Page 73 of Mike

“Yeah. I’m here,” he managed to get out. “I’m just trying to, uh, conjure something disgusting to get my dick under control,” he lied.

“Okay,” she said, agreeably. “How do you feel about spiders? Snakes? Ooh! Rotting zombie corpses?”

Mike barked a laugh, unable to help himself. “Spiders and snakes are actually cool. And do you, even for a moment, think I’d be run off by a few zombies?” he scoffed.

“Nope,” she was quick to return. “Between the two of us, we’d damn well decimate an entire population of the undead.”

Ahh. She’d said “damn”. Mike had wondered about that. After Joe’s swear-explosion the night before, post epic-orgasm, he’d debated with himself whether or not she’d go back to total curse-abstinence or not. Now, he had his answer. And as much as he’d liked her colorful replacement words, he was pretty pumped she’d dropped her verbal-reticence, at least around him.

Joe continued.

“What are you afraid of, then?” she questioned brightly. It sounded like she was getting out of bed and walking across the room. When Mike heard the distinct gurgle of a coffee machine starting up, he had his answer.

Of course, he pictured her naked, standing in her little kitchenette. Perky nipples in the morning chill, that high, tight ass?—

And there went his cock-control again.

“What am I afraid of…?” He tried to get his head back on track. “Umm…” He knew, of course, but he never admitted it.

He needed to throw something out there to get her off the actual trail of his insecurity. He gave a long-suffering sigh. “I didn’t want to admit this, Joe, but I have…arachibutyrophobia.”

He waited for a hot second.

“What the hell is that?” she finally snorted with incredulousness in her tone.

Mike was laughing like a lunatic inside, but kept his voice as serious as possible when he answered. “It’s the fear of having peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth.”

“Wha…?” Clearly she had no comeback for that, which amused Mike no end. But?—

“You are so full of shit.” She finally called him out.

Mike laughed. “I had you for a minute, though. Didn’t I?”

“Fine. You got me…” There was a moment of silence before a satisfied, mmm. “…but I hadn’t sipped my coffee yet, so it doesn’t count. Now tell me your real phobia.”

Mike snorted. “Not a chance. Nobody in my current life except my parents know what it is. And I’ve sworn my folks to secrecy.”

“Now I’m intrigued. Give me a few hints.” Her speculative voice boded ill for Mike. Knowing her tenacity, she’d be all over it. But he’d play along. There was no way she’d be able to find out what gave him the willies.

“Fine. It started in high school during football practice, due to…an incident. So, besides my parents who were called in, only my coach and a couple of my friends at the time were aware of the after-effects of the episode.”

“Thank you, Mike,” Joe answered with a gleeful chortle. “You’ve given me enough to go on.”

“You think?”

Mike doubted it. His coach had passed on, and neither of those football buddies were local. Hell, he didn’t even know where Leeland lived these days. There was only one with whom he was still in touch, but… Nope. She’d never in a million years find Cruz. And if she did, she wouldn’t get anything out of him. “Do your damnedest,” Mike encouraged. “But Joe. Just saying, I’ve been over that phobia for a number of years, so there’s nothing to uncover.”

“Great,” she agreed far too easily. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’ll ask my original question again. Will you be visiting me at work tonight?”

He could hear the hope in her voice, and he hated to shoot her down, but…

“I’m sorry Joe. After work I’m headed out of town for one of Tim’s games, then Mason has called a squad leader meeting for later in the evening to discuss new recruits, budget items, and where next month’s drills should be held. It’s a snooze-fest, and it’ll probably last until I’m close to passing out. Somebody kept me up well past my bedtime last night,” he quipped.

“And you loved every minute of it,” she responded cheekily.

“Yup. I did,” he agreed.

Mike finally said goodbye after a little more chit-chat, and hung up quickly before he blurted out just what else he was figuring out he loved.

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