Page 32 of Dirty Roxie

“Okay and were you just going to answer when he asked me a direct question?”

“He wouldn’t have asked you a direct question if you hadn’t interrupted and started talking.”

“That’s not the way I remember it.”

“Will you just stay quiet? Please? I can’t concentrate when you are yapping all the time.” I make the motion with my fingers, bringing the tips together with the tip of my thumb as though they are talking.

“You think I yap?”

I place my hand over her mouth to silence her. I just need a moment to think. Where she’s not so close to me, distracting me, and I’m not holding her hand or accidentally caressing her palm with my thumb. A moment where I don’t forget who we really are and lose myself too much in my Mr. Johnson role.

Roxie sticks her tongue out and licks my hand.

“Oh god.” I wipe my hand on my pants. “You don’t know where my hands have been.”

“You don’t know where my tongue has been.”

“Even worse.”

“Fancy-pants.”

I stare at her. She doesn’t back down. It makes me want to kiss her. Which is ridiculous given the circumstances and where we are. Yet somehow, I still find myself leaning in to capture her lips with mine.

The door to the room opens. I sit back in my seat and turn to see who it is. My first thought is:

Oh shit.