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“What?” He draws the syllable out dramatically.
“I was pulled over by the park.”
“You were. At approximately ten after one.”
“Very observant, counselor. And what were you doing at the city park on this sunny and glorious afternoon?”
“I have Evie. We… I took the afternoon off. We had lunch at the park, and then she ran around like a lunatic until I thought she was in danger of tripping and hurting herself. Then I dropped her in a swing until she passed out, giving me both time and opportunity to observe your traffic stop.” He pauses but there’s more, I can feel it. “That cop is vile. He’s one of the shit ones that have yet to be cleared since the shift in management in the city’s administration.”
Shift in administration… he means since Christophe came back to town and took over le Milieu.
“Dusty? He’s harmless. So, you spent the day with just your daughter, or did you do the whole family thing?” I gnaw at my thumbnail before popping it out of my mouth. I haven’t done my after-work scrub down yet. Who knows what might be hiding under my nails, but my nerves are pushing me to do something… anything. I should—I don’t know—go organize a drawer or maybe purge my coat closet, because standing here with even the thought of that contemptible twat getting to play family with Eddie is too much for me to handle. Maybe it was the nanny who brought his daughter to the park, not Amie. But the man allays my fear like it was never even an option.
“There’s no family thing. Just Evie and me. And that bastard is not harmless, he had his hand on his dick the whole time he was talking to you. He was practically rutting against your van.” He adds that last bit with a growl.
No, too cliché. With disgust? Disdain? Dammit, I’m going to have to pin that one and grab my thesaurus to find the perfect word.
“I lost you again, didn’t I?”
I hop in place a couple of times to regain my focus and get back in the conversation game. “You haven’t. I’m touched that you were looking out for me and my safety while you had a rare afternoon with Evie. Thank you.”
“I’ll, uh… She’ll be around a lot more, thank Christ. But yeah, you let me know if he stops you again, you hear? I don’t like him sniffing around.” Again, such an innocent statement, and all it does is wind me tight.
“Oh, Eddie. You say the sweetest things. I was just about to step into the shower, but if you need to see to my wellbeing for yourself, you are more than welcome to swing on by.” My voice gets all kinds of breathy with the offer. Really, if he took me up on it, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. And if he came sniffing around while I was in the shower, naked, with water sluicing down my body, I’d probably combust on the spot.
The breadth and depth of his ugh hits me on its way and out. Jesus, that was a good one. “I would. Honestly, I’d feel better if I did, but I just got Evie back to sleep, and the nanny’s not back yet”—I can almost hear him tugging at his hair as he fights his battle—“and I can’t… I just… things are changing in her world, and she doesn’t even know it. But if that fucker shows up at your place, you call me.”
“I’ll be fine.”
He drops his voice and simply says, “Call.”
That’s all it takes, and I can’t help but shift my weight from foot to foot, rubbing my thighs together for something.
“Okay.”
“Good girl. Now make sure you’re locked up tight and keep your phone in hand.”
He ends the call before I say something totally stupid and completely out of line, but every single one of those responses cycle through my head on a loop as I strip out of my coveralls and drop them in the laundry room.
I do keep my phone in my hand as I fill a big old glass full of crisp white wine.
I clutch it while standing under the rainfall shower, lathering and rinsing with my free hand.
I grip it tight when I sink into the hot bathwater to soak.
It only slips from my grasp when my vibey-vibe hits that magical spot and I come completely undone with that damn sigh echoing in my ears. The innocuous comments that my brain has twisted and woven into something delicious and dirty. That low, commanding tone giving me orders and making my bits quiver.
Yeah. That’s what pushes me over the edge.
And what a glorious fall it is.
I sink low in the water, boneless and relaxed, my glass of wine dangling from my hand. When my phone buzzes, I reach over the rim of the clawfoot tub and fumble for it, spilling wine in the water before catching my phone in my slippery wet hand. I swipe at the screen and see a new text from my noticeably absent orgasm fairy.
Eddie: Send me a picture. Proof of life.
Chapter 4
Stroking Out
