Page 54 of Afternoon Delight
“Thank you.” She dipped her chin, wearing a pleased little smile that seemed to say she was thanking me for more than just the caffeine.
“Anytime.” Oh, I felt smooth. Physically. Like all my sharp edges had been sanded off.
Considering the amount of time I’d been spending with my toys lately, I should feel like this all the time, but messing with them only took my mind off things for the seven minutes between squirting lube into my palm and cleaning up. Then the tension, worries, and stress would come rushing back.
Not this time. Today, I felt properly stoned. That had been really hot, thinking of her pushing her fingers into her?—
“Your sister’s in there.”
“What? Where?” I dragged my gaze up from the notch of Meg’s jeans.
“The shop. I wasn’t fast enough to say hi to her. She was moving like she was on a mission.”
Ah, shit. How had I missed seeing her? I always kept an eye on the shop from across the street. But I’d been thinking about Meg.
“Okay, thanks.”
I walked into our shop, and Zara glared at me from the office door, hands raised in a silent, What the hell?
“I went for coffee. You want some?” I held up my cup.
“No. But you can’t leave him alone.” She drew the office door closed as she came out.
“He’s asleep.” He fell asleep on the sofa most days after lunch. “Meg was watching the door. She would have stopped him from wandering if he tried to leave.”
“What if he fell?”
“What if I was sanding in the back room and he fell? I can’t be right behind him all day, every day. Maybe familiarize yourself with the labor codes, because I’m entitled to a coffee break?—”
Her mouth tightened, and her eyes started to gleam.
I shut the hell up. I knew that look. I’d seen it at Christmas.
“I take that back.” I held up a hand. “You and I are not going to fight.”
We could, and we had, back when we were still young enough for it to be a fair fight. We loved the crap out of each other, but the older we got, the more different we became. Zara could be bossy as hell. I was sarcastic as hell. She had been an outgoing cheerleader; I was a computer nerd. After Mom died, she dealt with her grief by leaning on friends and a group at school. I ate my feelings. Now she was a wife and mother. I was a single man living with Dad.
Still.
“We’re on the same side,” I reminded her. “This situation is going to get on our last nerve sometimes. We can’t take it out on each other.”
“I know.” She blinked fast and took a few long, shaky breaths. “But for a minute, it felt like it was all on me again. I couldn’t take it.” She ran her thumb under one eye.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for the long haul.” The words felt heavy coming out. It was a hard truth I’d been avoiding, but this was what life looked like for the foreseeable future.
“Okay. Thanks,” she murmured.
“You want a hug?” I needed one and opened my arms.
She came in for a quick one, then straightened a doily under the lamp and said tentatively, “Kyle has to work late on Monday. Can I leave the kids with you so I can go to book club?”
“For that erotica book?” I pictured Meg looking all flushed and sexy from reading it. “Sure.”
“How do you know what book it is?” She frowned at me.
“Meg told me.” I waved my cup in the direction of her store, then took a sip.
“Is there something going on between you two? You were laughing and talking a long time the other night.”
