He lights up bigger than before, plucks the model from me and makes it dance on his hand. “He has a little smile. And are those very tiny feet?”
“I think so? Not one hundred percent sure of the anatomical body of a sentient peen. But whatever.”
He pokes around the drawer, making little comments about each one. “Can I?”
“Sure, take a few.”
He does a little fist pump and starts pocketing a few of the peens, mostly the shiny and the glow in the dark ones.
Joey gets off the couch and punches his cousin in the arm. “Stop shopping at my girlfriend’s place. We need to get going.”
Donny fails to repress the smirkish smile. “Did you notice what he said?”
I blush. “Yeah, I caught it.”
“You’re his girrrrrlfriend.” Donny hip checks me and instantly receives another punch in the arm.
“Shut the fuck up,” Joey snaps, but pauses as his hand lingers over the penguin ice cream holder. He grabs it with one hand and wraps his other around my arm. “We’ve got to get going. And now we need to stop for ice cream.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jenny
When Joey opens the door to his apartment, Kingston is waiting, his tail wagging with his mouth open in a constant smile. He bounces between Joey and me and then launches into zoomies around the kitchen island three times before running toward the couch, jumping onto the center cushion, running to the end, jumping off the arm, and circling back to us. He pants a few times and then runs to his water.
Joey puts three pints of ice cream and my bag of clothes on the counter. “I think I’m going to be insulted if I ever come home and he doesn’t do that,” he says, and wraps his arm around my waist.
He’s been doing that all day, finding little reasons to reach out and touch me. When other men do that, it gives me the ick. But when he does it… it’s comforting and safe.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he says as he kisses the top of my head.
“I have emails and other work stuff I need to get done. Can I set up on the couch?”
He grunts what I assume is a ‘sure’ and moves around his space. Thirty minutes later, I’ve got ear buds in, listening to a podcast about the Knights of the Night, have finished three emails, started and stopped scheduling six times, did the Wordle and read my horoscope, before circling back to my email for a seventh time. I slam my laptop down and groan. Focusing is a million times harder right now than it normally is.
Joey is making noise in the kitchen—sounds of containers slamming on the counter and general grunting.
I twist around on the couch and get a clear view of him. “Whatcha doing?” All of his bottles of sauces are out on the counter as is his fresh fruit.
“I’m fixing my fridge. You said you were busy, and I suspect it’s hard for you to focus, so I won't jump on the couch and play with your breasts for the rest of the afternoon. I need something to keep me busy. And when I saw your fridge, I agreed with Donny, you are a genius.”
My little heart swoons and swings from side to side.
I put my computer on the coffee table. “When you're done with that, come here and play with my boobs.”
He grins. “Hell yeah.”
Scary Mafia boss? Maybe, but haven’t seen much evidence of it… besides the blood on my carpet and the damage done to my windows. But that could be anyone.
A few minutes later, he’s on the couch with his back against the arm and his legs spread across the length. He drops one leg off the couch, leaving space for me to slide in. His chest is warm against my back, and he rests his head on my shoulder, watching clips from the Knights of the Night on my phone.
“Are you a Pirate King fan, or are you team monarchy?”
His chest rises and falls in a soft steady pattern. “I’m more into the wolf pack. I like their sense of loyalty and how they brought Elena into the group. Besides, they have the best sex scenes.”
“They do.” If it wasn’t for a few placed props blocking body parts, I’d be shocked it’s on TV. But I guess they have a budget, and don’t have to appeal to the FCC or whatever. “It is borderline porn.”
He laughs. “It threads that needle, doesn’t it?”
