Games of the Heart

Chapter Thirteen Sex Zone

I was on my back in Mike’s bed, Mike on me and in me, his mouth on mine and he’d finally gone full-throttle on the slow burn kiss.

Delicious.

Unfortunately, as it has to happen eventually so we could both breathe, his mouth broke from mine. His lips slid down my cheek to my jaw to my neck and stopped so he could work there. I liked the work he was doing so I didn’t move. Just let him be and let what he was doing with his mouth wash through me.

We were done. As usual, we were in Mike’s bed and we finished with Mike on top. Control. As creative as he could get, he brought it home with me on my back, knees shoved high, Mike powering deep. Now that it was over, I’d swung one calf in at his back and slid the other one down to curl around his ass. My arms around him, the fingers of one hand drifting over the skin and muscle of his back, the fingers of the other gliding through his hair.

If you told me I’d eventually have a guy who would end every session the same exact way, this would not thrill me.

Having a man who did that and that man being Mike, I loved it. I couldn’t wait for it. Knowing it was coming. The intimacy of it. The feel of it. The familiarity of it. It was Mike and I wanted to know everything about him, I wanted him to give me all of him and all of it was a treasure.

It was like coming home.

It was Sunday. Yesterday I’d had my day with Clarisse. This ended with Clarisse and Fin in the living room at the farm in front of a movie Fin rented and me playing video games with Kirby in his room so they’d have privacy. Rhonda, as usual, was hanging out in her room.

But Mike called this morning with the excellent news that No was unexpectedly off with some buds doing something and Rees was at some girlfriend’s house likely talking non-stop about how awesome Finley Holliday was.

Or I hoped so.

On Thursday, I had opened the door and Fin didn’t saunter through. He charged. Study-time, dinner and TV-time with Clarisse at the farm on Thursday. He went to dinner at Mike’s on Friday then left before Scary Movie Friday Night commenced. She came over for dinner and a movie last night. I was surprised today he hadn’t claimed her. Maybe he was trying to play it cool. Or maybe she’d had these plans with her girlfriend for a while and he didn’t want to cut in. Or maybe she was at her friend’s but they were texting non-stop because she didn’t feel she could cancel to be with Fin but they were still connecting.

The way I saw he’d snuggled her into him last night on the couch when I was on my way to the kitchen to get Kirb and me refills on drinks, my guess was door three.

Whatever way, it left Mike’s house free for hours and he wanted me over for “sandwiches”.

I hightailed it across the field without delay. It was lunchtime but we had yet to eat.

“I think you need to feed me,” I informed him and he lifted his head.

His eyes caught mine and his were warm, sated. Mike had beautiful eyes but they were never more beautiful than after we’d made love, he was still inside me, his body covering mine at the same time mine was wrapped around his and his eyes told me there was no place he’d prefer to be.

“I need to install a mini-kitchen in my walk-in closet,” he replied and there it was in his voice.

His eyes after we made love were never more beautiful, the same with his deep voice. It went lower, soft but rough at the same time silky. It was hard to describe. You had to hear it and with him on me and still in me, feel it.

That was the best.

“Well, until that day happens, I’m afraid we’re going to have to make the trek to the kitchen,” I returned and he grinned.

That was even better.

Then he slid out, which sucked. What didn’t suck was he rolled us both off the bed to our feet then he put a hand in my ass and gave me a slight push toward the bathroom.

He did this while muttering, “I’ll get you a tee.”

This surprised me.

It was one o’clock Sunday afternoon on a weekend when he had his kids. Mike was making sure they knew I was in his life, thus theirs. He was also slowly introducing them to PDA, beginning to give me lip touches, pulling me into him if we were watching TV on the couch, running his fingers along my waist or hip if we were both in the kitchen. But the depth of our intimacy he didn’t share in any way. No tongues. No making out. No stand up or sit down close cuddles.

So me in a tee with his kids in town and technically “at home” even though in reality they weren’t was surprising.

I headed to the bathroom, calling out my question, “So I take it the kids aren’t home for a while.”

“Rees is back at five for dinner. No is having pizza with his buds,” Mike called back in answer. “No won’t be home until at least seven,” he concluded.

Lots of time.

Excellent.

I cleaned up and wandered to my undies. I pulled them up and when I straightened, Mike was there with his tee. He had on a pair of jeans, all but the top button done up. When I yanked the tee on and he took my hand and led me to the closed doors, I realized he wasn’t just not done finishing his buttons, he didn’t intend to finish. Nor did he intend to don a tee.

Something about that was seriously hot. Then again, that was how Mike tended to be.

Out we went and once we’d cleared the door we had Layla jumping around us and whining. Then, possibly sensing our destination with doggie acuity, her excitement increased. Mike didn’t disappoint. When we hit the kitchen, he hit the cupboard and pulled out a long, thin, twisted rawhide. He tossed it into the hall and Layla scrambled after it. But once retrieved, she returned to the kitchen, settled in and started gnawing.

