Third, Wally was nowhere to be seen.
“Wally?” I whispered, not wanting to wake up Kat. Even though I didn’t see any of her stuff, I assumed she was in her room asleep.
Toeing off my shoes, I unfastened my cuffs, loosened my tie, and undid the first few buttons of my shirt while I strained for the sound of my dog.
Silence.
“Hmm.” I frowned into the darkness. He was probably all cozied up next to Kat, unwilling to move.
Next to my wife.
Now there was a thought made to erase a frown. Not going to lie, the fact that Kat was my wife—and that was a fact—also did things to me.
Using light steps, I strolled into the great room, intent on the bureau where I stashed my mail. I almost didn’t see the figure on the couch—almost—but she moved at the last minute, stopping me in my tracks.
Pushing back the blanket covering her and lifting herself to a sitting position, Kat’s sleepy voice said, “Dan?”
I held my breath for a second, maybe four, as I took in the sight of her. Her hair was in a ponytail, or a braid—yeah, a braid—over her shoulder, and she was rubbing her eyes. She wore a tank top of undistinguishable color. The room was dark, but city lights from the windows illuminated enough.
She was gorgeous.
“Hey,” I said into the grayish darkness, stuffing my hands in my pockets and keeping my tone soft. “What are you doing out here?”
At the sound of my voice, a furry head lifted and a tail tapped out a slow beat against the leather couch. Wally sneezed, and leaped down from where he’d been sleeping. Taking a moment to stretch and shake, he walked over to me as best he could given the fact his tail was wagging so hard now it almost knocked him over.
“I wanted to see you.” Kat yawned, placing her feet on the ground like she was planning to stand, but paused to fold the blanket she’d been using and draped it neatly over the back of the couch.
I squatted to accept Wally’s affection, scratching him behind the ears and patting his back. “You take good care of my lady while I was gone?” Wally snuffed, and I had to dodge a lick straight to the kisser. “Whoa. Settle down, boy. Buy me a drink first.”
The light, musical sound of Kat’s laughter filled the air, and something in me that had been on high alert since learning Caleb was in town shifted.
It eased.
It settled.
Now for the tenth time since hanging up with Eugene, I thought, Thank God she moved in. I knew she’d be safe here. I’d been counting on it. But hearing her laugh made me think maybe she was happy, too.
I stood and so did she, her arms crossed over her middle. Wally continued to dance around my legs as I looked at her. I was tired, but not too tired to notice all she had on was that tank top and the smallest shorts I’d ever seen. The effect on my pulse was instantaneous.
“Come here,” I said, speaking a wish.
Kat stepped around the coffee table and shuffled over to me, her eyes on mine, clearly in a wish-granting mood.
“I missed you,” she said, her words slurred with what I assumed was sleep. Standing in front of me, she made no move to close the final few inches, so I lifted her arms to my neck. Her chin lifted to keep looking in my eyes, like we did this. Like every day I came home and she was waiting for me on the couch, baking me cakes, wearing (almost) my favorite outfit.
I fucking loved it.
Even as I touched her, my hands coming to her body, the heat of her skin beneath my fingertips, my greediness for this woman arrested my lungs. That new aching sense of rightness, the one that had replaced the shitty feeling in my chest, took hold, sinking hooks and anchor into me.
“Kiss me,” I said, another wish.
She did. Her arms twisted tighter and her sweet lips brushed against mine. Unable and unwilling to prolong the moment, I crushed her to me and invaded her, the stroke of my tongue an echo of what I really wanted.
Kat tasted like mint and heat and something else. Something distinctively her that made me want to taste every inch of her body. I wanted more, of course I wanted more, and the more I wanted oscillated between the fucking hearts and flowers and happily ever after variety, and the just plain fucking variety.
Images of me pulling down her top and worshiping her bare breasts flashed behind my eyes. Maybe she’d like it when I sucked her into my mouth; maybe she’d squirm when I stroked her over those tiny shorts; maybe she’d let me peel them down her legs as I knelt and opened her, spread her, and tasted her hot, wet—
“Dan,” Kat pulled her mouth from mine, her breath ragged. “We need—”
I chased her mouth for one more kiss.
Just one more.
Because as tempting—so fucking tempting—as the promise of my overheated imagination was, the hearts and flowers part reminded me that there was too much unresolved. We needed to talk before we had a repeat of our kiss-turned-soft-core-porno at the Clerk’s office.