new look, a good one on him. “Too late.”
“Off.”
“You like me here.”
“Off!” I shouted.
“You missed me, told me so yourself, buddy.”
God, I did do that, just blurted it right out.
I closed my eyes and turned my head away but, even doing this, I could hear his soft laughter and feel it against my body.
I didn’t want to like it but I did.
Then something occurred to me and my body got tight and my head righted with a snap, my eyes opening.
“Shit,” I whispered.
“What?” Joe asked.
“Do you hear that?”
Joe’s face instantly got serious, his head cocked to listen then he looked at me and his voice was serious too when he asked, “What, buddy?”
“Nothing,” I told him.
“Come again?”
“Nothing!” I cried. “Shit, hearing nothing means Mooch is getting into trouble.”
If Keira wasn’t around (and she was good with taking care of her dog) then it was me who had to deal with Mooch and Mooch, being a very active puppy, was a lot to deal with.
I couldn’t do that with a big, naked man on me.
Then suddenly that big, naked man wasn’t on me. He was at the side of the bed and pulling on his jeans.
I stared as he walked out of the room.
Then I pulled the sheet up to my chest, sat up in the bed, bending my knees and watching the door, curious despite myself at what he was going to do. So curious, I didn’t get out of bed, get my clothes on and run far, far away. Instead, I waited.
Not minutes later, Joe came back with a squirming dog under one arm and my purse in his other hand.
He dumped Mooch in the bed and my purse on the nightstand.
Mooch ran to me and jumped up, licking me with his puppy tongue and dousing me with his puppy breath.
“Need a new dog bed, Vi,” Joe declared as I gave an active Mooch a rubdown and my eyes went to Joe.
“What?”
“Dog ate it,” Joe told me, pulling my cell out of my purse.
“He ate it?” I breathed, wondering, if he had dog bed in his stomach, if that meant a vet bill in my future.
“Not all of it but he did a number on it.”
“Shit,” I whispered.
Joe tossed my phone on the bed then got in after he did that, grabbing the dog, stretching out on his back and pinning the puppy to his bare chest.
“Call your girls,” Joe ordered as Mooch licked Joe’s jaw.
I stared at Mooch licking Joe’s jaw and the way Joe accepted this without looking angry or sinister or badass. Well, he still looked badass but not angry or sinister and I felt my belly go warm and soft again.
“Honey, the girls,” Joe prompted when I didn’t move.
He was calling me honey a lot lately and, stupid me, I liked that too.
He taught me a lesson (twice), a lesson that burned so deep I thought I’d never forget that night in his house with him in that chair, telling me he fucked someone else.
But here I was, right back where I began.
And I liked that too.
“Right,” I whispered, snatched my phone from the bed and slid it open.
Joe moved the dog from his chest to the bed and Mooch started gnawing on his fingers. This Mooch did a lot and it didn’t feel great. It started off okay but if Mooch got into it, it hurt.
As my phone rang Kate’s I noticed Mooch was getting into it but Joe didn’t push him off or even wince.
“Hi Mom!” Kate called cheerfully into my ear and I heard instantly that Dane was right, she was faking it.
“Hey baby,” I replied.
“Everything okay?” Kate asked.
My eyes went from Mooch to Joe to see his head was to the pillows, one arm cocked, his hand behind his head and he watching me.
“Not really,” I said to Kate, moving my eyes from Joe’s face to Joe’s feet, which were crossed at the ankles and bare under the hems of his jeans.
Kate’s voice grew concerned and she asked, “What’s up?”
“Well… I don’t want to, um… it’s just that… do you think you and Keira could come home a bit early?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine I just kinda want you guys home with me. Do you think Dane’s folks’ll mind?”