All's Fair in Love and Mastery (Masters Unleashed 5)

“Not under certain, more pleasant circumstances, but you’ve already been pretty clear you won’t supply me with orgasms upon request.” She sounded more tired than hopeful.

“I guess this could have waited until morning,” he admitted. “I just needed to talk to someone and you’re the only person I have.”

“I guess Will wouldn’t appreciate you waking him up at this time of night.”

Grant shrugged. “I wouldn’t have called him about this anyway. He would automatically say it was stupid. I need an objective opinion.”

“How objective you think I’m going to be at four a.m. when I have to work today?”

Groaning at his own thoughtlessness, Grant glanced down in shame, then realized he was checking out the bumps of her nipple piercings under the thin T-shirt she wore.

“Sorry,” he murmured, yanking his gaze back up to her face, wondering how he’d looked away in the first place. She was so adorable when she was sleepy. “I just had an idea and got excited. I wasn’t thinking of the time.”

Unable to resist, he leaned in and kissed the strip on her nose. She grunted in disgust and yanked the thing off, wincing after she realized what she’d done.

“Can you tell I fell asleep on the couch? Pretty glamorous.” She stepped back and gestured him in.

He held up his hands. “No, no. This was stupid. I’m sorry for bothering you on a morning you have to work. If you fall into a vat of stout and drown because you’re exhausted I’ll never forgive myself.”

She rolled her eyes and jokingly kicked his shin with her bare toes.

“Get the fuck in the house, fuckface. You’re going to get me kicked out of the homeowners’ association.”

“There’s a homeowners’ association here?” He scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t remember that from the real estate contract, and I was there when you signed it.”

“That’s because the real estate agents didn’t know about Jerry next door and his dog, Otis.”

Grant whistled. “See? If you would have gotten a dog like I told you to, you’d be one of the cool kids around here.”

“And I told you I work too much to have a dog. If you want a dog, you get a dog.”

“I did suggest that at one point, but you said no.”

“As I recall, your plan was to get a dog and keep it at my house. That would still be me getting a dog except in that scenario you would get to pick the dog. For some strange reason, that seems lose/lose to me.”

“Well, obviously I’d come over whenever it needed to go out.”

“How is that going to work? The club is almost an hour’s drive from my house even at the best of times.”

He sighed, leading the way into the great room. “You’d need to let me live in your pool house, of course.”

“I don’t have a pool house, or even a pool, dipshit.”

He followed her inside, enjoying this conversation far too much to leave now.

“Obviously, the first part of the plan would be for you to get a pool installed, and then build a pool house for me to live in.”

She frowned at him and punched him in the chest. “Your imaginary dog is already costing me an imaginary fortune.”

“The upside is that imaginary dogs aren’t big eaters. You’re already saving a fortune on dog food.”

She sprawled on one of the couches, pulling a fuzzy throw over her lap. He sank onto the couch opposite her.

“Stop being a goof and tell me why you’ve woken me up in the wee hours of this fine . . . Tuesday morning. Wait—is this Tuesday or Wednesday?”

If she was looking to him to verify the day of the week she was out of luck. He had no idea.

“You’d need to check your phone because I have no idea,” he admitted. “But hey, remember when I was talking to you about starting my own business?”