Page 98 of Putting Out
Pierce had gone out for the night with Doug, and Odie had gone up to his bedroom with a six- pack of beer. It had been evident in the last few weeks he preferred his solitude. Tonight was no exception. Since practice turned into a disaster after the stalker chase, she didn’t blame him for the beer. She was giving Odie fits with her lack of ball height. But she would work on it. As much as she could in the last thirteen days.
Thirteen days.
Her mind rejected the idea the event was almost upon them. If she started thinking about it, she would get freaked. If she got freaked, she wouldn’t sleep.
The good news was she was going to start having sex again. She always slept after sex. Especially hot wild animal sex with Luke. But they weren’t going to do that. They were going to have romantic relationship sex. Reilly tried to think back to her time with Jamie but could remember nothing about the sex, which told its own story. With Boomer it had been all brawn and Buck hadn’t been much different.
There had never been any sweetness or intimacy with any of her lovers, mostly because she’d never looked for it in any of her relationships.
She supposed she was going to start trying now.
Reilly leaned forward so she could see Luke’s profile over the obstacle that was Kenny’s nose. He sensed her stare and turned his head toward her. She smiled, sweetly she hoped, and then leaned back into the couch.
“What time is it?” Luke asked.
Kenny glanced down at his watch. “It’s just past eight.”
“Getting late,” Luke said in general. Then yawned almost comically.
“Yeah, I’m kind of tired myself,” Reilly announced.
Kenny said nothing, but turned his head to glare at Luke then Reilly. Resigned, he clenched his jaw and offered a clipped good night.
Not pushing his luck, or risking further injury, Luke jumped off the couch and headed upstairs. But Reilly lingered for a while trying to make sense of her brother’s mood.
“You’re not really mad, are you?”
“Not really.” He shrugged. “Not really happy, either.”
“I can’t believe you hit him this afternoon.”
“I had to. But I suppose that’s over. You’re a grown-up and he’s a grown-up. If you two want to crash and burn on your own time, that’s up to you. But rule number one is, no matter what happens you’ll both need to get over it and be friends after the divorce.”
“We’re not there yet. Hell, I’m not sure where we are, but he wants to try and I guess I do, too.”
“Like I said. That’s your call.”
Reilly studied her older brother for a minute and decided his mood wasn’t all about her and Luke.
“Are you ever going to tell me what’s up with you?”
“Nothing to tell.”
“This isn’t about Erica, is it?”
“No. I should tell you I called her the other day. Let her know I couldn’t break away to see her. I guess we broke up, but the truth was, we were never together. We were just trying to be.”
“Okay. Well, if you want to talk let me know. It’s been all me, me, me lately and I figure it’s got to be tough for you.”
“You’d think, but it’s not. I’ll be okay. I just need to figure out how to attack a certain problem.”
“Okay.” Reilly started to leave then stopped. “You know, I don’t believe what you said about me and Luke. The part about crashing and burning.”
“You don’t, huh?”
“No. You said in your impassioned speech today I would have arthritic hands and Luke would be chasing me around in a walker.”
“That doesn’t mean you’ll still be married.”
