What She Forgot (What She 2)

“No you don’t,” she said, and she sounded so sincere that I believed her. “You know right from wrong, it’s just that your methods of exacting justice are sometimes a little cutthroat.”

I sat up all of a sudden. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked.

She laughed. “I have no idea. Just thought you could use a friend, and Lynn’s not here.”

“Well, thanks for checking in.”

“You’re welcome.” I heard her kids in the background. “I have to go,” she said, and then she hung up without waiting for a response.

I stared at my phone, my heart doing that curious little tickle it did when I saw Will, but now it was in response to her taking the time to call and check on me. It was weird, having a connection to someone who wasn’t Lynn or one of her friends.

I changed into my pajamas, switched my contacts for my glasses, and went to the kitchen. I put the food away, and transferred the two desserts to two small plates, and I got two forks out of the silverware drawer. Then I heard Will come in through the back door, the click of little paws the only sound aside from his loud exhalation. “Jesus,” he said.

I looked over my shoulder at him. I’d taken my contacts out, so I had my glasses on, and I could see him just fine. “What?” I asked.

“When I suggested you go and change clothes, I assumed you’d come back wearing some.” His eyes lingered on my butt.

I looked down at my boy shorts and t-shirt. “This is the only pair of pajamas I have.” I looked down again. “Do I need to go change?”

His eyes dragged down my body again. “Not on my account.”

“You said to get comfortable.”

He nodded. “I did.”

“So I did.”

He nodded again, his grin growing even wider. “You did.”

I took a bite of the best chocolate cake I’d ever put in my mouth, and I moaned around the fork before I could even pull it from my lips. “That’s good,” I muttered with my mouth full.

“I could watch you do that all day,” he admitted, not sheepishly at all.

“Do what?” I asked, confused.

“Eat. Talk. Breathe.” He shrugged and chuckled. “You name it, I want to watch you do it.”

I hitched a hip against the counter. “You like me, huh?” I said with a grin tugging at my lips.

“If you haven’t figured it out, Shelly, I more than like you,” he said, as he walked by me toward his bedroom. “What do you want to watch?” he called from down the hallway.

“I don’t care,” I called back, and I followed him to his room.

I climbed up on his bed and leaned back against his spare pillow. I set both the plates of dessert in front of me. “Which one do you want?” I asked.

He unbuttoned his dress shirt and shrugged out of it, leaving him in a clean white t-shirt. He toed off his shoes and I watched as he unbuttoned his slacks, turning his back as he shoved them down over his hips toward the floor, leaving him in a pair of striped boxers. His keys jangled in his pocket as they fell to the carpet. I licked my lips and stared into his eyes, which were zeroed in on mine.

“Are we watching the movie in here?” he asked, as he went to the bathroom to wash the tiny smear of blue paint from his forehead.

“Unless you don’t want to,” I called to him.

“No, it’s fine,” he called back. “Just didn’t want you to think I was trying to get you into my bed.”

“What if I want you to try to get me into your bed?” I called back, heat suffusing my face even though I knew I had no reason to be embarrassed. Lust was a bodily function, just like sweat and a rapid heartbeat. It was elemental. It was nothing to be bashful about.

He came back and jumped onto the bed, bouncing the plates of dessert almost into my lap. I grabbed for them and came back with chocolate on my thumb. I lifted it to my lips, but he grabbed my wrist and dragged it to his mouth. He sucked the pad of my thumb between his lips, his tongue rasping against the tender underside.

My mouth fell open and I couldn’t control the heat that stole across my skin. He let go of my wrist like he was passing my thumb back to me, but I couldn’t move. He picked up the remote. “What do you want to watch?” he asked.