Page 58 of Plum

I grab the remote from the end table. “What do you want to watch?”

“I don’t care. I just like the background noise.” She’s got her nose in her magazine, and one of those grease pencils in her hand.

I turn on Bloomberg.

She flips back and forth in her magazine—it’s a catalogue, actually—muttering to herself, hovering over pages with her pencil and gnawing on her lower lip. Her blond hair falls in her face, a delicate ear peeking out between strands. She’s not paying attention to me, and I’ve never felt more like a god.

This skittish critter trusts me.

She doesn’t want anything from me, nothing more complicated than cash. She doesn’t expect anything from me. I don’t need to be anyone in particular for her. She’s tolerating me next to her, and I’m as relaxed as I’ve ever been in my life.

I let all the bullshit go, and I let myself enjoy this strange, magical moment.

I yawn.

She yawns.

She finally circles something with her grease pencil.

“What did you pick?” I glance down in her lap. She has one of those general store catalogues from New England. Before she passed, Thomas Wade’s mother was a fan.

She half-shrugs and shows me.

“What is that?”

“It’s a heart-shaped cake of birdfeed. For Valentine’s day.”

“You spent all that time deciding on birdseed?”

Jo-Beth huffs and slaps the catalogue down on her end table. “Yes. I’m choosy.” She gives me a look, daring me to argue.

“Then I’m even luckier than I already thought I was.”

“Don’t get a big head. I didn’t choose you.”

“No?”

She’s blushing like crazy, looking everywhere but in my eyes. I love flustering this woman.

“No. You kept comin’ around like a stray.”

“Uh-huh.” I lean in, take her mouth. She stills, and then melts, whimpering. I cradle her jaw, and she clings to my forearm. It doesn’t take long before she’s panting. “That’s an upgrade, I guess.”

She blinks and frowns as I draw back and go to set the ice pack aside so I can carry her upstairs. “Huh?”

“I started as a mouse, and now I’m a dog. I’m going to take you to bed now, and I’m going to show you until there’s no doubt that I am all man. How about that, Jo-Beth?”

“That’s the cheesiest shit I’ve heard today, Adam.” She’s smiling as I carry her upstairs, only wincing once or twice, and when I rest her carefully on her bed and unbutton my shirt, her smile turns nervous.

I’m not on solid ground right now. I know the script, how to please the general woman, but with Jo-Beth, it’s different. I can push her, but that’s not what I want. I want her to come to me.

I unbuckle my pants and let them drop. Her gaze darts down to the tent my cock has pitched in my boxer briefs.

I hesitate. Wait for a sign.

And then she unzips her purple hoodie, keeping her eyes glued on mine. Blood floods to my cock, and my heart hammers in my chest. She peels off her tank top, and there are those gorgeous, wonky tits, the skin of her nipples a supple light brown that has to be so fucking sensitive.

She scowls down at herself. “I don’t know why this one’s always lookin’ to the right like it’s seen a squirrel or something.”

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