Page 63 of Resonance
“Something like that. Careful of the glass,” he warned as I slid off the table to join him. I touched a toe down gingerly, but most of the wreckage was off the far left side of the table. Dropping into a crouch near his feet, I yanked off his boots and socks.
“Which one?”
“Right.”
I slid between Dan’s legs, pulling his foot into my lap and pressing my thumb into his arch until he hissed.
“Too fucking hard.”
“I know the feeling,” I teased.
“You mean that?” His mouth drew tight with concern, and I laughed.
“No. I think you were holding back.”
“I just laid you across a table and fucked your throat before sitting you on top of it and pounding your ass.”
“Mmm, yeah ya did. God that was sexy.”
“Owen.” He reached down, tenderly prying my fingers from the foot I’d been rubbing, and pulled me back against his chest.
I tipped my head to one side so I could see his face. “Mm-hmm?” God, I felt good right then. Limbs heavy, tongue thick, mind numb.
“You’re not just a… a convenience.”
My smile faded and the flutter in my chest turned into an angry buzz. “It sounds like you’re implying I should be ashamed over what I enjoy.”
“Nope, that’s not what that statement meant. Easy there. I meant you’re not just some sexual outlet for me, and I don’t want you to think that.”
“I don’t think that.” I didn’t know what I thought exactly, but I didn’t feel like I was being used by a long shot. What Iknewwas that Dan would be leaving for tour soon. And, possibly less urgently, but still notable, that I was still his employee. Honestly, I kind of wished he hadn’t said anything at all, because even if I had been just a convenience, I might’ve been more okay with that than the opposite. “Also, I’m starving,” I said, trying to inject some lightness into my tone.
Dan was quiet for a long moment, then smoothed a hand over the crown of my head. “Reckon we can clean up and eat.”
When he started to rise, I yanked him back down. “Eat,thenclean.”
There was another pause before he said, “Okay,” and I curled forward, giving him room as he stood, sidestepping me to stretch toward the cabinet and grab a couple of plates. The silverware drawer beside me opened and closed, and he sank back down next to me, setting a plate of lukewarm chicken piccata between us. He reached up again for the open wine bottle, which he plunked down between his knees. “Like heathens, huh?”
“Civilization is boring anyway.”
Chapter 22
Iwas deep into the snooping when Dan got home the next day. I’d resisted for so long I figured giving in was warranted. Jezebel was curled on the bed beside me and lifted her head toward the doorway a second before I heard the key in the lock. I didn’t even try for a quick cover-up, and Dan wandered in a second later, eyeing the record sleeves and photo albums surrounding me.
“Figured you’d have scratched that itch already.”
“I held out as long as I could. If you didn’t want me to snoop, you should’ve hidden this cache of kryptonite somewhere else.”
“Basement? Under the porch?”
I considered. “Yeah, or a Ross store.”
He cocked a brow, coming around to the edge of the bed and dropping onto it. Jezebel sniffed him, then butted her head against his thigh. I sympathized strongly with the gesture; I kinda wanted to do the same.
“A Ross seems like it’d be nothing but kryptonite for you, given your love of thrift stores.”
“Nope, I shut down in them. I’ve only been twice and never again; the bargains aren’t worth it. Everything all over the place, out of order. Clothes sagging off the racks, on the floors. It’s like this depressing microcosm of humanity. I feel sympathy for the clothes in there, like all these big department store remainders that nobody wanted, now just stuffed inside an overly fluorescent-lit bargain shop, hoping someone will want them.”
“You make it sound like a pound.”