Page 130 of Blue Moon Mistress

I pull my keys back out of my purse and slip it onto the loop before dropping them in with the other bric-a-brac.

“I like the way you dress,” he says as he helps me out of my coat. “You’re like a present we get to unwrap.”

Brushing my hair back, he kisses my neck and drags his nose up my skin until his lips are level with my ear. Inhaling against my hair, he whispers. “I like when you’re in my shirt and nothing else, too.”

“Lucky you. I like both too.”

Once I’ve unwrapped myself I’m the one who leads the way into the kitchen where Chase and Joshua are setting up the first game.

“Do you want to be the thimble? Or the race car?” Chase asks, holding up the small metal tokens.

“Why not the terrier?”

“Because that one goes to whoever’s messed up the most since we last played and you haven’t done anything to receive that honor.”

“I’m in the dog house tonight.” Johnny says with a long sigh. “And all because I bought the wrong kind of dressing.”

“That’s not the only reason,” Joshua says sorting the bank. “It’s just the one you’re fixating on.”

Chase pulls open one of the pantry doors and points to a chalkboard with each of their names lined across the top and a handful of hash marks beneath them. Chase only has about five. Johnny… I do a quick count. “Thirty-six?”

“What can I say? I’m a bad boy.” He snorts and heads for the fridge right as Thomas comes in.

“Where have you been?” Chase asks.

“No where fun. That’s for sure.” Thomas isn’t holding the bag he had when I saw him on the street, and he looks too tense.

“What happened?” Joshua asks before I can. Everyone in the room is still, waiting.

“Mrs. Miller’s granddaughter found me today.” Thomas says with a scowl into the fridge. “Her grandmother seems to have made a pitch for us that is not… exactly accurate.”

“How so?”

“Well, for one, Charity seemed to think we had already agreed to a triple date, the actual day was the only thing in question.”

“Yeah?” Johnny’s face has soured. “What, exactly, are we supposed to be doing with them?”

“Getting married and giving Mrs. Miller great grandbabies.” Chase shoots me a glance. “Means I get you all to myself. Maybe I should thank the old woman?”

I shoot him a look, but can’t stop my lips from twitching to a smile. “Did she tell you her grandmother was offering her up for future generations?”

“She kept looking at my junk. If I’d known I was going to be ambushed, I would have changed.”

I glance down at his gray sweatpants and have to shake my head as I bite back a laugh.

“It was almost as creepy as if a dude did it to you.” He makes a face. “The only difference is that if she tried to do something I could hold her back pretty easily.”

“Just make sure you don’t get cornered by all three of them.”

“You think this is funny, don’t you?” Thomas comes to me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“I mean, not the ogling, but Mrs. Miller thinking her granddaughters have a chance? That’s perfectly risible.”

“There was something weird.” Thomas turns all his attention on me and pulls the necklace out from under his shirt. “This thing was hot as hell when I was talking to her.”

“Let me see?”

I walk over to him, grabbing his hand before he can reach up and try to take it off.

---