Caleb texted her a selfie, and she opened it. Awarmness befell her heart, and she smiled with a light in her eyes. He was snuggled up in bed with his kids watching a movie. The text read, “I asked them what movie they wanted to watch. They got so excited to pop up the corn and have snacks in bed. Olivia wantedFrozen, and Zack wantedShrek. So, we’re watching them both.”
“Caleb!” she wrote back enthusiastically. “This is so darling! Look how happy they are. But I’m confused. I thought they were going to stay at their grandma’s tonight?”
He wrote back, “I asked them if they’d rather stay with Grandma or watch movies in bed with me. They chose this without hesitation.” He ended it with a smiley emoji.
Evie’s heart grew so warm. She held her chest and wrote back, “All bundled up by their daddy and smiling at the TV. I’m so happy for you. See, isn’t it wonderful? And I’m proud of you. You even allowed snacks in the bed!”
He reacted with a laughing emoji. And reacted again whenever she sent the picture of the cupboard door on the floor and told him what happened. He wrote, “Your hinge is rusted and old. You need new ones. I’ve got some around here I can bring over sometime.”
The texting continued after he put his children to bed, and she made her way to bed for the night. Teddy purred by her stomach. He was now alone in his own bed. They would roll over to a different position and talk the night away until 2:00 a.m. Even though she didn’t get to know a lot about him, she was thankful he was interested in her life. And that would be good enough for her.
Friday came. Coming home from work, Evie pulled up and saw his truck in her driveway with a trailer hitched to it. The sound of a lawnmower hummed in the side yard, and there he came with a big can of Diet Coke in his hand, his baseball hat on forward with the Chiefs’ logo on it, sunglasses, and a boyish smile. She folded her arms and shook her head in a grin. He called out to her with his can raised.
Evie approached him, and he shut off the motor. Then he twisted to rest his arm on the front. “Hey, sugar momma. Wanna take a ride on the wild side?”
“With the way my yard looked, thatwouldbe on the wild side! You are the coolest person ever! I can’t thank you enough for this!”
He looked around suspiciously. “Well, it ain’t gonna come for free.” He winked. “You’re gonna owe me something.”
“Oh yeah?” She smiled and leaned into him. “What is it?”
His look said it all. The deal was set.
Caleb continued to mow her yard and inside, she watched through the kitchen window while she made the brownies he had requested. Watching all of those baking shows had finally paid off. On the TV screen, one of the Batman movies was queued up and ready to go upon his request. And last but not least, he had brought his overnight bag.
He was going to stay the night and learn how to relax.
Chapter Nine
Caleb came trudging in through the front door with his gray company shirt all smudged with grass stains, dirt, sweat, and for some reason a weird brown smudge on the upper back area. The chilly air had left him cold and damp feeling. He could smell the brownies and their enticing fragrance hovering in the air, and he felt drawn to it like a cartoon character when a pie cooled in the windowsill.
Politely, he removed his work boots and placed them on the shoe mat next to the door and smiled down at the pink tennis shoes, the pink beach sandals, the pink fancy sandals, and for somethingextradifferent, pink tennis shoes with leopard spots.
He chuckled. Teddy came hurrying over and flopped on his feet. As Caleb leaned over to pet him, it was a purring symphony, but it quickly turned into death play. Caleb yanked back. “Ow! You little bastard!” He scooped the cat up into his arms and planted kisses all over his head. “You think you can handle me, huh? You think you got it all figured out?” Then, Caleb wildly kissed the cat and began baby talking, “You’re such a fuzzy little bag of boo boos. You’re momma’s favorite little wookie smookie.”
Teddy responded favorably. But Evie was standing in the doorway that led to the dining room with a plate of brownies in her hand.
Caleb noticed her and immediately cleared his throat, put the cat down, and brushed the orange fur off his chest. “I uh, um,” he stuttered. “I know you like talking to him like that, so I was trying to bond with him.”
Evie smirked cutely with brows raised high. “Oh, isthatwhat that was? For a second there, I thought I was seeing a different side of you.”
He leaned over and whispered harshly to Teddy, “You’re gonna get me in trouble!” The cat just looked up at him.
Caleb approached her and held her arms gently and planted a kiss on her forehead. Evie welcomed its presence with her eyes softly closed. He kept kissing her tenderly on the face but then started to glide his hands down her upper arms, rousing her goosebumps once more. He had a delectable way of touching her. Next, his hands curled around her elbows, making a subtle sensation to her forearms, down her wrists, her hands…to the brownie plate.
She started giggling with her eyes still closed, finally sensing what he really wanted. It was absolutely adorable to her.
He took the plate away. “Thank you!”
“Sir, you could take my paycheck straight from my hands if you did it like that.”
He smugly took a bite of one. “Lucky for you, I don’t need your paycheck.”
While he ate, holding the plate in one hand and a brownie in the other, Evie lifted up that dirty shirt and stroked his stomach. He stopped eating at once. Her hands possessed the finest texture of silk, delicate and gentle, but then the sturdiness of cotton, plush and warming.
Her hands trailed underneath his shirt up his sternum and trapped his lust within her fingers as she glided them outwards across his nipples. They were hard and sensitive with little tuffs of hair around them, as well as other tinier little bumps of erotic nerves waking up. She stroked back inward and felt a little bit on his chest closer to his sternum. Their gaze was locked and hot.
“You know what I want from you, Mr. Wright?”