Double duty, Layla got a treat and Layla got busy not under our feet.

Mike went to the fridge, opened it and assumed the Universal Man Pose of standing and staring in it. Considering my experience with The Pose was that it went on for a while, I went to the counter and pulled myself up to sitting on it.

“Roast beef, chicken, turkey, swiss, munster, cheddar, mayo, horseradish, American mustard, dijon mustard, white and rye,” he called it down, finishing, “Or, peanut butter and jelly and I think we’ve got tuna.”

“Definitely the fridge of a family,” I muttered, grinning and he turned his head, his eyes coming to me.

“Pardon?”

“At home in Texas, I hit lunch, I hit crisis. Daily. You’d think I’d learn. Stock up. Especially since it happens every freaking day. I don’t. Lunchtime hits, I wander in from the shed knowing I’m on a fool’s errand. My choices are usually microwave popcorn or crackers and cheese.”

He grinned at me, “Nothin’ wrong with those.”

“Roast beef and swiss on rye with mayo and horseradish is better.”

His grin became a smile and he muttered, “Right.”

Then, as I intended, he turned back to the fridge and got out the roast beef, swiss, mayo, horseradish and rye.

He dumped it on the counter and I offered, “You want help?”

He didn’t look up when he declined with a murmured, “Yeah. Keep sittin’ there close, lookin’ pretty and smellin’ good.”

It was a simple compliment, murmured, throwaway but meant and it struck straight through to the heart of me. Straight to the heart. Piercing deep.

“Mike,” I called softly.

“Yeah,” he answered the bread he was arranging on the counter.

“Thanks for the flowers.” I was still talking softly.

I saw his small grin but he didn’t look up when he replied, “Called me and told me that when you got them, Dusty.”

“Mike,” I called again.

“Yeah,” he answered, opening up the mayo jar.

“Thanks for the flowers.”

His hands froze, his head came up and his eyes came to me. Then they moved over my face.

“They’re beautiful. Still. Perfect,” I went on quietly.

“Jesus,” he whispered and the way he did I knew he read my face and my tone. It helped that his eyes stopped roaming, locked on mine, looked deep and his were burning.

“Thank you,” I repeated on a whisper.

“You’re welcome, honey,” he whispered back.

We held each other’s eyes and I liked the look in his and I hoped like hell he liked the one he was getting from me.

Finally, since I was hungry and Mike made it clear the sex zone was in his bedroom so jumping him amidst bread and mayo in the kitchen was not an option, I decided to end it.

Unfortunately.

“I’d offer to kiss you all over but I did that half an hour ago,” I teased and his lips twitched.

“Darlin’, you didn’t kiss me. You licked me,” he reminded me, looking back down to the counter and reaching to open a drawer to get a knife.

I did and that roast beef looked great but I bet Mike tasted better.

“Oh yeah, right,” I mumbled.

“Before you sucked me off,” he paused then finished, “nearly.”

“So kissing you all over is still open?” I asked.

“Angel, you need to let me get some sustenance and give me some recuperation time and then you got until five to do whatever you want to me.”

“Deal,” I muttered and he grinned at the sandwiches.

Something to look forward to.

But now it was time to connect with Mike without physically connecting with him.

“So, since we’re in the kitchen and out of the sex zone, maybe we can –”

His head shot up, his eyes hit me, they were dancing with amusement and he interrupted. “What?”

“What what?” I asked back, confused.

“The sex zone?” he clarified.

“Yeah,” I replied. “The kitchen is not part of the sex zone at Mike Haines’s house. The sex zone includes your bed, the floor beside your bed that one time we rolled off and the shower. Couch, kitchen, stairs, etc. are out of the zone.”

He stared at me, his eyes still dancing and then his body started shaking then he burst out laughing.

Now I was more confused.

“What?” I asked through his hilarity.

Still chuckling he looked down at the bread he was spreading mayo on, muttering, “Sex zone. Fuck me.”

“What?” I asked again, louder this time.

“Sweetheart, I don’t have a sex zone. I have kids,” he explained to the bread.

“Right, I know. Which means there are sex boundaries.”

He started shaking his head and set the mayo aside, mumbling, “Sex boundaries.”

He thought something was funny, he wasn’t exactly sharing and thus I was getting peeved.

“Mike,” I cut his name sharp, “you wanna let me in on the joke?”

He clearly did and he also clearly wanted to let me on some other information too. I knew this when he dropped the knife, moved to me, jerked my legs open at my knees, stepped right in then with a hand at my lower back he yanked me so the outer regions of “Little Dusty” were pressed tight to his abs and the rest of me was pressed tight to him.

And thus the stringent boundaries of sex zone were obliterated.

