“Janet, what are you doing here?” she questions as she yanks the door open.
Janet is so intent on knocking she nearly falls over when the door is pulled open.
“Hey, Janine. Hi, Emanuel,” she purrs.
Janine rolls her eyes. “What do you need?”
“Oh.” Janet blinks. “I, uh, keys! I forgot my set of keys and the door is locked. Can I get yours?”
I move behind Janine, placing my hand at the small of her back. I can feel the tension as it builds in her body. Not an unusual thing to happen whenever she is in the presence of her mother.
“I never gave you a set of keys to begin with,” Janine mumbles. “Hang on a sec. My purse is in the bedroom,” she turns to tell me.
I nod. “I can get—”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll grab them real quick.” She hurries off in the direction of my bedroom, down the hall, leaving me standing at the door with her mother.
Janet turns to me, lowering and raising her eyelids in a way that I’m pretty sure is meant to be seductive. Stepping closer, she raises a hand to my chest, lightly running her pointer finger over my shirt.
I grab her hand by the wrist and tilt my head, giving her a look.
“You know, I’d be a lot more fun than my daughter.” Her voice is low, just above a whisper as she gazes into my eyes.
Releasing her wrist, I take a move back. “I have enough fun in my life.”
“You sure about that?” she questions in a coquettish voice, stepping closer, allowing her breasts to softly graze my chest.
“I’ll send Janine over with the key.” I begin shutting the door in this woman’s face, feeling completely disgusted.
Just before the door closes, Janine emerges from the bedroom. “I’ve got it. Let me go unlock the door for her. I don’t trust her with my key,” she murmurs the last part so only I can hear it.
Janine certainly has good reason not to trust her mother with anything.
“Make it quick,” I growl, as I pull her to me and kiss her lips possessively, while holding the door open with one hand so Janet can see.
Janine quickly crosses the hall and unlocks the door for her mother before returning to where I’m still watching. Just before I shut the door behind us, I see Janet peek her head out of the door and toss me a wink.
My response is to slam my door shut. “When is she leaving?”
Janine giggles. “She’s a nuisance, right? Soon, I think. She mentioned something about a job in D.C. Or was it a guy? I don’t know. My mother’s a mess.” She waves her hand in the air dismissively. “Where were we?” She wraps her arms around my waist.
“Right here,” I growl, pulling her to me, and kissing the life out of her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Janine
“I cannot believe her,” I groan while leaning against the bar, but staring out into the crowd as my mother grinds her body in the middle of two firefighters.
“She’s not that bad,” Angela tries to reassure.
I peer at my best friend who is behind the bar, wiping it down but curiously watching the woman who gave birth to me.
“Even your face can’t hold onto that lie. She’s embarrassing.” I slouch down lower, rethinking my decision to even come to the bar that night. Luckily, I’m reminded why, seconds later when in walks the finest man in Rescue Four.
Emanuel’s face immediately brightens when he catches my eye.
I rise from the wooden stool and move to the door, barely giving him a chance to fully enter before I wrap my arms around his shoulders. He’s just as anxious because his lips cover mine without so much as ahello.The kiss steals my breath and sends a chill down my spine.
