Page 27 of Play of Love
“Tell them to go and fu—”
“Language,” she cut in before I could finish. “I don’t like swearing, so please don’t swear at me, or ask me to swear at people, especially these people.”
This was some sort of joke. “Okay princess. I won’t swear, but you get my drift. I’m not some poster boy cover man, or whatever the hell you’d like to call it. Those days are done. I’m thirty-six; I don’t need to do that shit anymore.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and I nearly laughed; it was because I just swore at the princess.
“Why is it so hard for you to call me by name? Princess and Kansas have more letters than Amy. It would be so much easier to say Amy. You asked me to call you Josh, and I did with no problem.”
“That’s because you’re an automaton who works for me.”
Her delicate mouth dropped and she shook her head. “It’s just appearances and photo shoots, what’s so bad about that? And it’s GQ, for heaven’s sake, not some local paper.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Please just go home.”
The house phone started to ring and I scowled at it, wondering who the hell that could be calling so early. I snuggled against the sofa and listened to it ring out. Amy looked at me with disgust, probably thinking I meant for her to answer it. She moved over to the table and bent over to pick up the receiver, giving me a really great view of her perfectly rounded behind. But she stopped in mid-action when the answer machine clicked on.
“Son, it’s me.”
I froze. Dad didn’t usually call at this time. It was normally much later in the evening. Occasionally he called in the morning, but I made it my duty to avoid either time. Then I’d delete all messages, regardless of who they were from. The people I wanted to contact me had my cell number. I’d changed it months ago and hadn’t given the new number to him. That was how it was going to stay.
“Just changing up my tactics a little to see how you are,” Dad continued. “If you want to talk you know where I am. Or better yet, let me come and see you.”
Amy reached down to grab the phone but I was quicker than her. I grabbed her hand before she could.
“Don’t,” I told her, shaking my head. She gazed up at me with those vibrant green eyes of hers, surprised by my actions.
“It’s your father.” She stared at me, baffled.
“Don’t answer the phone in here. There’s a different line in the office. Stick to that.”
She still gave me that look. The machine clicked off, signaling that my father had hung up. I looked down at where I held onto her arm and became fascinated with how soft her skin felt and that sweet vanilla scent that came from her. It reminded me of flowers and soft summer days. That halter neck she wore looked good on her, inviting me to stare at the distinct peaks of her breasts and linger at the creaminess of her skin. By the time I reached her face, her cheeks flushed a soft rose color and I almost reached out to touch her.
I released her and stepped back, then turned and walked away. Time to get another drink.
She left a few minutes after that with Hilda. I was happy to have the house to myself again where I could breathe without these women around. I only loved having women around for one reason and neither of them were here for that. Such a shame.
Like usual I drank myself to sleep and couldn’t have been more infuriated at the sight of Amy standing over me the next morning at eight a.m. Just like she’d promised.
“Rise and shine.” She smiled down at me, green eyes sparkling. “Our time starts here and now.”
