I look up to see her lips curved in a knowing smile.
“What?” I ask, returning her grin.
“Nothing. I was just thinking that it probably wouldn’t be hard to convince you to come fuck me again in my shower.”
“Not hard at all,” I agree, “but there’s not enough room to take care of you properly in there. We’d be better off inmyshower.” I nod toward the big house. “Want to grab whatever you’re changing into for the party, sneak across the backyard, and meet me in the main bath in…ten minutes?”
She beams up at me, the joy on her face humbling, before she says, “Make it five. I already have everything all laid out.” She presses a quick kiss to my lips before starting for the stairs leading up to the apartment, calling over her shoulder, “Do you have conditioner, or should I bring mine?”
“I have some,” I tell her. “But bring yours anyway because it smells really good.”
Eyes dancing, she nods. “Will do. See you in five, old man.”
“Five, dirty girl,” I agree, heading out of the garage with a smile testing the limits of my face, feeling like I’ve won a game I didn’t even know was on the schedule.
And yes, I’m rushing into this thing with Clover too fast.
And yes, there’s a decent chance the new partner sex haze will clear in a few months, and we’ll realize there are issues we haven’t addressed. Obstacles we haven’t considered.
Hard times could lie ahead for me and my too-young girlfriend, who, as far as I know, still has no interest in being a stepmother, but…
I can’t bring myself to care.
Frederica’s death has taught me many things, but maybe the most important is that none of us know how much time we’ll begiven. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. All we have is today and all the joy, love, and happiness we can eke out of it.
And I mean to squeeze out every drop.
Twenty
CLOVER
The trickto pretending you’renotsleeping with the sexiest guy at a party?
Never stop moving.
Stillness is the enemy. Stillness gives your eyes the chance to drift, and drifting eyes are inexorably drawn to your hot secret boyfriend’s broad shoulders and his ass in those jeans. That ass that seriously does not quit…
How did Ievermanage to keep my eyes above his belt before we were lovers, I ask you? How?!
I don’t know.
But Idoknow that staring at your allegedfriendand former boss’s ass is a good way to attract the wrong kind of attention.
So, I stay busy.
I eat an obscene number of chilled shrimp from the buffet, let Makena teach me a line dance to a country song that’s not completely awful, and do my best to dodge the supermodels in skimpy Mardi Gras costumes spritzing everyone with Let the Good Times Roll.
Capo’s new scent is a mix of vetiver and citrus, with a hint of jasmine, that’s very New Orleans, but also verystrong. Andmasculine. Which is good, considering it’s a man’s cologne, but I’m not looking to smell like I’ve been out doing manly things while frolicking through the Spanish moss.
I want to keep smelling like my conditioner and perfume, a combo that Dean confessed after our shower, “Makes him hard just catching a whiff of it.”
We’ve already had sex twice in the past two hours, but I still want him hard again the second we get home for our first sleepover. I am a glutton for his body.
Even more than I’m a glutton for shrimp…
“If you eat one more of those, you’re going to turn pink like a flamingo,” Makena warns as she reaches past me for the tongs. “How many shrimp have you eaten, woman?”
I hum around my latest mouthful as I mull that over. Once I’ve swallowed, I confess, “At last fourteen. But they’re so good. And if I start turning pink, think of all the money I’ll save on blush.”