“I know where my kids are right now,” he told me when he caught my surprised eyes. “I know they like where they are so I know they’re gonna stay where they are. When they’re at their Mom’s, except for their rooms, nothin’ is off-limits. But I’ve been a Dad long enough to know shit can happen and it does. Kids get sick. They get injured. My business, I could be anywhere. Audrey works in Indy. So something happens to my kids at school and time is of the essence, my next door neighbor gets first call from the school and she goes to get them and once they’re sorted, she calls me. I’m with you, my focus is you. I don’t wanna learn that that focus is so intense, one of my kids comes home, I’m fuckin’ you on the couch or eatin’ you on the kitchen table, their return doesn’t penetrate that until they see their Dad penetrating that. That would not be good for anybody. Upstairs, in my bed, behind closed doors, I’ll have warning and you’ll have an escape hatch. So there is no sex zone. That’s just bein’ smart and lookin’ out for you, my kids and me.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

“Oh,” Mike whispered back through a grin.

“But, the first weekend I was here, we didn’t explore.”

“The first weekend you were here was the first time I had you in my bed which was something I was lookin’ forward to a lot when I put your ass on a plane. Then I looked forward to it a lot more when I laid in that bed listenin’ to you get off, sometimes doin’ it while I was jackin’ off. So, when I finally got you there, I was enjoyin’ it. Next weekend, we’ll explore.”

That sounded nice.

So nice, against my will, my eyes drifted to the kitchen table.

Mike caught it and burst out laughing. This time it was better though since he did it with his arms locked tight around me, his face shoved in my neck and me in on the joke.

Yes. Much, much better.

I held him until he’d burned out his amusement and I let him go when he touched his smiling mouth to mine, let me go and stepped away.

He went back to his sandwiches. I decided again to change the subject so I wasn’t tempted to jump him.

“That’s all good to know but we still have more to discuss.”

He glanced at me and invited, “Shoot.”

“Actually, I was thinking you should shoot since something has been on your mind and it’s been on it since that scene with Debbie.”

I didn’t have his eyes but I saw his body get slightly tense even though he continued making sandwiches.

He also didn’t speak.

I didn’t think that was good.

“Mike?” I prompted and he sighed.

Then he gave me his eyes. “Bernie McGrath?” he asked weirdly and I felt my brows draw together.

“Sorry?”

“That guy who was with Debbie. The developer. Bernie McGrath.”

At the reminder, my body got tense, my memory opened up and I remembered that name being said.

“Yeah?” I asked.

Mike looked back down to the sandwiches. “Livin’ away for a while, comin’ back, probably it’s crystal that around The ‘Burg as well as throughout the county there’s been massive change. Thirty years the county went from mostly rural to mostly one vast suburban jungle attached to Indy.”

“Right,” I said when he stopped talking.

Mike flipped the top piece of bread on the sandwiches and looked at me. “Lots of developers. Lots of work done. But probably the primary developer is McGrath.”

“Okay,” I replied. “So?”

“So, a number of farms have fallen into McGrath’s hands.”

I was again confused. To build you needed land. And rural in Indiana was almost exclusively, at one point, farmland.

“Right,” I muttered then repeated, “So?”

“So, I don’t know. What I do know is that the fact I don’t know, I don’t like. Cops, we know shit. That’s our job. We pay attention. Or we know people who pay attention. Shit we don’t know or can’t find someone who does, we don’t like. No one knows shit about this guy. They just know he gets property no one else seems to be able to lay their hands on and develops it.”

I still didn’t understand.

“So…what? You’re thinking he’ll do what he has to do to back Debbie to get her quarter?”

Mike turned fully to me and rested a hip against the counter. “No,” he said quietly, carefully and the way he did, I braced. “I think Colt was right. I thought the same as he did before he said it. And the boys all agree. Debbie opened up the door, McGrath stepped through and he doesn’t want her quarter, he wants the Holliday Farm.”

“He can want it all he wants, babe. He’s not gonna get it,” I reminded him of something he had to know and his eyes went funny, guarded and alert.

I didn’t like that look.

“Mike,” I said softly, “I think you’re scaring me.”

“Lots of farms have fallen to Bernie McGrath, Dusty and I use that language purposefully.”

I pulled in breath.

Mike moved to me, leaning back into the counter, his hip also touching my knee, he slid a hand from belly to waist and his face got close.

“Like I said,” he carried on gently, “I do not know this guy. I don’t like shit goin’ down I don’t know especially if that shit involves you. Merry doesn’t know. Colt doesn’t know. Sully. No complaints have been made. Nothin’ overt. But some of it’s shady. Seeing as I don’t know, I didn’t know if I should alarm you. So I went about gettin’ in the know. Colt has an informant who also happens to be tight with Rocky’s man, Tanner Layne. He and I sat down. He’s gonna see what he can find out.”

“And in the meantime?” I asked.

