But it’s a holiday, for fuck’s sake. All I want to do is sleep next to Josie, feeling her small body against mine. The second before I flop back down, I look her over. She looks so fucking good in my bed. I want to wake up to this every damn morning. Her hair is messy, and she has pillow creases on one side of her face. Wanting to remember this moment, I scan my eyes over her again and then lay back down.
“Mhhh,” she moans, snuggling in closer. “I’m cold.”
I pull the blankets over us both and hold her against me. My eyes fall shut and I could easily go back to sleep, but then my phone rings again, and this time it is the call center.
“Son of a bitch,” I grumble.
“What’s wrong?” Josie asks, not opening her eyes.
“It’s an emergency call.” Inhaling deep, I sit up, blinking rapidly. I’m surprised to see that Josie and I have been asleep for nearly two hours; though, it’s no doubt we both needed it. Josie stays buried under the blankets when I answer, and there’s no way I can’t take this. I end the call with the frantic owners, telling them I’ll have everything ready when they arrive in fifteen minutes.
“What’s wrong?” Josie asks, catching my wrist and pulling me back to her.
“Ferret versus guinea pig.”
“Oh no. Ferrets are cute but they’re effective killers.”
“They really are,” I agree. “I need to get to the clinic.”
She groans in protest. “Stay with me.”
I’m already sitting up and I know if I lay back down it’ll be that much harder to get out of bed. “You can stay. Go back to sleep. I’ll come up in when I’m done.”
She yawns and stretches out. “I’ll feel bad sleeping while you’re working. Though I do have work to do myself, but I can put it off a little longer.” She inhales and opens her eyes. “I’ll check on the horses, and then I guess I should go home.”
“Right. You do have family there, after all.”
Her lips curve into a smile and she pulls me against her again. This time I let her pull me down, and it takes every ounce of willpower I have to move away from her again. The storm from Hillside is just now rolling in over Silver Ridge and Josie shivers once she’s out of the covers.
“Here,” I tell her, pulling a sweatshirt from my closet. I pick my pants up from the ground and put them on.
“Thanks,” she says, looking around for the rest of her ensemble. Her shirt is in the kitchen—no, the hall—maybe? I walk with her downstairs, gathering our scattered clothes as we walk. “Well, this was an eventful weekend.”
I take her in my arms. “It certainly was.” God, she feels so good up against me. I push her hair back and kiss her, cock stirring. She slowly sweeps her hands up my arms, hooking them around my shoulders. She leans back, pressing her hips against mine, feeling that I’m getting hard. “Look what you’re doing to me. Fuck, this is going to be a long surgery.”
Her lips curve into a smirk as she looks at my cock, licking her lips. “Well, we can’t have you distracted.” She pushes me back so I’m against a wall and then drops to her knees.
Yawning, I pick up my coffee mug only to realize it’s empty. I finished stitching up the guinea pig only an hour or so ago and have been hanging out at the clinic to make sure she fully wakes up from the anesthesia. The tech that came in to assist me left not long ago, and I just have some paperwork to finish up. My phone rings, and I glance up, hoping to see Josie’s name flash across the screen.
It’s Mason, and on other days, I might send his call to voicemail. But I’m having a good fucking day, so I answer.
“Hey,” I say, putting the call on speaker so I can set the phone on my desk.
“Whatcha doing?” Mason asks.
“Finishing up some paperwork after surgery.”
“It’s a fucking holiday. You’re working?”
“It was an emergency. And aren’t you working?”
“Yeah, but crime doesn’t take the day off. Though, apparently, it does today because I’ve been sitting in a car for six fucking hours waiting for someone to do something illegal.”
I let out a snort of laughter. “Sounds fun. Hopefully, you’re somewhere warmer than here. I’m not sad to miss out on the annual BBQ at Mom and Dad’s.”
“That got postponed until next Thursday.”
“It did?”
“Don’t you check your group texts?”
“I don’t think I got one.”
“Hmm. Maybe Mom just texted me separately. I am the favorite, after all.”
“Please,” I quip. “We all know Rory is the favorite. Why is the barbecue Thursday?”
“Sam and Chloe are coming into town.”
“Ah, makes sense,” I say as I add a few quick notes.