“No. I called Magdalene and told her that my train got stuck. I was planning on going home to shower after my yoga class. But since the train delayed me an hour, I rushed straight here so I wouldn’t make Birdie even later for the birthday party she has tonight.”
She has a belly-button ring. So sparkly . . .
Fuck. I forced my eyes up to meet Sadie’s and found her staring at me expectantly. Had she just said something? Trying to rewind the last ten seconds in my head, I thought she might’ve . . . something about a train?
Whatever.
I stepped aside. “Come in. Magdalene just brought Marmaduke back from a long walk, so he’s sprawled out on the living room floor.”
We walked into the house, and Marmaduke looked up. He spotted Sadie, and his tongue started to wag out of his mouth.
Yeah, I know the feeling, buddy.
Birdie ran out from her room and hugged Sadie, who bent as they embraced, giving me a front-row view of her ass. Christ. She looked as good going as she did coming. My eyes were still glued to that ass when she turned around to speak to me, and I almost got caught.
“Were you able to get the training clicker I mentioned last week?” she asked.
My daughter ran to the coffee table and got the contraption from hell and started to click it.
Click-click. Click-click. Click-click.
That sound had been grating on my nerves for the better part of a week since I’d brought it home from the pet store. I looked at Sadie, still feeling irritated, though I was bullshitting myself if I thought my current mood had anything to do with that training clicker.
“Maybe next time you can pick something a little less annoying to use to train.”
Sadie’s hands flew to her hips. Her very shapely hips. “Is there something wrong?”
I raked a hand through my hair and grumbled. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
Luckily, my office had alcohol. Today had been a long day to begin with. My manager had given me two weeks’ notice, which meant I was going to have to find a replacement and spend a lot more time at the restaurant until I got a new one trained. Then a small grease fire had broken out in the kitchen, rendering one of our deep fryers unusable, and finally our vegetable shipment had been switched with another restaurant that apparently planned to make corn a side dish with every meal. I’d come home early, figuring that I wouldn’t get many chances to do that again in two weeks. Plus, I hadn’t been sleeping well the last few days for some reason. So I opened a bottle of wine from where I kept the liquor locked up in a credenza and poured myself a very full glass of cabernet as I sat down in my chair.
God, she is fucking sexy.
I slurped a mouthful of the purple liquid down.
I had the craziest urge to clasp my teeth around that diamond in her navel and give it a good strong tug.
I swallowed another mouthful.
And that ass. Maybe she could teach Duke to jump again. I bet it would be some view of her down on all fours in the getup she had on today.
Another mouthful.
What had she called it again? “Flunk shit.” “Flukerbutt.” “Flunkerbsht.” That was it. “Jump” was “flunkerbsht.” I started to laugh. The sound was almost maniacal.
Flunkerbsht.
I want to flunkerbsht the pretend dog trainer.
I shook my head and took another swig.
For the last week, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. The night she picked up her iPad, she’d been so vulnerable and open when I’d asked about her father. Her big blue eyes had been filled with emotion and sincerity. It had been a long time since I met a woman who put her heart out there for the world to see. Not to mention, there were a lot of other parts of her worth seeing. The little workout outfit she wore today nailed that point home, that was for sure.
God, that outfit.
I knocked back the last of my wine.
Over the next hour, I polished off half the bottle. The sound of Sadie and Birdie laughing in the other room had become so distracting that I’d cranked up music and shut my eyes. So I hadn’t heard the knock at the door when they finished up.
“Hey.” Sadie cracked the door open enough to stick her head in. “Sorry. You weren’t answering. We’re all done. Birdie just went to grab her backpack for the slumber party. Would you want me to walk her down to the house where the sleepover is?” Her eyes zoned in on the wine bottle and my empty glass. She smirked. “I can see you’re very busy.”
My lips pursed. “No, it’s fine. I’m perfectly capable of taking my daughter. Thank you.”