Sniff didn’t pick up either, so I left the same message.
I flipped the phone shut, threw it on my purse and headed to a cupboard. Boo was circling my feet, oddly absent during the bed area frolicking, he was now ready for breakfast and told me so repeatedly. I got out his wet food, got out one of his bowls and made him breakfast.
Vance watched me and I was acutely aware that I was only wearing my nightie.
Though, considering he had his tongue in my mouth and his hands on my ass (and elsewhere), being prudish about the nightie seemed a bit sil y.
“Jules,” Vance cal ed after I’d put the food down.
I headed out of the room, right passed him.
“I’m going to King’s,” I informed him, walked down the hal and went to the closet in my living room. I pul ed out a pair of jeans and yanked them on under my nightie.
I had them zipped and buttoned when a hand curled around my upper arm and I was shifted and pressed into the wal . Then Vance got into my space, seriously into my space, head bent close to mine.
“We were in the middle of something,” he told me, like I didn’t already know that and wasn’t trying my utmost to forget it.
“Yeah. I know. Sorry about that,” I said airily, like it was al the same to me (even though it was not) and his eyes flashed dangerously at my tone.
Um.
Yikes.
I decided to explain. “It’s probably for the best. We don’t want things to get complicated.”
He came closer. “We don’t want things to get complicated?” he repeated what I said.
“Um… yeah,” I replied.
“You think things aren’t already complicated?” He had a point.
I remained silent.
He got even closer, his hands slid around my hips and at the very top of my behind he pressed my body into his. His head tilted so it was a hairbreadth from mine. I put my hands between us but this didn’t serve any purpose, at al , because Vance didn’t let it.
“I know about Cordova. I know he wants to get in your pants,” he told me.
My eyes narrowed at him. “If you knew, why did you ask?”
He ignored my question and said something that threw me right off balance. “Jules, listen to me. Since I intend to get in your pants, he’s gonna have to back off,” Vance announced, rocking my world. Then before I could process his words, he finished. “I’l take care of Cordova.” Oh crap.
“Vance,” I whispered, not sure what I intended to say but I intended to say something.
For some reason, this made him smile. It was a new smile to me, it made his eyes soft and sexy and I felt my breath catch so I didn’t say another word.
“I like that,” he said quietly, his voice back to silk.
“What?” I whispered.
“You sayin’ my name,” he told me. “I’l like it better when you moan it, tonight, when I’m inside you.” My stomach plummeted. You would think this was a terrible sensation but instead it was thril ing, like being on a rol er coaster.
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
“Tonight, at dinner, we’re gonna talk about what you’re doin’. After dinner, we’re gonna finish what we started this morning.”
“Vance,” I said, at that moment, wanting to have dinner with him like I wanted oxygen to remain present on the earth. And wanting to finish what we started like I’d wanted nothing else before in my life.
However, I knew this wasn’t smart and it was not going to happen.
He kept talking. “I’l pick you up here, six thirty. You’re not here, I’l find you.”
“Vance, listen to me,” I said.
“You feel like talkin’ now?” he asked, his head cocked and his eyes flashed again.
At his scary, threatening look, I forgot what I was going to say.
His mouth came to mine. “Six thirty, Jules. Be here.” Then he kissed me, hard and deep.
After he kissed me, he let me go, walked away, grabbed his boots from the floor and walked down the hal .
I moved to look down the hal but he’d vanished.
I heard the backdoor open and shut and I knew he was gone.
Chapter Four
I Wanna Be You
I swung into King’s and knew immediately something was up.
King’s Shelter was a huge, ugly building off Evans close to I-25. It consisted of a big rec room with a pool table, television and bunches of couches and chairs; an enormous kitchen and dining area; six large bedrooms; a conference room where we did our family reunions; an open plan office; and three smal er rooms where we did counseling and tutoring.
There was a manager who ran the place and raised the money to keep it going, two ful -time social workers, myself included, and one half-time tutor. We had two half-time professionals volunteering, one a social worker, one a tutor.
Lastly, we had five volunteers who came and went as they pleased, three men and two women. They cooked, cleaned, spent time with the kids and stayed the night to let kids in or out and to keep an eye on things.