“In the meantime, we talk to your Dad tomorrow night and I’ll brief him about this. It’s highly likely he knows of McGrath and possibly has been approached by him in the past. He has the head’s up. He also, along with you, needs to lean on Debbie to back the fuck down. And I wanna see Darrin’s will. You told me Debbie was the one who explained it to Rhonda and you haven’t read it. I wanna read it. You’ve explained twice why Darrin did what he did and still, knowin’ Darrin, I cannot believe he’d do it. He loved his sister. He saw the good in people. But he was far from a fool. And the only two people on this earth he loved as much as his wife were his boys. I’ve tried but for the life of me I cannot believe he’d not see Debbie for Debbie and be stupid enough to lay his family’s legacy and his sons’ future in her hands. Even a quarter of it.”

He was not wrong.

“I’ll get the will,” I promised.

“Good,” he returned. “And in the meantime, you keep your eye out. Is Fin still monitoring Rhonda’s cell, you all her calls?”

I nodded.

“Keep doin’ it. But tomorrow, the word I have with your Dad will also be a word with Fin, Kirb and Rhonda. If McGrath does what I think he’ll do, he won’t care who he targets to get an in on the other three fourths of that land. And that includes the boys.”

I felt my chest freeze but through the ice I forced out, “You’re joking.”

“I wish I was. I wish I knew the threat was real so we could form a plan or could assure you it wasn’t. It’s just a feeling but I’ve been in my business long enough to go with my gut. And what my gut is saying is what Merry’s, Colt’s and Sully’s said when they saw that man in your yard. So we’re gonna start by bein’ vigilant while we gather intel. Then, we find we have a fight on our hands, we’ll set about winnin’ it.”

I didn’t like this and I didn’t need this. Dealing with Debbie’s acrimony was enough. But also, Rhonda wasn’t even showing signs she was close to snapping out of it. And every time I saw Fin or Kirby, I was reminded not two months ago I lost my brother. Worse, I looked in their eyes or the time was not right, I saw it shadow their face and I remember they lost their Dad. Their pain was ten times mine. They were kids no matter how mature Fin was. I was adult enough to understand I needed to find ways to process my pain. Someone had to guide them and with Rhonda out, I was up.

I didn’t need some rabid real estate developer breathing down the necks of my family.

“You either,” Mike said strangely, cutting in my thoughts.

“What?” I asked, focusing on him.

“This guy or any guy even if they don’t identify they belong to McGrath’s dealings, approaches you about the land, your quarter, Rhonda and the kids, you shut him down. Do not engage at all. Shut him down and call me. Immediately.”

“Right, full on scared now, honey,” I whispered and Mike moved closer.

“I’m across the way,” he declared and I stared into his eyes.

“Yes, but –”

“I’m…across…the way. You don’t go it alone, ever. I don’t give a shit when, where, how, if you’re at home, you’re at J&J’s, you get a wild hair, rally Rhonda and head down south to spend a day on a riverboat gambling. You get someone up in your space about that shit or any shit, you…call…me.”

I call him.

No matter when, where, how. I call Mike.

I took in a deep breath and let it out.

He had my back. He had my front. He had my family.

He had my heart.

My head fell forward and gently collided forehead to forehead with his.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Gratitude is good seein’ as my informant Ryker heard about Reesee’s birthday cake and he wants one as payback.”

I grinned. “I can do that. He helps, I’ll make him ten.”

Mike lifted a hand and curled it around my neck. “Glad to hear that sweetheart, considering I already told him that.”

My grin became a smile and I said softly, “You so know me.”

I watched close up as his eyes got serious and he whispered, “Yeah.”

And there it was, when it hit me. He knew me as a kid. On one occasion I’d rather forget, I was a bitch to him as a teen. Not even two months ago, he stormed into my hotel room and my life and that bond he mentioned snapping tight did just that.

He knew me. He paid attention to me as a kid and he’d known my family for years. He knew what was in my heart. He knew what made me. He knew the love I grew up in. And he just knew me.

“I’ll bake you a cake, you tell me what’s workin’ behind your eyes,” Mike muttered, not lifting his forehead or taking his hand from me.

“I thought you said you’d never baked a cake,” I remarked.

“I said I’d bake you one. I didn’t say it would be a good one.”

Laughter bubbled up instantly and then rolled out of me. I moved back but lifted a hand and curled my fingers around his at my neck.

Still chuckling, my hand holding his, I did what I always did.

I gave it straight.

“I like that you know me. I like that we’ve been together for weeks, back in each other’s lives for less than two months and you know me. I like it that you stepping into family business seems right and natural. I like that everything about us seems natural. I like that I’m thirty-eight and starting again with another guy but I get the best of both worlds, I get the new, I get the discovery but we still have the history. I like that we started with something deep and rich where we could plant the seed of wherever this is going instead of still digging.”

I was so busy laying it out I didn’t catch the look on his face changing. And I almost still didn’t catch it because he moved fast. He went from standing at my side to forcing his hips between my legs. Then from “Little Dusty” to my breasts I was plastered tight to Mike, his arms steel bands around me and his mouth had crushed down on mine.

