Page 125 of Wicked Little Thief

Amy held a black dress up in front of her and examined it before handing it to Utah to add to the growing collection of dresses hanging on her arm.

“Maybe he’s stressed out at work, and it has nothing to do with you?”

“Maybe. But he seemed really detached when I stopped by his office. Like he was letting me know I didn’t mean anything to him.”

“That can’t be true. From everything you’ve told me, he cares a lot about you. I think you’re just being sensitive. Or paranoid. Maybe both. Is it that time of the month?”

Utah shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m on the birth control that you don’t get periods with.”

“Don’t you still get symptoms?”

She stopped to think about it. “I guess there are times when my breasts are tender, and I crave salt and sugar.”

“But you’re not more emotional than normal?”

“Maybe? I’ve kind of been under a little stress lately, you know, with the whole going to jail thing, so it’s been hard to tell.”

“How are you feeling now? Do your boobs hurt?” Amy grinned as she reached over and squeezed Utah’s boob.

Utah batted her friend’s hand away. “Well yeah, when you honk them like a bulb horn.”

“Come on, your dominant Daddy doesn’t do that?”

“First of all, ew. He’s not my Daddy.” Utah flipped through more dresses as she murmured softly, “He’s my Master.” She was wearing a smirk when she looked up. “And second of all, he has a little more finesse than that.”

“All things you never need tell me again.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“Anyhoo… you don’t really believe he doesn’t care about you, do you?”

“I don’t know what to believe. All I know is I need a dress that will knock his socks off.”

Amy gestured to the pile of dresses Utah was holding. “Well, go try those on so we can see if any of them are the one.”

****

Liam

He probably should have rescheduled dinner with Angie, the new ER admitting clerk, after getting Tom’s email. How the hell was Rick the Prick still going through with the lawsuit? He couldn’t wrap his head around the fucking greed of that asshole. Tom had done an excellent job proving to Rick there was no way he was going to win. Liam knew Rick thought they were going to settle—it’d be a helluvalot cheaper than going to court. But fuck that. He wanted a judge to censure the ambulance-chasing asshole for bringing such a frivolous lawsuit.

And even though his mind was elsewhere the entire dinner, he thought he’d done a pretty good job feigning interest in Angie’s cats.

After dinner, Liam answered a few emails, then on his way out, decided to swing by the emergency room department for an impromptu walk-through. His visit to IT on Monday had been a good reminder that he’d been negligent in doing those recently.

He quickly realized that if he’d wanted to get home on time, he probably should have picked a different department to visit.

The ER was hopping, and he soon found himself rolling up his sleeves and helping out—pushing gurneys and being the go-to guy between departments.

Thankfully, Utah was at his house to take care of Phoebe.

She was naked and asleep when he slipped into bed around eleven-thirty.

“Mmm, hi,” she said as burrowed in next to him and wrapped her arm around his middle.

He kissed her hair as he stroked her back. “Hi, honey. Go back to sleep.”

She let out a contented sigh and melted further into him.

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