shake. This made the Pounce shimmy-shake in their container, alerting Clive that his hunt had begun early.
“Harem free, huh?” I breathed back, visions of Sugar Simons dancing in my head. Single Sugar Simons, Single Sugar Simons in Spain…
“Yeah,” he whispered, and we were both silent for what seemed like months, although in actuality it was only enough time for Clive to claim his
first victim: the Pounce hidden in my tennis shoe by the front door. I walked over to congratulate him on his catch.
“She said something curious,” I mentioned, breaking the spel .
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” he asked.
“She told me that I was, and I quote, ‘quite lovely.’”
“Did she now?” He laughed, easing back into comfortable.
“Yes, and the thing of it is, she said it like she was agreeing with something someone else had already said. Now, I’m not a girl who fishes for
compliments, but it would seem, Simon, that you were talking sweet about me.” I smiled, knowing my face was breaking into a pink glow. I’d started
for the bedroom when I heard a soft knocking at the door. I walked back to unlock and open the door without looking through the peephole. I had a
strong feeling I knew who was on the other side.
There he stood, phone cradled to his ear, holding his duffel bag and smiling a big, toothy grin.
“I told her you were lovely, but the truth is, you’re more than lovely,” he said, bowing his head toward mine and bringing his face to within inches
of my own.
“More?” I asked, barely drawing breath. I know my grin matched his.
“You’re exquisite,” he said.
And with that, I invited him in. While wearing only my button-down. From far away, the O cheered…
An hour later, we sat together at the kitchen table, a decimated loaf in front of us. In between his frantic pawing, I’d managed a bite or two. The
rest now lived in Simon’s tummy, which he proudly thumped like a melon. We’d talked and eaten, gotten caught up, watched Clive as he finished his
hunt, and now relaxed as the coffee brewed. Simon’s bag rested by the front door stil —he hadn’t even gone to his apartment yet. I was stil in my
button-down, feet curled beneath the chair as I stared at him. We were so comfortable, and yet that low-level hum, that electricity always sparking
and snarking between us, continued.
“Fantastic touch by the way—the raisins? Loved them.” He smirked at me, poking one more in his mouth.
“You’re terrible.” I shook my head, stretching up out of my chair and col ecting the plates and the few crumbs that hadn’t been inhaled. I could
sense him watching me as I moved about the kitchen. I grabbed the pot of coffee and raised my eyebrows at him. He nodded. I stood next to his
chair to fil his mug, and I caught him peeking at my legs below my shirt.
“See something you like?” I leaned across him to the sugar bowl.
“Yep,” he answered, leaning toward me to take it.
“Sugar?”
“Yep.”
“Cream?”
“Yep.”
“That al you can say?”
“Nope.”
“Gimme something, then. Anything.” I giggled, walking back around to my side of the table. Once again he watched me as I arranged myself in
the chair.
“How about this?” he final y said, resting on his elbows, face intense. “As I mentioned earlier, I broke it off with Lizzie.”
I stared back, barely breathing. I tried to play it cool, so cool, but I couldn’t stop the grin sneaking across my face.
“I see you are not at al broken up by this,” he scoffed, sitting back in his chair.
“Not so much, no. Want the truth?” I asked, the grin ushering in a sudden surge of confidence.
“Truth would be good.”
“I mean truth truth, back-and-forth truth. No witty comebacks, no snappy banter—although we do give great banter.”
“We do, but I could go for some truth,” he said, his voice quiet as his sapphire eyes blazed away at me.
“Okay, truth. I’m glad you broke things off with Lizzie.”
“You are, are you?”
“Yes. Why did you? Truth now,” I reminded him. He regarded me for a moment, sipped his coffee, ran his hands through his hair in a maniacal
way, and took a deep breath.
“Okay, truth. I broke it off with Lizzie because I didn’t want to be with her any more. With any other women, in fact,” he finished, setting his cup
down. “I’m sure we’l always be friends, but the truth is, I’ve been finding lately that three women? It’s a lot for me to handle. I’m thinking of paring
things down a bit, maybe trying just one for a while.” He smiled, the blue getting dangerous.