And then he was kissing me.

This kiss was not a slow burn. This kiss didn’t start sweet and end in an inferno.

This kiss was not like any kiss he ever gave me.

This kiss was not like any kiss anyone ever gave me.

His kiss was a once in a lifetime kiss. It was the kind of thorough, heart-melting, stomach-plummeting, mind-numbing, soul-enriching kiss that altered lives.

And I swear to God, it altered two, right there, in Mike’s kitchen.

His and mine.

When he broke his mouth from mine he instantly uttered his understatement.

“I like all that shit too.”

“I think I got that,” I wheezed, still recovering from the kiss and holding onto Mike like I was about to fall down even though my ass was planted on a counter.

“And I like that No is totally cool with you and I’ve seen more of my girl in the past couple of weeks than I have in a long time. Her comin’ out from under whatever cloud was followin’ her around because you shined on her the light that’s you. And I like that so much, I’m not fuckin’ it up by bakin’ a cake. DQ ice cream cake. All the way. We’ll get it after we eat lunch and then we’ll dig in with Reesee after we have dinner.”

DQ ice cream cake.

Nothing said celebration like an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.

And better, having it with Mike and his girl.

His girl who liked me.

“We have to save No a piece,” I said quietly and watched Mike’s face get soft.

Seriously, that was the hottest of it all.

“I can lay waste to a DQ cake so if you want No to have a piece, we’ll get a big one,” he murmured.

“Big one it is.”

Mike smiled at me but didn’t let me go.

I smiled back.

Then I thought it, I felt it so I said it.

And I did it by whispering, “I’m falling in love with you, Mike Haines.”

As I spoke, with every word his arms got tighter and tighter and his face, already close, became a breath away.

“Angel, you’re already gone.”

I blinked and asked, “Sorry?”

“I read your diaries. I caught your pass in that hotel room. I listened to your offer to stay. I saw you wave good-bye at the airport and got your call before I’d pulled out of the parking lot. You fell with a kiss. I know, honey, because I was right there with you.”

Oh my God, did he just say that?

Oh my God, did he just say that?

I blinked again but in the nanosecond it took me to do that my eyes had filled with tears.

“What?” I breathed.

“You heard me.”

He just said that.

“Mike –”

His tight arms gave me a squeeze and he whispered, “That seed you’re talkin’ about is planted, Angel. We got some shit we gotta get through but it isn’t about this,” his arms gave me another squeeze, “it isn’t about us. As far as that seed’s concerned all you and me gotta do is tend it and watch it grow.”

I stared into his eyes.

Then I exclaimed loudly, “Damn it, Mike! Why are you always making me cry?”

Then I avoided his face, twisting my neck and curving my back to do a face plant in his bare chest.

A chest, incidentally, that was shaking with laughter.

“I’m not finding avowals of love in the kitchen of the hot guy I fell for when I was twelve amusing, Mike Haines,” I warned his chest in a thick voice and that chest started shaking harder as his humor became vocal.

I reared back and snapped, “Stop laughing when I’m crying!”

He could be bossy and not easy to boss. I knew this when he burst out laughing as his hand in my hair shoved my face in his throat.

I held on and cried while he laughed.

Suddenly, Layla sprang up and barked.

I blinked tears away as Mike’s laughter abruptly stopped and he twisted his torso toward the kitchen door.

Layla was out of the kitchen, in the hall and, by the sound of it, she was barking at the front door.

“Fuck,” Mike muttered then moved away but did it with his head turned to me, arm raised, his finger pointing at the sandwiches. “Eat. Chips in the cupboard. Pop and beer in the fridge. I’ll be back.”

I nodded but he’d already turned away and rounded the cupboards that butted the door.

Then I dashed my hands on my wet cheeks as I popped down to go to the fridge and get a drink.

Then I heard a muttered, clearly irate, “Fuck me,” and I froze.

The door must have opened because Layla quit barking but I could hear her dog tags jingling which meant she was shaking with excitement at having a visitor.

“Oh God, is this a bad time?” a woman asked and for some bizarre reason I scuttled to the side like I was trying to hide when she already couldn’t see me.

“I think we can take it as read any visit from you would be at a bad time, Audrey. What the fuck are you doin’ here?” Mike asked in return and I felt my eyes get wide.

Audrey.

I forgot. When counting down all the shit going down while love bloomed between me and my childhood crush, Audrey was part of that list.

“I thought we could talk,” she replied.

“You think maybe to phone me to schedule this talk rather than showin’ up on a Sunday afternoon out-of-the-blue?” Mike returned and I felt the cold air begin seeping in from the front door so I knew he hadn’t invited her inside.

“Well,” she hesitated, “I did, actually, but I thought you’d blow me off.”

