He took a breath and kept at me.
“I spent a lot of time the last two weeks bein’ pissed at Shandra, not because she took off on me but because she called and fucked things up before I could take you camping. And I spent a lot of time wondering if you got your peonies and tee and wondering if I should have done that at all or if it made things worse and needing to talk to you about it. So, to end, I spent a lot of time just thinking about you and yeah, some of it was thinking about what I wanted to do to you to make you come, but the rest of it wasn’t.”
“So, you like me,” I whispered breathily.
He scowled at me like he wanted to strangle me then his head dropped to the back of the chair and he stared at the ceiling.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I muttered.
His arms tightened around me so tight, they curled my thighs into my torso so I was a little ball of Izzy tucked tight against his chest as his head came back up and he clipped, “Yeah, I fuckin’ like you.”
“Okeydokey,” I mumbled.
“I know your sister is here but I wanna spend time with you today and then I want you comin’ back to the mill with me to spend the night.”
“She’s in a rough spot, Johnny, and she’s always had the mammoth share of taking care of Brooks.”
Something closed down in his face I didn’t quite understand but that wasn’t the reason I said my next.
I said my next because I wasn’t finished speaking.
“But she’ll get it. She tried to get me to talk to you so she’ll be, uh . . . glad things are where they, um . . . are. Though, I’ll need to be with her tomorrow. Every diaper change I do with Brooks, I swear, after I’m done she wants to kiss me.”
Whatever clouded his features cleared, he nestled me closer and he asked, “You got tomorrow off?”
I nodded.
“Your sister and Brooks can come over to the mill and I’ll grill for you.”
“That’d be sweet,” I said on a smile.
He looked to my smile then his eyes wandered down farther and his arms loosened.
“I . . . well, liked the tee, uh . . . obviously,” I shared. “And also the peonies,” I added.
His gaze came back to me.
“The bottoms?” he asked.
“Sorry?” I asked back.
“Whose are those?”
Uh-oh.
“Uh . . .”
He gave me another shake and said a warning, “Iz.”
“They’re not Kent’s,” I felt it safe to share.
“So whose are they?”
I could tell him I had a man’s pair of pajama bottoms because I found them comfy.
But that would be a lie.
“The guy before the guy before Kent.”
“Okay. Then you can wear ’em back to the house but after that, lose them, Izzy. And by that I mean I’d prefer you burn them but chucking them in the trash works.”
I stared at him again.
He took in my stare and stated, “Right, we’re doin’ this so no more fucking around. I’m that guy. I got a sense of the type of woman you are, it’d be hard not to. You made all this. You keep all this like it is. You dress like you dress. You got it together. You can take care of yourself and a lot more than that. You’re smart, sharp, successful and independent. I like all that or I wouldn’t be here. I’m still that guy and you gotta know that. And part of that guy is being a guy where his woman doesn’t wear another guy’s pajama bottoms, even if that guy is history. You want some, I’ll dig out some of my own, give them to you and have at it. But those are gone. Now, you got a problem with that?”
“Not really.”
He relaxed all around me, muttering, “Good.”
“Can I say something?” I asked.
“Can I ask why you’d ask if you could say something?” he asked back.
I felt my mouth quirk before I got serious.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that yesterday, honey. It sounded like a rough day and I feel bad that I made it rougher by not talking to you.”
His face got soft and it also got closer to mine.
“It was messed up all around,” he stated. “Now it isn’t. Thanks for saying that, sp?tzchen, but it’s done and we’re moving on. You with me?”
I nodded then asked, “Are you going to give me back my panties?”
“Hell no,” he answered.
I felt my brows draw together. “Why?”
“Babe, do you have even a little clue how hot it is, you sitting in my lap after we fucked like we fucked and I know you’re not wearing panties because I got them in my pocket?”
I squirmed in his lap.
His face then got something else entirely when he growled, “Yeah.”
It took a second for us both to have our moment before his lips hitched and I should have prepared but I didn’t.
So when he said, “You thought I’d bagged on you and you went to sleep in my tee?”
My eyes narrowed on him.
That got me a white flash in his beard.
I tried to push off, mumbling, “I need to make breakfast and then muck stalls.”
His arms tightened again and he returned, “You can make breakfast, babe. For three. I’ll muck the stalls.”
I stopped pushing against him. “I can muck my own stalls, Johnny.”
“No doubt. Just that today your sister is here and so am I, so I’m gonna muck the stalls and you’re gonna spend time with your sister. Then you’re gonna feed me. After that, I’m gonna go home, shower and come back. We’ll spend the day together and after dinner, I’ll take you home with me so I can fuck you without you worried about anyone hearing and I’ll bring you back in the morning. I’ll go out and get shit to grill and you guys can meet me at the mill. We got a plan?”
I forgot my pique because I liked that plan so much I just smiled at him and agreed, “We have a plan.”
Johnny’s face changed back to what it had been before, my body responded to the change and then I was shoulders to the arm of the chair and he was making out with me.
When he lifted his head, he said, “Soon’s your sister leaves, date night and you wear that dress you wore to the festival because I didn’t get near enough of it, sp?tzchen.”
“’Kay,” I breathed.
He knifed out of the seat, taking me with him and putting me on my feet.
Feet he looked at as he draped his arm around my shoulders.
Feet he was still looking at when he muttered, “I cannot believe I fucked you in those boots.”
Heat rose in my cheeks.
His arm angled down and his hand cupped my bottom as he rolled me into him and stared down at me, grinning.
“You sliding my finger inside you, baby, was seriously hot but you dropping drawers after half a kiss was seriously fucking hotter.”
And now I could actually feel the pink get more pink in my cheeks.
“Can we not do audible replays?” I requested.
“Why not?” he teased.
“It was—”
“Hot.”
“Yes and also—”
“As fuck.”
I slapped his arm. “Johnny.”
He brought his lips to mine. “Okay, sp?tzchen, I’ll just do mental replays.”
I glared at him even as I melted into him.
He kissed me again. It turned into a short make-out session. Then he guided me with his arm around my shoulders to the door, through it and pushed me gently toward the gate.
“Breakfast,” he ordered.