His fingers dug into my hip when he replied, “No, honey. It’s f**kin’ great.”
I didn’t know I could relax more into him but at his words, I did and I added a squeeze of my arm around his stomach.
His arm around my back reciprocated the squeeze.
Then he muttered, “Thanks for cleaning the house.”
He noticed.
God, he was so nice.
“You’re welcome. Thanks for letting us stay,” I muttered back on another squeeze of his abs.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered.
Another whoosh swept through my belly then his fingers went back to trailing and I stared vacantly at the game. Mitch stared at it too and I figured his wasn’t vacant but with all that was happening and another full day, I didn’t have the energy to lift my head to look. All I had the energy to do was feel his warm, hard body at my front, the relaxing movements of his fingers at my hip, the steadiness of his chest rising and falling with his breathing.
My lids were getting heavy when the TV suddenly went off and just as suddenly I was on my feet and one of his arms was around me, the other hand at my jaw tipping my head back. Then his mouth was on mine, mine was open, his tongue slid in for a sweet, delicious touch to the tip of mine and then his lips were gone.
“Go to bed, sweetheart,” he murmured.
“’Kay,” I murmured back.
His arm gave me a squeeze, his lips gave me a grin and then he turned me, gave me a gentle shove and my feet took me to his bedroom.
I didn’t know if he had his pajamas and I didn’t know if he had a blanket or pillow. In record time I was in my nightie in his bed fast asleep. So I didn’t know he came in, got his pajamas, changed in his bathroom and nabbed a pillow I wasn’t using after sliding my hair off my neck then gliding a finger along my jaw before leaving the room, closing the door and bedding down on the couch.
* * * * *
The next morning my eyes opened and I heard Mitch, Billy and Billie in the kitchen.
Then I closed my eyes.
Then I smiled into the pillow.
Then I rolled out of bed, did my bathroom business, tugged on Mitch’s flannel and headed to the kitchen for coffee, Mitch’s oatmeal and to help Mitch get the kids ready for school.
* * * * *
When I got back to Mitch’s place after work, I saw a note on the kitchen counter.
It said:
Sweetheart,
The kids are with me on the greenbelt. They’ve had a snack. We’re going out to dinner when you get home, come find us.
M
He wrote, when you get home.
Home.
Oh boy. I liked that.
I went to Mitch’s room, changed into jeans and a tee, making a mental note to ask Mitch when I could get back to my apartment for clean up (and moving back in) but also so I could get more stuff. Then I slipped on some flip-flops and went to go find them.
As I walked down the back steps to the greenspace behind our unit, I saw LaTanya and Brent sitting at a picnic table with a woman I didn’t know. They were watching Mitch, Derek and Billy playing catch with another extremely hot guy and two mini-hot guys (also who I didn’t know) at the same time watching Billie race around chasing what looked like nothing but I was assuming in her imagination was something.