“You don’t hear it when you say it,” he told me.

“I do hear it.”

“No, you’re not a guy so you hear it but you don’t. The way you say ‘Joe’, every man would wish that was their name.”

“Okay,” I replied because I really didn’t have anything else to say to that statement and because I was busy trying to ignore the lovely squishy feeling that statement made me feel.

He bent his head and kissed my neck then his hands started roaming and his thigh moved an inch higher.

I bit my lip.

“Joe?”

“Yeah?” he asked my neck.

“You, um… can’t stay here.” His head came out of my neck, his hands stilled and he looked at me so I forged ahead. “’Cause, um… Dane called and said the girls were fakin’ it, havin’ a good time. He and I made our own deal yesterday. I need to call them like, right now, and ask them to come home. They’ll be back Saturday and I promised Dane and his parents he could sleep on the couch.”

“So?” Joe asked.

“So, Dane’ll be sleeping on the couch so you can’t.” This was one of the two reasons he couldn’t, Mike being the other one but I thought I’d start with Dane because mentioning Mike might make Joe mad and Joe naked and mad meant me acting again like a slut (or more like one, whatever that would be).

“Wasn’t gonna sleep on your couch, buddy,” he told me and I blinked then I finally came to myself.

“You can’t sleep with me.”

“In your bed right now,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but you carried me to it and threw me in it.”

“You didn’t struggle much then, Vi, and pointin’ out the obvious, you aren’t doin’ it now.”

He was right so I pushed off and tried to slide away but he gave me more of his weight which meant resistance was futile.

So I glared up at him and demanded, “Get off.”

He looked like he was trying not to laugh, a new look, a good one on him. “Too late.”

“Off.”

“You like me here.”

“Off!” I shouted.

“You missed me, told me so yourself, buddy.”

God, I did do that, just blurted it right out.

I closed my eyes and turned my head away but, even doing this, I could hear his soft laughter and feel it against my body.

I didn’t want to like it but I did.

Then something occurred to me and my body got tight and my head righted with a snap, my eyes opening.

“Shit,” I whispered.

“What?” Joe asked.

“Do you hear that?”

Joe’s face instantly got serious, his head cocked to listen then he looked at me and his voice was serious too when he asked, “What, buddy?”

“Nothing,” I told him.

“Come again?”

“Nothing!” I cried. “Shit, hearing nothing means Mooch is getting into trouble.”

If Keira wasn’t around (and she was good with taking care of her dog) then it was me who had to deal with Mooch and Mooch, being a very active puppy, was a lot to deal with.

I couldn’t do that with a big, naked man on me.

Then suddenly that big, naked man wasn’t on me. He was at the side of the bed and pulling on his jeans.

I stared as he walked out of the room.

Then I pulled the sheet up to my chest, sat up in the bed, bending my knees and watching the door, curious despite myself at what he was going to do. So curious, I didn’t get out of bed, get my clothes on and run far, far away. Instead, I waited.

Not minutes later, Joe came back with a squirming dog under one arm and my purse in his other hand.

He dumped Mooch in the bed and my purse on the nightstand.

Mooch ran to me and jumped up, licking me with his puppy tongue and dousing me with his puppy breath.

“Need a new dog bed, Vi,” Joe declared as I gave an active Mooch a rubdown and my eyes went to Joe.

“What?”

“Dog ate it,” Joe told me, pulling my cell out of my purse.

“He ate it?” I breathed, wondering, if he had dog bed in his stomach, if that meant a vet bill in my future.

“Not all of it but he did a number on it.”

“Shit,” I whispered.

Joe tossed my phone on the bed then got in after he did that, grabbing the dog, stretching out on his back and pinning the puppy to his bare chest.

“Call your girls,” Joe ordered as Mooch licked Joe’s jaw.

I stared at Mooch licking Joe’s jaw and the way Joe accepted this without looking angry or sinister or badass. Well, he still looked badass but not angry or sinister and I felt my belly go warm and soft again.

“Honey, the girls,” Joe prompted when I didn’t move.

He was calling me honey a lot lately and, stupid me, I liked that too.

He taught me a lesson (twice), a lesson that burned so deep I thought I’d never forget that night in his house with him in that chair, telling me he fucked someone else.

But here I was, right back where I began.

And I liked that too.

