“Let’s race back?” Her grin is full of arrogance, not that I mind in this particular instance. “Unless you’re worried you’ll lose to a girl again?” She presses her hips into mine. “Loser goes down on the winner.”
As if I needed any more motivation to be the loser than that. I’m competitive, but I lost our last race because I was distracted by watching her run while she was in front of me. I’ll lose again today. I’d rather get her off first anyway.
“Good luck,” I tell her sincerely, giving her a quick kiss on the mouth.
Once we untangle Otis, I take his leash. I don’t want him to hinder her and cause her to be slower than normal. Plus, I can always say he slowed me down. Deanna counts us down and off we go. She takes off running, and I’m right behind her, my gaze glued to her entire backside. I stay only two paces behind her, despite wanting to whip around her when I hear her laughter. As it turns out, I do lose because of Otis. We’re nearly to her house when he comes to a full stop and hikes his leg on a tree. Deanna runs into her yard and twirls in a circle with her arms outstretched.
“I win! AGAIN!” She laughs and then plops down on her porch steps, breathing heavily as I walk into the yard, but not quite reaching her as Otis once again holds me up.
“Quit your gloating.” I’m not serious, though my voice makes me sound like I am.
“You’re a professional athlete and I just kicked your ass again!” She laughs, thoroughly enjoying this.
“Otis held me up. You didn’t actually win.”
She rolls her eyes. “Lame excuse. I’m going up to get my shower started. You’re welcome to join me once Otis is done,” she lifts her hands for air quotes, “holding you up.” She stands and walks inside, giggling.
Once Otis is ready to go inside, we head in, I free him of his leash and harness, and then walk straight to the bathroom, undressing as I go. Deanna jumps when I pull the shower curtain back to step in.
“Oh, it’s you.”
I frown. “Who else would it be?” I ask as I step into the tub.
She rinses her hair and then switches places with me to shave her legs. I keep my frown as I realize I will be using her girly-smelling soap and shampoo.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“I’ll smell like you.”
Deanna laughs. “You’ll be okay.”
I watch her lather her leg with shaving cream and then carefully glide the razor over her skin. Every so often, I move to the side for her to rinse the blade off. Who knew that watching her do something so simple could be so mesmerizing. Eventually, my eyes lift to her face, which is when I realize she’s struggling with something. Her mouth opens and closes, like she can’t decide if she should say something or not.
“Something wrong, darlin’?” I ask. We just got back on steady ground. Yes, there’s still work to be done, but I’d like a few moments of peace with her first.
She glances up. “Well, yes and no.”
“Do you want to elaborate?”
“Not really.” She takes a deep breath. “I think you’re right about Zane.”
“Of course I’m right.” What she says suddenly hits me. “Wait, why do you believe me now? What did he do?” I’ve paused my actions, my hands frozen in my hair mid-shampoo. Meanwhile, she’s still shaving her legs.
“He texted me last night. Late last night.” My blood begins to boil. “There was nothing wrong with the text itself. He asked if everything turned out okay, but him checking in on me when he really has no reason to and the time he sent it made me realize that maybe you’re right. I didn’t know if I should text him back or not.”
“Not,” I interrupt. “It’s none of his fucking business what happens with us. Or you, for that matter.”
She glares at me. “Let me finish. I remembered what he told you about how I ignored him if I didn’t want to talk to him or if I was with someone. So, I didn’t respond. He’ll either assume I don’t want to talk to him, or that I was with you. So, see? No reason for you to be angry.”
“There’s plenty to be angry about when he’s texting you.”
“I doubt he’ll do it again after being ignored and once he figures out I’m in your good graces again. I don’t think he’ll overstep that much. Finish washing your hair and move so I can rinse.”
“I don’t like this.” I rinse my hair and move out of her way.
“It’s an uncomfortable situation, sure, but it’s no problem. I would still like to think he was only being nice and checking in, but I couldn’t get what you said out of my head, so I wanted to tell you what he did.” Deanna turns off the water and pulls the curtain away. Otis lies on the floor in front of the tub. She laughs at seeing him. A few drops of water land on him as she reaches out to grab a few towels, and that’s all it takes for him to leave the room. “Let’s dry off; you owe me my p
rize, and then I have to be quick and go to work.”