Page 9 of Sweatpants & Sweet Tea

“You have a cat?” Why would she have a cat when she was obviously so allergic?

She shook her head. “Mitchell’s cat.”

Mitchell?

As in Harlan Mitchell?

As in Country Boy Harlan Mitchell?

As in calendar hottie Harlan Mitchell?

As in naked shower man Harlan Mitchell?

Her arms waved in the air as she stood up from her chair and scrambled back toward the screen door that led to the porch. “Find her…achoo…and take her…achoo…next door…achoo!”

With that sneezing order she rushed outside, I assumed to get some fresh air.

I looked around but didn’t see any signs of a cat, so I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the table. There was no cat there, but she had to be close if she had caused my aunt’s allergies to kick off like that. “Kitty? Where are you?”

I stood back up and noticed a tiny white ball of fur curled up in the corner of the breakfast nook.

“Hi kitty,” I tried to make my voice as soothing as possible as I approached her.

She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms above her head, basking in the sunlight shining through the bay windows.

“Hi sweetie pie,” I cooed as I gingerly lifted her up. I noticed that she also had orange and black patches on her. She was a tiny little, itty-bitty thing.

As soon as I pulled her in close to me, she curled into my arms and began purring, nuzzling her head into me. My eyes began to water, and it wasn’t because I was allergic to cats. I sniffed back the ridiculous emotions I was feeling from a little bit of feline affection. Maybe I was lonelier than I’d thought.

I was tempted to take just a few minutes to soak in her cuddles, but I knew that I needed to get her out of here. “Okay, let’s get you home.”

The screen door shut behind me with a slam as I walked out onto the porch and found Aunt Rhonda rinsing off her face with the hose on the side of the house. Her eyes were puffy, and the skin around them was irritated.

“You tell Harlan he needs to keep that critter inside. I can’t have my sniffles flaring up on me before tonight.”

Harlan. Right, I would probably need to talk to Harlan. I glanced down at my T-shirt and jeans and wanted desperately to go back inside and throw on clean clothes, run a brush through my hair, and put on some mascara and lipstick. But when I looked over at Aunt Rhonda and saw her red, swollen eyes, I knew that would not be possible.

I sighed and looked down at the itsy-bitsy calico cat curled up in my arms. “Does your daddy have a thing for hot messes?”

She purred and stretched out her paws toward me.

I took it as a yes.

4

HARLAN

As I soapedmyself up and water dripped down my body, my mind drifted to the blonde I’d seen next door. Her body defied gravity. Her generous curves were branded on my subconscious. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. Her hourglass figure was heavenly but gave me thoughts that would send me straight to hell.

But it wasn’t just her body that captivated me. It was her radiance, her aura, her…everything. It was the way her hips moved when she walked. It was the graceful slope of her neck. It was her long golden hair that shimmered in the sunlight, and I just knew it would be silky to the touch. It was her upturned pixie nose that sat above her plump lips that I wanted wrapped around my cock.

I took myself in my hand and began to stroke up and down as I pictured her on her knees before me sucking me into her wet mouth. My fingers tightened their hold as I imagined her tongue licking my rock-hard shaft as her fingers dug into my hips to steady herself. Within just a few strokes, I brought myself to completion and came in a jarring release.

As the tension rolled from my body, I lowered my head, dipping it beneath the water cascading above me as I caught my breath, breathing in the fresh air. There were benefits to living out in the country. One of them was that I could pleasure myself in the outdoors, where my only audience was the birds, cows, and horses. None of them gave a shit about me taking care of business.

I finished rinsing off and grabbed a towel as I stalked back to the house. I had a few hours before I had to parade myself in front of a room filled with the entire town of Firefly Island, and I still had some emails to send off and bills to pay.

The screen door bounced away from the frame once before shutting as I entered the kitchen and found my grandad, where he spent ninety percent of his waking hours, posted at the kitchen table with a mug in one hand and a paper in the other.

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