Cement Heart(32)
Still laughing, I rolled my eyes. “Clearly he’s been watching too much Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately. Actually, he’s been watching too much of everything lately. When I don’t feel like getting out of bed, it’s just become so easy to put the TV on for him.”
“Oh, please.” Kacie waved me off. “Welcome to parenting. You don’t want to know how much TV the girls watch. You do what you gotta do to get through the day, right?”
“Ain’t that the truth.” I smiled at her just as Maura started fussing in the monitor. “Oh,”—I set my coffee cup down—“I better grab her. I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll let you get back to your day. I don’t want to take up your whole morning.”
I stopped in the kitchen doorway and turned back to her, probably looking more pathetic than I’d meant to. “Do you have to go?”
“Not at all. I just didn’t want to bug you.”
“You’re not bugging me at all,” I replied, happy that she was staying. “You’re saving me.”
Kacie smiled at me and sat back in the chair. “In that case, I’m all yours.”
“Great!” I started up the stairs to the nursery. “I’ll get Maura, we’ll chat for a bit, and I’ll order a pizza in a while.”
“You had me at pizza!” She giggled from the kitchen.
“HEY!” PORTLAND SMILED and hurried over to me the minute I walked into Stumpy’s. Damn, she looked fucking hot. A little red T-shirt that dipped low in the front showed off her beautiful, full tits and tight black shorts made it hard for me to keep my hands—amongst other appendages—to myself.
“How are you, baby girl?” I picked her up and spun her around.
When I set her down, she looked past me. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Just me tonight.” I held my hands up. “I came for the best burger in the state, and to see you, of course.”
“Awww.” She grinned and batted her eyelashes at me. “Well, sit wherever you want. I’ll be out in a minute to take your order.”
She turned and walked back to the kitchen while I made my way to the table we all normally sat at together. I knew it seemed silly to have one person at an eight-person table, but I didn’t care. It was ours and I was sitting there.
The Twins game was playing on the TV above my head, but I was too busy watching Portland strut that hot little ass of hers around the restaurant to care. The way she walked was more entertaining than any baseball game I’d ever seen.
She sighed as she walked up to my table and gave me a big grin. “Okay. What can I get you tonight¸ Viper?”
“I’m gonna have an order of potato skins and a burger, medium.”
She chewed on her juicy bottom lip as she wrote down my order. “Got it. What to drink?”
“Just a root beer, please.”
“You and your root beer.” Tilting her head to the side, she narrowed her eyes at me. “You get that almost every time you come here. Not a lot of people order that.”
“I’m full of surprises.” I wiggled my eyebrows up and down at her. She rolled her eyes and started to walk away, but I called her back. “Hey!”
She turned back and rested her elbows on the table.
“Let me ask you something, Portland.” I leaned in close. “I get asked at least once a day for my phone number from random women. You’ve had my number for a few months now. Why haven’t you ever used it?”
Her cheeks flushed as she shrugged and looked down at the table, nervously picking off an old sticker. “I don’t know,” she said in a low, shy voice. “I’m not sure how long I’m staying here, and getting involved with someone makes things messier, ya know?”
“I don’t know. My life is hockey. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you ever change your mind, just remember it doesn’t have to be messy.” I smirked at her. “At least not outside of the bedroom.”
“Oh my God!” she squealed, her face growing as red as her T-shirt as she laughed and walked away.
For the next hour, every time Portland was at my table or near my table, I tried to convince her to come home with me. After being turned down for the tenth time, the group of women playing pool in the corner started looking better and better. The tallest of the group, a leggy brunette, kept staring at me, then looking away every time I stared back.
She thought I was smiling at her, when in reality, I was laughing. Did girls really think that worked? The play-shy-to-try-to-get-you-to-come-over thing? Fuck that. If you want to come over and say hi, say hi.