Page 77 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

He gave a manly chuckle against my ear and then licked the edge of it. “This isn’t us stopping.”

“Don’t stop,” I replied.

His lips found mine as I undid his belt. He lifted me, causing me to yelp in his mouth before he then turned, his back to the door. He started to walk us toward the restrooms once more.

I honestly didn’t care where we did the dirty just so long as we actually got to the good parts.

Our mouths remained locked on one another, our tongues lacing.

A knock on the café door left me squeaking and breaking the kiss.

He sighed, slowly easing me to my feet, seeming stiff and uncomfortable as he turned partially, gifting me a view of Peggy and Marvin, who were on the other side of the door. Stratton redid his belt with painfully slow movements.

Embarrassed, I pressed myself against Stratton and buried my face in his chest. His dress shirt was open and undone from his slacks. The ribbed undershirt he wore was thin and fit his body in a way that left every rippling muscle beneath showing.

Stratton laughed softly.

I gasped. “This isn’t funny!”

Just then, the door opened, and Peggy was there, holding a set of keys, giving Stratton a stern look.

My stomach sank. I was so getting fired.

Marvin strolled in behind her, casting Stratton an apologetic look. “I tried to convince her to let the two of you be.”

“Forget how to use a phone?” Peggy gave Stratton a good once-over before her focus came to me. “Star Child, when you’re dealing with a man like that, you don’t bother politely unbuttoning his shirt. Youripit off. To hell with the buttons. Really, Star Child, it’s like you don’t understand the prize waiting for you under the expensive wrapping paper. And you, Stratton, about to take her like a wild animal on the counter. Boy, you could have done that on the table back there. It was closer to where you started. Waste of damn time going to the counter.”

I yelped and cupped my hands over my face, which flamed with heat as I pressed it to Stratton’s chest. This wasn’t happening. There was no way Peggy was lecturing me about ripping his clothes off and Stratton about doing me on a table rather than the counter.

He laughed more.

Peggy cleared her throat.

Reluctantly, I peeked out at her.

She quirked a brow. “Want to tell me why it is Dana and Jeffrey seemed to have no idea you’d decided to stay with them tonight and why my grandson was under the impression you were getting a ride from Faye, when I happen to know for a fact that tonight is date night for Faye and Jim?”

Somehow, it was possible for my face to get hotter.

“Well?” she demanded, looking every bit the part of the retired army nurse that she was. I had no doubt the woman had made more than one soldier quake in his boots in her day.

Marvin shoved his thumbs through his belt loops, fixing his gaze anywhere but on Stratton and me.

“Astria?” questioned Stratton. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” said Peggy. “Little Miss Star Child fibbed to get out of staying with anyone tonight. She was planning to go tothathouse alone, weren’t you?”

I cringed but nodded all the same, feeling like a scolded child.

“Mmmhmm,” she said. “And none of us would have known. We’d have each thought you were safe with the other.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I confessed, feeling like I was anything but a forty-year-old woman. I felt about four at the moment.

“And what about Stratton?” she demanded. “The next call that boy would have gotten from the dispatcher would have involved your dead body being found.”

Stratton gasped and yanked me hard to him. “Peggy?”

She gave him a knowing look and offered a curt nod. “Marcy phoned me. She was concerned.”

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