“You thought right,” Mike replied instantly, his deep voice not ugly but it was hard.

“Mike, really, it’s important,” she said soft, cajoling and she had a pretty voice.

Damn.

“It’s important, we’ll meet. Now’s not good. I haven’t had lunch, it’s ready and Dusty’s in the kitchen waitin’ for me to eat it with her. Tomorrow’s not good either. You pick any other day next week, I’ll meet you after work somewhere for coffee. You’ve got half an hour then I gotta get home because I got kids and my woman to feed.”

“Dusty?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Mike answered immediately then equally immediately he prompted, “Which night?”

“She’s here now?”

“Audrey, which night?”

“Is she living here?”

“No and that’s only your business as my children’s mother. Now, tell me, which night?”

“This won’t take long and I won’t –”

“Right, I’m standin’ here in nothin’ but jeans. Not bein’ a dick but, seriously, clue in and tell me which fuckin’ night?”

Oh God. I was thinking Mike’s declarations of not being a dick was a lot like when I said I wasn’t being a bitch because his meaning was clear.

There was silence and this lasted a while.

Finally Mike prompted with clear impatience, “Audrey –”

“Can she hear us?”

“Which night?”

“Why isn’t she coming out?”

Oh God.

“Which night?”

“Is she in your bed?”

Oh God!

“Jesus, fuck, seriously? We doin’ this?”

“You’re on that side, Mike, moving on. You have somebody. I’m on this one. Alone. Give me a break.”

It was then I knew just how done Mike was with Audrey.

And I knew it when he replied, “Yeah, she can hear us. This is because she’s in the kitchen. And she’s not comin’ out probably because she’s wearin’ my tee and pretty much nothin’ else and she’s nice enough to want to save you from seein’ that. So, you asked, you got the visual anyway and that’s on you. Now, which fuckin’ night?”

“Tuesday,” she whispered.

“Terrific,” Mike agreed at once. “Can you make it to Mimi’s by six?”

“Yes, Mike.”

“Right. I’ll see you at Mimi’s at six.”

“Okay.”

There were no farewells exchanged only a confused whimper from Layla who undoubtedly during this intense exchange didn’t get any attention and she wasn’t quite certain what to do with that. I heard the door close then I saw Mike round the cupboard, his dog at his heels.

So, call me a freak and I don’t care, he was pissed, not hiding it, wearing nothing but jeans and it was hot.

I didn’t get a chance to inform him of this fact to, perchance, help him deal with that anger.

And I didn’t get that chance because he lifted a hand, pointed a finger at me and commanded in a severe, rumbling voice, “Don’t take on that shit.”

I was staring at his finger thinking that if any other man pointed a finger in my face, I would likely grab it and twist it while I kicked him in the shin or, alternately, tell him to go fuck himself and stomp away when I replied, “Uh…what?”

He stopped a foot away from me, dropped his hand and mostly repeated himself, “You don’t take on that shit.”

“Mike, honey,” I said in a gentle, soothing voice, “I’m sensing you’re pissed but I’m not following.”

“You got enough on your plate. Whatever Audrey’s up to, that is not your shit. It’s my shit and you don’t take that on. You worry about that farm, the family in it and your pottery. I’ll worry about Audrey.”

“Uh…didn’t we just pretty much share we care deeply for each other not five minutes ago?” I asked cautiously.

“No, we didn’t pretty much do anything and we sure as fuck didn’t pretty much share we care deeply for each other. We told each other we’re in love,” he corrected me and my belly compressed as my heart skipped a beat.

“No,” I contradicted stupidly but correctly, my heart, now racing, messing with my ability to think, “I think it was you telling me we’re in love.”

His brows shot together and that was hot too.

“Do you disagree?” he fired back.

“Uh…no,” I replied.

His brows then shot up and damn, that was hot too.

“Your point?”

Again stupidly but still correctly I shared, “That is, technically, caring deeply for each other.”

He crossed his arms on his chest (yes, also hot) and asked, “You get I’m pissed?”

I nodded.

“So you wanna move this along before this asinine conversation about something not asinine in the slightest makes me more pissed?”

I thought that was a good idea so I decided to do that.

“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t have my shit, you take on my shit then also deal with your shit without me having your back too.”

“Dusty –”

I took the step to him, lifted my hand and curled my fingers on his forearm, saying, “Babe, I’m not weak. I’m not addicted to spending money. I’m not anything but Dusty. We have a lot happening and it’s a pain in the ass but I’m not crumbling under the weight. You’ve had a long time of looking after a lot of people, busting your ass to do it. You’ll get used to it but flat out, with me, that’s not your life anymore.”

“Right, I get that, Dusty but what you need to get is that I don’t mind bustin’ my ass for the ones I love. It’s my job and not the kind you do because you have to do it but because you love doin’ it. I mind doin’ it when I get shit on in return but if I don’t get that, it’s entirely different. So I know you’re not weak and you’ll get used to it bein’ with me but you no longer always have to be strong.”

