sounds like an amazing deal.”
He went back to teasing her nipples. “I’m thinking for the first load, I get to eat your pussy. Second load, you’re on your knees sucking blackberry wine off my cock. Third load, I bend you over and fuck you during the spin cycle.”
She drew in a quick shaky breath. “Too bad I’m only doing one load.”
“You’ve got a whole basket here, you really only doing one load?”
“I’m tempted to start separating everything if I’m going to get sex for each load.” She arched her back slightly, pressing her breasts into his hands. “But I do have to get over to the penguin enclosure. I don’t really have time for three loads.”
He thought about saying something dirty about loads and what he could give her, but instead stripped her tank top up over her head and tossed it into the washing machine. “So everything goes in at once?”
Again, he felt like there was some great innuendo there.
Jill must’ve thought so too, because she grinned up at him. “I love it when it all goes at once.”
He chuckled. “Let’s fill it up.”
She stripped her panties off as he reached for the basket. He was actually waiting for her to stop him as he turned the basket over, dumping denim, multiple cotton tees in various colors, and a bunch of white panties and bras all together into the machine. But she didn’t.
He didn’t bother to separate his own laundry, but he knew most people did, and he knew that he drove his mother crazy the way he washed clothes. It was one of the reasons that she did it for him on a fairly regular basis. Probably even more often than he would want to admit to Jill, regardless of her clear acceptance.
He reached for the dials. “What settings do you like?”
“Hot and fast.”
“Are we talking about laundry or the laundry fees?”
“Both.”
He withdrew his hand.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I know enough women who’ve yelled about how I do my laundry to know that’s not actually how laundry is supposed to be done.”
“Okay, but I don’t want to take the time to separate laundry and do multiple loads. I get a lot of really gross stuff on my clothes so I feel like hot water is best for that, and if my clothes fade or shrink, I get more. I pretty much wear denim and t-shirts all the time.”
Zeke had never paid this much attention to laundry in his life. “You weren’t kidding when you said you like things simple.”
“It’s super easy to replace my wardrobe at any point. And it’s super easy to get dressed in the morning.”
“I’ve never met a woman like you. And I live on the bayou. The women down here aren’t exactly frilly and girly, but…”
“They’re more interesting?”
“That was definitely not what I was going to say. They’re more complicated,” he said. “Generally, anyway. You’re a lot more like my grandma. She wears jeans and t-shirts every day. Her t-shirt collection is a little more eclectic. Tourists send her t-shirts from their home states when they get home after visiting Autre. But she braids her hair every morning, puts on a t-shirt and jeans, and heads to the bar where she spends the day doing the same thing she’s done for fifty years with the same people she’s known for fifty years.” He paused. “And she loves it. It’s her passion. And it probably doesn’t seem like she’s making the world a better place, but I think she is. That bar and that food are comforting for people around here. And it helps them all go out and do their thing—whether it’s teaching little kids or taking care of animals or showing off the bayou or being a spouse or a parent—knowing they have a place to come to where they can reconnect and be cheered on and supported no matter what they’re going through. She’s got a part in everyone’s stories and successes.”
Jill was watching him with a strange expression.
“What?” he asked.
“I don’t remember the last time I did laundry with a guy. I’m not sure I ever have. But I am sure I’ve never stood entirely naked in front of a guy and had him get sentimental about his grandmother.”
Zeke huffed out a breath. “Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before either.”
“It’s clear that you think your grandmother’s a pretty amazing woman, so I’m going to take all of that as a compliment. If it’s not,