Page 109 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

I could handle it. Maybe. Or maybe I’d make a damn fool out of myself.

As if she could read my mind, she reached up to cup my cheek before she gave me a quick soaping with the bar she grabbed off the shelf. “No,” she said shakily. “Not until you’re feeling better. Or maybe when you’re stretched out on the couch, I can climb on top of you and ride you…”

“Maybe means yes.” I hurriedly rinsed off our bubbles and dumped some shampoo on both of our heads. Hers went into her eyes and she flailed at me, flapping her hands and making me laugh long and low.

Her laughter would forever be one of my favorite sounds.

What wasn’t one of my favorite sounds? The sharp rap on the bathroom door from what sounded like a forceful hand. “Dex?”

Eli. What the actual fuck?

I exchanged a glance with Shelby. Forget a peachy glow. She was now approximately the color of the setting sun, her cheeks blazing. “Is that—”

I nodded grimly. “Your divorce lawyer,” I mouthed, grabbing the nearest towel and enfolding her in it as she started batting at my hands.

“Dex!” Shelby’s whisper was panicked.

“I’ll handle it,” I said in a low, confident voice, wrapping a towel around my waist and tucking her behind me in the hopes of hiding her behind the door once I opened it. “Coming, Eli.”

I pulled open the door, simultaneously nudging Shelby behind it. Unfortunately, I nudged too hard and she tripped on the bath mat, knocking over the metal stand with bathroom stuff like the plunger and cleaning stuff I’d neglected to put away the last time I’d taken a sponge to the damn shower.

That taught me to try to keep shit clean.

Somehow I kept the smile on my face while greeting Eli, but it faltered at the sight of Isis beside him—and it disappeared entirely when I saw the little girl peeking out from behindher.

“Berry, what are you doing here? This is the bathroom. It should be…private.” It took all I could do not to glance furtively over my shoulder to ensure Shelby was more covered than…not.

“Then why aren’t you alone?” she replied. “I see you hiding, Mom.”

“Thanks, kid,” she muttered, banging into something behind me and letting an impressive string of curse words fly.

I barely managed not to laugh.

“C’mon, Berrtastic, we’ll let your mom finish getting ready in here and we can give Bob his post-walk treat,” I said, herding her away from the bathroom door as best as I could despite Isis and Eli’s gawking.

Hadn’t those two ever taken a shower with a significant other before? Where was the excitement?

Surreptitiously, I looked down at myself to make sure nothing was revealed. Not a damn thing. Unless Shelby was revealing something, and I wasn’t turning to check her out just in case.

Though I wanted to.

“We shouldn’t be here. Berry ran off and we chased after her… Anyway, we’ll wait in the…seating area,” Isis decided, grabbing Eli’s arm as I urged Berry to head into the hall.

“Good idea.” Better than a bathroom conference at least.

Bob trotted upstairs to meet us, his mouth dotted with crumbs indicating he’d already had his treat. But what was one more if it distracted Berry from thinking about sex? Or worse, questioning me about having sex with her mother?

Dear Lord.

I shuffled Berry and Bob downstairs to get a couple more treats from the kitchen. Bob ate them as if he’d been starving silently to death, as he usually did. Then he flopped down on the floor to gnaw on his rawhide bone and I led Berry back upstairs to her temporary room, casually asking what she thought about the current color scheme.

And would she like it if we maybe painted the room in shades of rainbow this coming weekend?

To which she squealed uproariously and forgot about nearly seeing her mother and I naked together. I would fervently hope she hadn’t seen anything scandalous until the end of time.

“I have to go talk to my coworker and possible coworker,” I started backing out of the room, “but I’ll be back in a bit and we can figure out lunch. We’ll surprise your mom, how’s that?”

“Okay.” Then she propped her hands on her hips. “Why do you like to have the sex in the shower? There’s, like, zero room.”

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