I stared at him, stunned.

He wasn’t done. I knew this when he kept talking, or more like rumbling out each word.

“And you’ll get used to bein’ my woman and I’ll explain what that means. I’ll take shit but my woman won’t,” he leaned in and finished, “ever. Not people feedin’ it to her directly and not indirectly through me.”

I didn’t say a word.

But my mind was whirling.

Never.

Never in my life, outside my father and my brother, had a man stood up to protect me. Not like that.

Never.

Finally I found my voice and I found it to ask, “Are we kinda fighting about how we’re in love and you’re gonna take care of me?”

“Warning, Dusty, I’m pissed Audrey has, in Audrey’s way, thrown down in a preliminary to whatever game she’s settin’ me up to force me to play when we do not need her shit. I’m not in the mood for you to be funny.”

I pressed my lips together.

Then, stupidly but correctly, I blurted, “Just to clear something up from earlier. I’m thinking it’s probably not gonna happen, me getting a wild hair and going riverboat gambling with Rhonda. I can barely get her out of her bedroom. I doubt I could get her down to the Ohio River.”

Mike glared at me.

“Though, she’s practically catatonic,” I went on unwisely in the face of his fierce scowl, “I could prop her on one of those wheelie things and get her in front of a video poker machine but I don’t know why I’d expend that effort. If I wanna go gambling, I’ll hit the internet, buy cheap tickets and you and I’ll have a weekend in Vegas.”

Mike said not a word.

I kept going.

“Though, I’ve never been on a riverboat and I like gambling. Maybe we should plan to do that.”

Mike spoke.

“I’m thinkin’ maybe now’s the time to shut up.”

I pressed my lips together.

This lasted a second.

Then out came, “An FYI, you’re hot when you’re pissed. Like, off the charts hot. This, I think, does not bode well for me should someday I be pissed in return.”

Mike continued to glower at me.

I took my hand from his arm and wrapped my arms around his middle, pressing myself to him even as he kept his arms crossed on his chest.

Tipping my head way back, I whispered, “Talk to me.”

“Talkin’ to you would be you takin’ on my shit.”

I gave him a squeeze and repeated my whispered, “Talk to me.”

He held my eyes.

This lasted a while.

Luckily, I was patient.

Finally, he talked to me.

“She dicks with me, she dicks with my kids. I can try to hide it but they soak that shit up like they’re sponges. We had a détente. It was fucked but it was working. No settled, stopped focusin’ on his Mom and me and started to be what he is. A kid in high school, doin’ his homework, playin’ ball, practicin’ with his band. His smiles came quick. The teases he’d shoot at his sister easy. Whatever was up with Reesee wasn’t about me or her Mom. It was about Reesee. I don’t want them back there. Watchful, guarded, preparing, powerless to look out for me but wanting to do it all the same. I do not want, in ten years, twenty, them to look back at a time which should be golden and think of their Mom and my shit. I want them to be kids.”

God, he was such a good Dad.

But it was time to clue him in.

So I did.

“What was up with Rees was about her Mom, honey.”

He blinked and his frame jerked slightly.

“Pardon?”

“It still is,” I continued.

He uncrossed his arms and his hands settled at my waist but his eyes never left me.

“Explain,” he ordered.

“Yesterday was horses, makeup and mall but she clued me in, babe, about where she is and why she’s there. No’s talents are very visible, obvious, you see them, you hear them. Basketball, music. Rees’s have yet to be discovered. She feels overshadowed by him but No’s not doing this intentionally. My guess is, she doesn’t have the attention of her mother and she’s internalizing that. She’s thinking she’s done something to take it away or is someone who doesn’t deserve it. She’s shy, she has absolutely no idea of her beauty and that’s crazy. And I say that from what I’ve seen her getting in this house from you and her brother. She’s loved. She’s safe. She’s free to be who she is here. So something is holding her back, holding her down. And the one negative force in her life is her Mom. And I know this because her Mom didn’t help her learn how to put on makeup.”

“Makeup?” Mike asked and I nodded.

Then, carefully, I asked back, “Did you talk to her about her period?”

Mike’s eyes flashed and his mouth got tight but he didn’t answer so I decided to take that as a no.

Still carefully, I continued, “Did her Mom?”

“No clue,” he forced out.

“That’s not good,” I whispered, “When did she start?”

Mike held my eyes a moment then he shared, “About four months ago.”

“And you know this because…?”

“No found some shit in the bathroom and told me.”

That meant he had no clue about that either. That “shit” could have been there months prior and Rees hid it.

“Who bought it for her?” I pressed.

“No clue,” Mike repeated.

“Who supplies her now?” I kept going and Mike’s eyes flashed again.

He didn’t know.

Shit!