“Right,” I whispered, snatched my phone from the bed and slid it open.

Joe moved the dog from his chest to the bed and Mooch started gnawing on his fingers. This Mooch did a lot and it didn’t feel great. It started off okay but if Mooch got into it, it hurt.

As my phone rang Kate’s I noticed Mooch was getting into it but Joe didn’t push him off or even wince.

“Hi Mom!” Kate called cheerfully into my ear and I heard instantly that Dane was right, she was faking it.

“Hey baby,” I replied.

“Everything okay?” Kate asked.

My eyes went from Mooch to Joe to see his head was to the pillows, one arm cocked, his hand behind his head and he watching me.

“Not really,” I said to Kate, moving my eyes from Joe’s face to Joe’s feet, which were crossed at the ankles and bare under the hems of his jeans.

Kate’s voice grew concerned and she asked, “What’s up?”

“Well… I don’t want to, um… it’s just that… do you think you and Keira could come home a bit early?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine I just kinda want you guys home with me. Do you think Dane’s folks’ll mind?”

“No,” she said immediately, “they’ll understand.”

Yes, my girl wanted to come home.

It was now confirmed. Dane was a good kid and I was forced to like him, even love the guy.

Shit.

“Dane can um…” Damn! I looked back at Joe and widened my eyes at him but he just lifted his brows and then I said, “If his parents’ll let him, we’ll look out for him. I know he’s seventeen but he can stay with us, sleep on the couch and I’ll keep him fed.”

“Seriously?” Kate breathed.

I stopped looking at Joe, dropped my head to my knees and said, “Seriously.”

“I think they’ll be cool with that,” she told me and she sounded genuinely happy now.

I turned my head, putting my temple to my knee and saw Joe was smiling at me.

There it was; I’d done the right thing.

“Good, honey, but enjoy today. Get your fill and then come home tomorrow.” I told her, “but do it safe and slow, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“Call me before you leave so I know when to expect you.”

“Okay.”

I decided to give her more to look forward to and shared, “Your Gram and Gramps are comin’ down next weekend.”

“Killer!” she cried and I smiled, my eyes dropping to Mooch who was going to town on Joe’s hand and, not thinking, Kate at my ear, I spoke to Joe.

“Joe, your hand is not a chew toy.”

“Baby, he’s fine.”

“We don’t let him chew our hands like that.”

“He’s fine, Vi.”

“Stop him.”

“Honey, I said… he’s fine.”

The way he said this made me look at him and clamp my mouth shut. He was definitely done telling me Mooch was fine.

“Is Joe with you?” Kate asked, sounding beyond happy now, sounding freaking thrilled.

I jerked my eyes from Joe and realized I was naked in bed with Joe and Mooch, talking to my daughter, who was thrilled Joe was with me.

God, total slut.

And also, totally screwed.

“Um… yeah.”

“He’s stayin’ with us, you know, while his house is renovated. Did he tell you?”

“Yeah.”

“Keira and I think it’s great.”

“Keira does?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

The hundred dollars.

“How much of Joe’s money she have left?” I asked and Kate laughed.

“We gave Dane’s folks the money you gave us for food and stuff but we haven’t had time to go shoppin’ or anything so all of it, I think.”

“You get back, whatever you have left, you return it.”

“What?” Kate asked.

“What?” Joe rumbled.

I ignored Joe and told Kate, “When you get back –”

I didn’t finish because Joe sat up, reached in, pulled the phone out of my hand and put it to his ear.

“Money’s yours, girl. Don’t listen to Vi.”

“Joe!” I snapped.

He nodded and said, “Yeah. Everything’s good here. Tell Dane to remember the speed limit and that he’s got precious cargo. No screwin’ around.”

My anger vanished, my body stilled and my mouth dropped open at listening to Joe sounding just like a Dad.

“Right, see you tomorrow. Later.” Then he slid my phone shut.

I stared at him then at my phone then my eyes went back to him. “I would have liked to say good-bye.”

“Yeah, and you would have liked to say other shit,” Joe said as he turned and tossed my phone on my purse.

“Like what?”

He turned back, his brows drew together and he got that sinister look when he asked, “Givin’ my money back, Vi?”

“Two hundred dollars is a lot.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Yes, it is!”

“No, it fucking well isn’t.”