My head flopped forward so it was resting on my hands on Mitch’s chest.
Mitch’s hand came up and started massaging my neck as he murmured, “I see you didn’t think about that.”
“Bill knows where I work.”
“Unh-hunh.”
“He’ll tell them if he hasn’t already.”
“Right.”
“Shit,” I whispered.
I needed to talk to Bill. I needed to get him to call off the Trailer Trash Twins. I needed to do this because I couldn’t handle the Trailer Trash Twins but mostly because I needed to stay employed. Plus I liked my neighbors and I wanted them to continue liking me.
“Mara, sweetheart, look at me,” Mitch called.
I sucked in breath and tipped my head back to look at Mitch.
“Your boss thinks the world of you. He’ll be cool with this and protect you,” Mitch told me.
“He’s mistaken about the zone I live in too and those two show he’ll figure it out,” I shared and Mitch shook his head.
Then he remarked, “Bet you think a lot of people are mistaken about that.”
He was right therefore I made no response.
Mitch kept speaking. “Which means maybe they aren’t the ones who’re mistaken.”
Oh no. We weren’t going there again.
“I need coffee,” I announced.
Mitch studied me. Then one side of his mouth went up in a grin and he muttered, “Right.” Then he didn’t move, except his hand which was still massaging my neck.
Therefore, I prompted, “Like… now.”
The other side of his mouth joined the first, his eyes went super warm and he smiled at me.
A whoosh slid through my belly, I bit my lip and stared.
“Can I have a kiss before coffee?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.
“After?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.
“Before you leave for work?”
“No.”
“When you come home?”
I put pressure on my hands on his chest and snapped, “No!”
“All right,” he surprisingly agreed and I jumped right on it.
“Good, let me go. I need coffee and to check on the kids.”
“No.”
My head tipped to the side. “Pardon?”
“No.”
“Mitch, let me go.”
“No.”
“Mitch!”
Suddenly his hand wasn’t massaging my neck. His fingers had shifted up, curled around my scalp, he tilted my head to the side and his mouth was on mine.
Crap!
I pressed my hands against his chest and my back against his arm to no avail. I felt his tongue touch my lips, I liked it, I made a grunt of effort to push him away but my lips opened anyway and his tongue instantly slid inside. My fingers just as instantly curled into his shirt, the sweep of his tongue felt that good.
He then went on to kiss me and he did this thoroughly. I more than let him, I participated, enthusiastically.
When his head finally lifted, my dazed eyes caught his heated ones, his arms convulsed around me and he whispered, “Told you you’d kiss me again.”
I so totally hated it when he was right.
Chapter Twelve
That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be
I climbed the stairs to my unit, exhausted not because I’d suffered more emotional turmoil but because it had been a madhouse at Pierson’s Mattress and Bed that day. The bad news was, even after a good night’s sleep, I was exhausted again. The good news was, I’d sold a boatload of beds and mattresses, including two king-size Spring Deluxes. This meant Billy, Billie and I weren’t facing canned soup anytime in the near future and this made me happy even through my exhaustion.
I made it to the top and walked straight to Mitch’s door, lifted my hand to knock but the door was pulled open before my knuckles could meet its surface. My body jolted in surprise and I saw Mitch standing there then my body moved when Mitch leaned in, grasped my hand tight and pulled me inside.
Then he closed the door and turned to me.
This was odd behavior but I didn’t allow it to register because I was too busy looking around his place. What was behind his door was something I’d been curious about (avidly) for a very long time and when my eyes hit his living room, I found the reality of it shocking.
He had fantastic furniture and fantastic taste. I’d worked in a furniture store before I moved to Pierson’s and I knew at a glance that his stuff was the good stuff. As in, the really good stuff. Huge chocolate brown sectional couch that was both comfy-looking and well-made. A mammoth, square ottoman in front of the sectional. A dark wood wall unit that had to weigh a ton and had to have been crafted by a master. It housed his flat screen TV, a bunch of CDs, DVDs and books.