Page 62 of Wasted On You

But this particular Sunday was already trying his patience, and it had barely begun.

First off, he’s slept like shit. It was his fault because he couldn’t seem to banish Ivy from his head. That kiss had damn near brought him to his knees. God, the feel of her was like a drug. And he could still smell that vanilla scent. It was driving him crazy. Didn’t help that he’d had to sleep on the sofa because his sister was currently occupying his bed.

Then there was the whole Jacob situation he needed to deal with. He hadn’t thought that through on account of his phone was pinging non-stop, filled with messages he had no desire to read. Benton. Taz. His mother, for God sake. No way she knew about last night, but still, it made him wonder.

Cal and Millie Sue had been particularly active, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid talking to them much longer.

The only person who hadn’t sent him a message was the one person he wanted to talk to so bad it made his gut hurt. Had he royally fucked things up?

“Shit,” he muttered, filling up the dogs’ food dishes. When had his life gotten so damn complicated? Of course, he knew the answer, but since he was trying to banish Ivy from his head, he decided to think about other things.

He was about to grab a second cup of badly needed coffee when there was a knock at his door, which immediately set off the dogs. With a frown, he glanced at the clock, noting it was just past eight. He gave Weiner and Bunthelook that immediately silenced them. Then, wearing just his boxers, he headed for the foyer, the now silent dogs on his heels. He figured whoever was on the other side shouldn’t expect a man to be fully dressed this early on a Sunday.

He unlocked the door, and it yanked open almost immediately. His parents stood there. His dad had a sheepish look on his face like he wanted to be anywhere else but where he stood. And beside him was his mother, with those all-knowing eyes and a tight-lipped smile that told Mike Paul all he needed to know.

This wasn’t a casual visit. The shit was about to hit.

It was too early for this.

“Dad,” he said dryly, moving aside so his folks could get inside. “Thought you’d be prepping the smoker for football.”

His dad offered a pained expression. “Apparently, I’m needed here.”

“That so.” Mike Paul shifted his gaze to his mother, who’d already stepped out of her boots and had hung up her jacket.

“Is that coffee I smell?” she asked.

“Fresh pot.”

“Good. Can you put on some clothes, please?” She sailed past him and headed for the kitchen.

Mike Paul was ready with a slick comeback, but his father spoke before he could.

“Best not to poke the bear this morning, son. She’s not in the mood.”

Great.

Mike Paul headed for the laundry room and grabbed a pair of jeans from the clean pile. He pulled them on, then rooted through the dirty pile for something that didn’t smell to high heaven of animals, but no luck. He opened the dryer and grabbed a T-shirt, it was wrinkled but at least it was clean.

By the time he made it back to the kitchen, his parents were sitting at the counter, each with a mug of coffee in hand, the dogs at their feet, happily waving their tails because his father was feeding them pieces of the one cookie he’d kept from the platter Arlene had dropped off.

There was no point in giving his dad crap, so he poured himself a cup of java, took his time adding one sugar and some cream, then turned to face the music. He assumed they’d heard about him and Ivy leaving the Christmas party together, hell, half of Big Bend probably knew by now.

“Where is she?” Melody Darlington dove in without giving him a chance to get his story straight. “I know she was with you last night.”

Mike Paul decided there was no use in trying to make up some kind of story that made sense. A) because nothing made sense. And B) his mom could smell bullshit a mile away.

“She’s at her place.”

“She’s not at her place. I’ve already been by.”

Mike Paul damn near choked on his coffee. He swallowed what he could and set down the mug. “You went to her place?” Pissed, he didn’t bother to hide it. He glanced at his father, but the man was too busy feeding his dogs the crap they shouldn’t be eating. “Ma, why the hell would you do that?”

This was bad.

“Why do you think?”

“What I think is that it’s none of your business.”

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