She grumbles for a second, but clearly decides to drop our constant fight over me taking time off in favor of keeping the mood light. “There is plenty wrong with a fifty-five-year-old man that makes sure and records every episode of Days of Our Lives.”
I laugh hard at the vision of old Bart watching his weekly soaps. The best part, he still refuses to use the DVR. He’s been setting the timer on his old VHS player to record them on tape. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen was when one of them didn’t tape and he went on and on about some man named DiMera, or something like that. Of course, it could have been because his overalls came unhooked in the middle of his rant and he ended up in the middle of the PieHole with his pants around his ankles and his hot pink boxers with red lips all over them.
I turn to face Jana and put my hands on my hips, using my best bossy voice. “Go home. We closed two hours ago.”
“I’m aware. I’m the one that’s been sitting here for one of those hours watching you mumble under your breath about a certain tall, dark, and handsome cowboy,” she jokes, her hot pink lips turning up knowingly—which is impossible because I haven’t breathed a word of that night to anyone. Not even Quinn.
“I have not.” I gasp, my face heating.
“Oh, you most certainly have been.”
Do not ask. Do not ask. Do not . . . “What have I been saying?” Shit, why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?
“I think a better question would be what are you gonna do about it?” she asks.
“Do about what?”
“Your broken hooha.”
I drop the bottle of sterilizer I had been using and gape at her.
“I might be old, but I know a thing or two. You aren’t broken just because you had some good lovin’.”
I will the kitchen floor to open me up and swallow me whole, just so I don’t have to suffer through this talk with my fifty-plus-year-old employee. “This is so embarrassing. Can’t you call it something different?”
“Oh, hush, you. Now tell me, why do you think your hooha’s broken?”
I know my face isn’t just heated now; it’s on fire with one hell of a blush. “This is so not a conversation that we’re going to have.”
“Have you tried to play with yourself? You know, given yourself a little bean lovin’? That should show you that all is in working order. You know Bart, God love him, throws his back out at least one night a week, so if you need some tips, I’m your girl. I’ve got it down to a science.”
I cover my ears with my hands and let out a little screech. “Oh, my God, we are so not talking about this. You have no boundaries. You know that, right?”
Jana shrugs. “That’s fine with me. You don’t even have to talk, just listen. You know the town’s already talking, so I’ve had plenty of time to think about this; let me see if I have it all right. You stormed out of here right after that handsome thing gave you one hell of a kiss. Now, I might not know a lot, but all I had to do was look at the stubborn set in your shoulders and I just knew you weren’t going home. My guess is that you chased after him and you guys did a lot more than argue, right?” She finishes with a wag of her brows.
“Jana,” I warn. “Boundaries.”
“Boundaries, my tail. Don’t you dare ignore me, missy. I’ve been waiting for this to happen for way too long. You have never, not once, been this out of sorts over a boy and we both know why. Even that fancy New York man that came blowing through town wasn’t able to get this kind of reaction from you, and honey, all he had to do was look at a woman and boom. So get over whatever ridiculous embarrassment you’re feeling and tell me about it.”
“I better not regret this,” I mumble to myself, ignoring her jab about Trenton, a flame that flickered for all of two months before I realized his candle would never hold up to the brightness that Maverick’s still burned. “Yes, we slept together. Yes, the earth moved. No, I haven’t talked to him since and don’t plan on it. I’m too busy dodging town gossip thanks to that damn kiss. Yes, my hooha, as you so lovingly put it, is most definitely broken. Even I can’t get it to work because HE BROKE IT!”
She starts laughing just as I finish. I should have known I would regret telling her all of that. She holds her hand up when it becomes clear that she can’t control her hilarity and just points behind me.
I spin.
Then die.
“Now, I highly doubt I broke anything, but I would be more than willin’ to check, darlin’.”
Oh, my God. Kill me now.
“You—you—don’t you say another word!” I try to steady my voice even as I feel my face turn a bright shade of red. If this could get any more mortifying, I’m not sure how.
He holds up his hands and I turn to Jana, only to see her walking through the swinging back door, purse in hand and shoulders still shaking with silent laughter. She doesn’t pause in her stride, just keeps going until all I see is an empty hallway. I use the sudden silence around us to attempt to calm my frazzled nerves.
“Looks like it’s just us now.”
“I said no talking!” I yell, still peering down the hallway as though Jana might pop back up and save me from this mortifying scene. I can’t believe her. Well, I guess I actually can. The sneaky woman knew exactly what she was doing. Hell, she probably let him in before she started in on her questions.
Wait a minute. “How did you get in here?”
“Front door was unlocked, darlin’. Not a soul in sight, but it wasn’t hard to find y’all since you weren’t exactly whispering.”
“You didn’t hear anything.” It’s a statement more than a question.
He laughs, the deep and rough sound echoing around the empty room, pinging off the walls, and shooting straight into my body before settling between my legs and waking up the one part of my body that’s been completely dormant for the past two weeks.
Maverick looks good. Too good. His jeans faded in all the right places. I’m sure if he turned around, the view would be just as nice. Well, maybe not, since I’m currently graced with a view of the healthy bulge between his legs. The faded denim around his crotch doing nothing to conceal his growing arousal, instead only highlighting it further as the material continues to tighten around it.
“Eyes up here, Leighton.”
I shiver, loving the sound of my name out of his mouth. God, some things never change. Even though I know it isn’t wise, I let myself soak up the pleasure. Even if it’s just a second’s worth, it’s something and after a decade of nothing—well, anything is better than that.
It isn’t easy, but I remind myself of all the reasons why this needs to stop right now. I give myself a little jolt, hoping to fire up my stalled brain, and narrow my eyes at him. The pleasure leaves my body as the stubborn self-preservation returns.