me anymore!” I wheezed, then sat hiccupping, wiping my eyes, blowing my nose and still half-giggling.
When my bodily functions were finally under control again, I glanced up at Vince who still looked worried.
“Tell me you got photos,” I gasped.
He relaxed slightly and perched on the stool opposite me, the perfect height for him, unlike us more normal-sized humans.
“No, but one of the women in the audience put a video on YouTube,” he grinned. “But it’s too grainy to tell who we are, otherwise I’d put it on me Fans Only page.”
I shook my head, still smiling. “As your lawyer, let me give you this piece of valuable advice: never tell Rick that there’s a video.”
He laughed out loud but I could tell by the gleam in his eye that he wasn’t taking my advice seriously.
I pointed my finger at him. “Let me add an addendum to that free piece of advice—never tell Rick, never tell anyone, or Cady will have your balls for breakfast.”
His smile fell so quickly I heard it hit the floor.
“Yeah, good point,” he admitted. “Do you think she’ll forgive me for fookin’ up?”
I patted his arm. “Cady doesn’t hold grudges—she’s just a little emotional right now. It’ll be fine.”
He nodded absentmindedly, looking down at my hand on his arm.
“Can I have a hug?”
Surprised, it took me a moment to respond, then I stood up and walked around the breakfast bar, reaching up to put my hands around his neck, feeling the heat of his bare chest through my robe. He immediately wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly and leaning his head against my shoulder, his breath warm on my cheek.
“This is nice,” he mumbled.
And it was. It was friendship and caring and something more.
Then the dogs decided that they wanted to be hugged, too, and trotted over to join in, Zeus at our ankles, Tap at our knees, and Tyson shoving his nose into our crotches.
Laughing, we pulled apart and Vince grinned at me.
“Can I have a shag now?”
I rolled my eyes. “No.”
Vince
“Can’t blame a bloke for asking,” I said with a wink. “It worked for the hug.”
“You’re incorrigible!” Gracie huffed, pushing me away, but she was still smiling.
Being a gentleman, I let her use the shower first; and being a red-blooded male, I imagined the hot, soapy water sliding over her sweet little tits and naked body, and ended up with a stiffy the size of the Empire State Building.
It was hard work doing the friend thing while she warmed up to the fact that we’d be awesome together. Getting her to trust me enough to spend the night had been a massive step, and it had given me hope when generally as a commodity it was in short supply. I should have won a medal for forcing myself to stay on the sofa all night when the woman of my dreams was a few feet away all soft and warm and tucked up in my bed.
I was beginning to understand why Rick had been such a grumpy bastard last year while he was trying to persuade Cady that the course of true love never ran straight but sometimes ran marathons. They still seemed an unlikely couple to me, and after last night’s tongue-lashing, I hoped that Rick really knew what he was letting himself in for.
The strange thing was, last night I’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Gracie to take a turn at the verbal battering, but she hadn’t. She hadn’t reamed me out at the police station either. In fact, she’d been the one to stuff a sock in Cady’s gob and shove her in a taxi. Even then, I thought my turn would be coming and she’d start yelling at me, telling me that I was an irresponsible twat, but again she hadn’t. And then I thought she might give me that look of disappointment that I was so familiar with, but she’d just smiled and shook her head saying, “Only you, Vincent. Only you.” Which I took as a compliment.
All these things were positive signs. I just wish I knew what she was so worried about. Was it men in general or me in particular? Cady had been very close-mouthed about Gracie and only told me that she didn’t date much. Which told me sod all.
I was hoping that a relaxed day with the dogs would get her to lower her standards a bit more and maybe consider dating me. After all, I