Page 79 of Anyone But the Boss

A smile lights up her face and it does something to my chest. Breaks it, maybe just cracks it, I’m not sure, but I glare determinedly at my brother’s cat until the odd feeling is gone, replaced only by the aggrievance of having my bed invaded by a feline devil.

I contemplate throwing him out until Mary kisses the top of his head when he curls into her chest after she situates herself under the covers. I swear the cat smirks at me.

Mike’s eyes shut after a second kiss and Mary yawns. ‘Will Alice be back soon?’

My brain, finally working at one gear higher than neutral, realizes the situation. I’m a grown man with a little girl in his bed.

‘Yes.’ I slide out of bed, Mike opening one eye to glare at me when the bed jostles. ‘You try and sleep, I’ll go get her.’

‘Okay.’ Her eyes flutter shut.

I wait until her breathing evens out before stepping softly to the closet door, not the bathroom door, under the watchful, judging eyes of Mike Hunt.

* * *

Alice

Mmmmm. So comfy…

Soft sheets warmed by body heat, a massive pillow cradling my head that fits perfectly into the spot between my shoulder and neck.

This is the best.

I roll to my side, curling my knees to my chest, sinking back into slumber.

Something hard and heavy drapes over me.

It takes a second to register that it’s an arm before my brain goes on full alert.

Earlier tonight when Mary declared that she was fully capable of sleeping by herself, and with Emily taking over the other guest room, I had no choice but to head to Thomas’s room on the fourth floor. The room Emily expected me to share with her son – my husband.

Up I climbed to the fourth floor, telling myself I’d wait for Thomas so we could have a much-needed conversation about all the things.

When I’d opened the present Thomas sent me along with Mary’s Legos and Mike’s collar, I was significantly less annoyed with him than before hide-and-seek – but even more confused.

Thomas gave me the shoes. The Kate Spade heels I nearly dipped into my savings to buy. Just the sight of the asymmetrical, oversized bows almost brought me to tears.

Because whereas Thomas may have overheard Mary talking about astronauts, and she’d told him Mike’s new moniker, I never once said anything about these shoes. I stared at them. I fantasized about them. But I never actually said I wanted them.

And yet, he even got the right color – red.

Cut to me sitting in his bedroom chair, getting exceedingly uncomfortable as time dragged on while I waited for him to get home.

The bed being the only other seat in the room – and that seemed like a dangerous choice – I took refuge in the closet on the chaise longue.

The only problem is that the chaise longue is more comfortable than the bed in my apartment and the book I chose to read to stay awake did not do the trick. Thomas may have said Dangerous Liaisons was a classic, but that doesn’t mean it’s exciting. I should’ve stuck with my new shifter romance series.

Because I somehow find myself not on the chaise longue and with no memory of how I got here. And this time I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol.

Dropping my left shoulder back, I twist far enough to stare directly into Thomas Moore’s chest. I’m in Thomas’s bed.

Something shifts at my feet and I jerk my head up, my neck straining at the sudden movement.

Yellow eyes glow in the dim light. I blink until my vision adjusts enough to make out Mike’s body, curled up the foot of the bed under Mary’s feet, who’s sleeping on my other side.

How in the world did I get here?

I wiggle closer to Mary, thinking the more distance I have between Thomas and myself the better. But his arms tighten in his sleep, dragging me back, closer than before. Until my bottom snuggles against his groin. When I attempt to move again, Mike raises his head long enough to threaten me with a beady-eyed glare before resettling.

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