“All right then. We’re just about done. I’ll be back in about an hour. You ready, Adam?”
Maggie and Steph gave each other a high five and did a little celebration dance after the men left. This all seemed too easy. She didn’t think he would agree so readily and felt atwinge of guilt.
“You know he’s going to kill you, right?” Steph asked between fits of giggles. “I mean, seriously.”
“I know. Do you think this is too mean? Oh, never mind. He’ll probably love the perverted thing. Besides, if he really hates it, we can always take it back. Now we’ll be even for the ticket he wrote me.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to see it that way. But, man, what I wouldn’t give to be there when he first hears Harold go off on one of his graphic tirades. ‘Oh, baby, yes, give it to me.’” Steph tried to imitate Harold’s voice. “I wonder what the first woman who hearsthatwill say.”
Hm, Maggie hadn’t thought of that bonus. She had no idea if Mitch brought a lot of women home, but if he did, now he’d have some explaining to do. She had no right to feel jealous but didn’t like the idea of him being with someone else.
“Hey, since you refuse to go home, wanna do me a favor?” Steph smiled hopefully.
Almost an hour later, Maggie was watching the front counter while Steph ran to the bank to make the day’s deposit. She’d offered to go, but Steph’s ankle had healed and she said she needed the exercise. She was alone when Mitch came back.
This time he was wearing Levis and a black T-shirt that fit him like a glove. He looked good in a uniform, but the bullet-proof vest and straight-legged pants left too much to the imagination. Every time she saw him, it was the same. He took her breath away.
“Hey, Maggie.” He looked around. “You all alone?”
She forced herself to take a breath. “Yeah. Steph ran to the bank and left me in charge.” She made eye contact, then looked away. Flashbacks from the night at Jenny’s made her blush. “Do you want to pay for the stuff now, and then we’ll go get Harold?”
He fished out his wallet and walked to the counter. “Sounds good.” She rang up his purchases without a word as the sexual tension mounted. She felt him staring at her. He was definitely interested in more than just parrot pellets and wood chips.
After she’d run his card and bagged his purchases, she came out from behind the counter. “Harold’s in my office,” she said. Mitch followed her to the back of the store.
She stopped outside her office and looked up, way up, into his eyes. That was all it took. The next thing she knew, he had her backed against the wall and was kissing her senseless. Her arms flew around his neck, and her legs wrapped around his waist as he lifted her off the ground to make their bodies match up better. Pressed against the wall, he pushed into her.
“Damn, you feel good,” he whispered near her ear, as he planted kisses all down her neck. “Better than I remember.”
“Mmm,” was all she could mutter back.
He retook her mouth, and their tongues danced as he rocked into her.
She reached down, trying to open the office door. Maybe they could finish this on her desk, or the floor, or wherever. Seeming to understand where she was headed, he tried to help. Both of them had hands on the knob when they heard the bells on the front door ring.
“Fuck.” “Fiddlesticks,” they said in unison.
He laughed. “Do youeverswear?”
She lowered her head, embarrassed. “Not usually, no.”
“Hey.” He put his finger under her chin and raised her face to meet his. “You’re adorable. You know that? Well, it’s more of a smokin’ hot adorable, but adorable none the less.”
He let her slowly slide down his body and placed her gently on the floor. Maggie moaned.
“Wewillfinish this,” he said. “I don’t know when, but soon.” He looked straight into her eyes, and she swallowed hard.
“Mags?” Steph shouted from the front of the store. At least it wasn’t a customer.
“Coming—we’re grabbing the bird,” she hollered back without breaking eye contact. The heat was palpable, and the lust in his eyes reflected in her own. She let him see it and then blinked.
She opened the door, grabbed the covered cage, and whispered, “I’m ready whenever you are,” then turned and headed back to the front of the store. She noticed he had to adjust himself before following.Damn, that was close.
“Don’t take the cover off until you get home. They don’t like to travel, and this will keep him calm.” They’d just finished loading all the supplies and the cage into the back of Mitch’s SUV.
“Okay. Anything else I need to know? I feel like this is happening so fast.”
Join the club, thought Maggie. But he wasn’t talking about the bird.
