I curled a hand around the side of his neck.
“Although I would prefer a delayed start, you’re right.” I grinned at him. “And you getting work done means me closer to having a kitchen where I can do more than kick the shit out of a Crock-Pot.”
Deke grinned back at me, his arms tightened around me and I took his cue.
I lifted up on my toes as he dropped his head toward mine.
And he kissed me, as soft as his look, but wet, so also hot, and since he couldn’t give me what I wanted—morning nookie—he gave me something else.
A long, soft, wet, hot kiss with Deke in nothing but a towel and me wearing no shirt but having the key to his trailer tucked in my bra.
It wasn’t as fabulous as an orgasm from Deke.
But it was still a kiss I’d never forget.
*
Deke was alone upstairs with the paint sprayer, no help today.
But they’d finished the entire downstairs and one side of the upstairs yesterday. I’d eventually timed it, and not including setting up the sprayer, or cleaning it after, it took them all of nine minutes to spray an entire room.
Nine minutes.
That was it.
Awesome.
Deke at work, I wandered out to my deck, lit the fire pit and settled in with my phone.
It was early October, definitely chilly, but I was warm inside.
Warm inside because of what had happened last night. Because of Deke knowing “Chain Link” was written for him and how he’d reacted to that. And because Deke had shared with me his plans for the rest of his time working alone at my house.
This being, after he finished spraying the paint, he was going to lay the floors in my study, then hang the doors, finish off the outlets, put in the light fixture, install the baseboards—in other words, complete that room.
“Gettin’ cold, Jussy,” he’d said in his truck on the drive to my house. “Cold in the mountains can mean anything, including snow. You need a warm space to hang. Get that study done, you contact your designer today. Tell her to send the shit you ordered for that room. Boys’ll be with me on Monday, work’ll go a lot quicker. But you still got a few weeks before the majority of space is livable. You got another room, you can be inside, choice of change of scenery, close the door, you’re all good.”
That was Deke. Even in ways I didn’t consider, he did and he looked out for me.
So I settled in beside my fire pit that Deke gave me, put my feet up on the edge so the pit toasted the bottoms of my cowboy boots, and I texted my designer that she could send the stuff for the study whenever she was ready.
Then I did what I’d been meaning to do for a couple of days.
I called Joss.
Surprisingly, since my mom was always busy, she answered on the first ring.
And she answered with, “Good timing. I’m at a photoshoot with Kenzie Elise, a woman who’s decided to embrace the nonexistent rock chick within in the hopes of reinventing herself…again. A woman who also works my last nerve. And her manager gives me the serious creeps. So I’m not looking forward to today but I am looking forward to telling her she’s gotta wait while I take an important call from my daughter seeing as it’s high time you share with me all your Chain Link’s talents.”
Hearing her words I knew that I shouldn’t have waited this long to call Joss. Like any mom or best friend (and she was both), juicy news like me hooking up with Deke wasn’t something she’d be hip on waiting for.
And by the by, Kenzie Elise was an actress. Reportedly a difficult one to work with on all levels. Not Joss’s usual client. She did musicians, mostly, not actors. But if someone was going to pay her, Joss didn’t tend to turn any gig down.
We could just say she’d made shopping her living for a reason.
“You do know I’m not gonna go into detail about that,” I shared.
“How ’bout you going into detail about how one second, the dude didn’t know you and the next, he’s so close to you when you’re on the phone, I hear his voice like it’s him on the phone?” Joss only semi-suggested since mostly she was demanding that I go into detail.
“It’s a long story,” I told her.
“The more I can make Kenzie wait, the happier I’ll be. So spill,” she told me.
I looked from the fire, turning my head to stare into the trees.
I had until April there. If Deke and I kept going as strong as we were (and stronger), when the weather turned, I’d be on the back of his bike.
That gave me a happy shiver and while having that I thought I had plenty of space at my place to park his Airstream.
Then again, if we parked his trailer here, we wouldn’t have the lake.
I needed to give Deke his time at the lake.
“Justice!” Joss snapped, bringing my attention back to her.
“He likes me,” I said softly, not able to stop my lips from curling up while saying it.