I pressed closer and told him gently, “My Mom taught me how to put on makeup, honey. I know all Moms don’t because my friend Gretchen’s sister did it with her and I had another friend who learned on her own and the results weren’t great. She had no sister and her Mom worked full-time. Finally, Gretchen and I took her in hand. But my Mom taught me. And we talked about that time in a girl’s life, several times. She was open with me, made it safe to talk to her about so when I needed something or had questions or felt shit because I had cramps, I could talk to her. The vast majority of her time, Rees is living with two men and if her Mom is normally like she was at Rees’s party then that is not a safe place for her to go. This means she may or may not be getting info from her friends who may or may not have started their periods. At that age, they are not good sources of information.” I pushed even closer and finished, “And this is the beginning. She’s got a boy interested in her now and she really does not need for her only sources of information about important life stuff being fourteen and fifteen year old girls who have no clue.”

“Fuck,” Mike whispered and there was a whole lot of feeling in that one word.

Gently, I kept going, “So, in a girl’s life, now is the time she really needs her Mom so now would be the time when she would most feel it if she doesn’t really have one. And it’s just a guess but that guess would be now, she’s feeling that and that’s why she’s been under a cloud.”

“And that’s why it’s lifted because you’re here,” Mike surmised immediately.

“I hope so,” I replied. “I made it clear I was there to talk to and have all the time in the world for her. She opened up to me and I could tell it wasn’t easy but I could also tell she was glad she did it. Yesterday, she seemed even less uptight. I’m a woman, I got that part covered. I’ll find a time, feel her out and if she needs it, sort her out. Where it gets hairy is that I need her to trust me and I also need to clue you in. If she thinks I’m going to run to you to tell you everything she says, she’s gonna clam up. But you also need to know where she is. So you’re going to need to give me guidance about where you want me to guide her, understand that some shit will be just between me and Rees, trust me to do right by her but share with you what you need to know and let me do my best with that balancing act.”

“I trust you.”

This response was again immediate. It was gratifying but I wasn’t certain it was the right one.

I gave him a squeeze and said softly, “Mike, this is your daughter and I haven’t known –”

His hands slid around to lock me in his arms and he gave me a squeeze, cutting me off. “Dusty, she is my daughter and I trust you. My guess is you’ve been gettin’ your period a while now so clearly you’re more an authority on that than me. I love my girl, we’re close but she’s never gonna come to me with that shit and you might think this is fucked, but I’m not only glad about that, I’m relieved. The rest of it, honey, the way you turned out, I am not stressed about. You guide her to bein’ her version of a woman like you, smart, funny, self-reliant, strong, sweet, warm, loving, I’m totally down with that.”

I stared up at him, nose tingling and warned, “You’re gonna make me cry again.”

He grinned, gave me another arm squeeze and dropped his head to touch his mouth to mine.

When he lifted it, he ordered, “Don’t. We got sandwiches to eat. Then we gotta get, dressed, get to the DQ, get cake, get home and you gotta deliver on your promise to kiss me all over. We don’t have time for you start bawling again. We got important shit to do.”

He was right.

So I told him that.

His grin became a smile and his arms left me as he issued another order, “I’ll get plates, you get me a Dr. Pepper.”

“Done,” I agreed, turning to the fridge. “But I don’t need a plate. We can eat at the counter.”

“Pure Dusty,” he muttered.

“What?” I asked into the opened fridge.

“Nothin’, sweetheart,” he kept muttering.

I let it go because whatever he was muttering he was doing it with a smile in his voice. I got him a Dr. Pepper, me a diet one of the same and met him at the counter. Mike got a bag of Chili Cheese Fritos and ripped it open.

I popped my soda and grabbed my sandwich. After a bite it became clear Mike made top-notch sandwiches. Heavy on the condiments but not so much horseradish my eyes watered. Two slices of cheese, one on each piece of bread. And a massive mound of shaved roast beef. I could barely get my mouth around it and it would be better grilled with that cheese melted but it was awesome all the same.

“Thanks, Angel.”

This came soft and, chewing, my eyes went to see his as soft as his voice on me.

“What?” I whispered through roast beef, rye and swiss.

“You took on my shit and made me feel better about Reesee,” he explained then repeated, “Thanks.”

I swallowed. “Anytime, babe.”

His hand came up, tagged me around the neck, pulling me in and up and he gave me a horseradish, roast beef kiss.

It was nice.

We ate. We got dressed. We went to the DQ and got the biggest ice cream cake they had. We came back. We got naked. I kissed Mike mostly all over then Mike took over and kissed me at my best spots. Then he gave me another orgasm, I returned the favor, we showered, dressed and were in the kitchen cooking dinner when Rees got home.

She was happy to see me.

She was happier when her Dad told her she could call Fin and ask him over for dinner.

Even though Fin was there and Mike had not lied, he could lay waste to DQ cake and Fin was his partner in that particular crime, Rees and I managed to save a piece for No.

But barely.