Page 94 of Take Her from You

Ben: Sorry to break this up, but we need to mobilise. Val, take it steady. We need you healed for when we get back. Rest up, aye?

I chucked my phone and slumped on the cushions. Rest up? I was bored out of my mind.

At lunchtime, Mia returned.

This time, I waited on the sofa.

Setting down her bag and hanging up her coat, she took me in with wide eyes. “Someone’s feeling better.”

“Much.”

“Been up to anything this morning?”

“Called my folks. Ma is desperate to know who ye are, but I put her off.”

“I don’t mind talking to your mother.” Mia crossed the room and put the back of her hand to my forehead. “Nice and cool. Hungry?”

I was, but for more than food. The lass had on a blue tabard with the logo of Daisy’s business on it. It stretched over her bouncy chest and fastened at the sides.

All of a sudden, I was picturing her naked and wearing just that.

My dick stirred. Any thoughts of that nature had been suspended while I’d been out of it, but things had taken a turn for the better.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” Mia asked, amused.

“Just thinking how business must be booming if you’re walking around like that.”

“Like what?”

“Sexy cleaner. Must be a market for it.”

She gave a peal of laughter. “Actually, I do know of a topless cleaning firm.”

My dick thickened, and my mouth hung open, tongue out like a cartoon dog. “I would pay any money to see that.”

“I am not showing you their pictures.”

I choked on a laugh. “No, sweetheart. To have ye clean topless for me. Seriously. Take my credit card.” I banged an imaginary card on my hand.

Mia’s amusement simmered, and her gaze turned speculative. “You’re definitely getting back to health if that’s on your mind.”

“Pretty sure until I see it, it’s the only thing that’s going to be in my head. Ye don’t even have to do any cleaning. Just sit topless in the middle of the room and I’ll do the work around ye.”

“Oh yeah? I’m not sure much cleaning would get done.”

“Neither am I. That would just be the start of it.” Heat played out in my voice, my body warming.

Mia’s pupils dilated. Fuck, yeah. She was into it, too.

But then she took a breath and rose, dusting her hands together. “Let’s keep your blood pressure from exploding, yes? Now, food.”

Mia busied herself in the kitchen, and I dropped my head back on the couch, loving the mental image she’d given me and plotting ways to make it a reality.

In the early evening, she brought Tobi home from her school club. I’d taken a shower—carefully—and dressed in clean clothes. I was finger-combing out my hair when they walked in the door, bags in hand, smiles for me, Tobi bursting out with a story about her day.

A new and strange sense filled me. Something poignant. This must be what it was like to have a family.

It was all I’d wanted, once. A wife and bairns. More than one for sure. My work dedicated to giving them a comfortable life. Coming home to a warm house with the sounds of kids playing.

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