She whacked his stomach with the back of her hand and he smothered his laugh.
“Can they sleep in my room?” Daisy asked, climbing to her feet.
“No,” her mother answered at the same time Judge said, “Yeah.”
Cassie frowned. “You don’t want them with you?”
“Them bein’ a couple doors down ain’t gonna be a problem,” he murmured. “Won’t be room in your bed for ‘em, anyway.”
Color exploded in Cassie’s cheeks and she quickly glanced at her daughter, who was now having the dogs chase her around the living room in a circle.
“I wasn’t planning on having them in my bed, anyway. I’ve never slept with a dog of the four-legged variety and I wasn’t planning on starting.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Slept with one of the two-legged variety?”
She returned that cocked eyebrow. “You tell me.”
“Get your girl ready for bed. Will put the dog beds in her room. Though, doubt they’ll use them. Where you want their food and stuff?”
She sighed. “Kitchen, I guess.” She turned to her daughter. “C’mon, Daze. Time to get ready for bed.”
“But I wanna play with them,” Daisy whined as she and the dogs continued their endless circles around the living room like a NASCAR race. Judge was waiting for the twenty-car pile-up.
“You can do that tomorrow out in the backyard where you have lots of room and won’t break anything.”
“It fenced?” Judge asked Cassie.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.” That relieved the worry of Cassie having to walk the dogs. They were strong, and though well-trained, preferred their freedom to do their business, which was why being out on the farm was perfect for them.
Judge hauled the dogs’ stuff to the kitchen, then the beds upstairs and, once Daisy and both dogs were settled in her small bed, he gave them a last thorough head scratch and left Cassie alone with her daughter to read her a story.
He grabbed his duffel from the hallway where he had dropped it at the top of the steps and went into the master bedroom to wait.
And wait.
He was beginning to lose his patience when the door finally opened and she slipped inside the room. “Well, having the dogs here is the same as giving her a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. She’s so hyped, I didn’t think she’d ever close her eyes. I put the dogs to sleep with my story-telling long before her.”
“They in bed with her?”
“I’ll give you one guess.”
“You care?”
“She’s pretty active in her sleep. I worry more about them than her.”
“They don’t like it, they’ll move.”
Her gaze dropped from where he was sitting on her bed, leaning against the headboard in just his jeans and a black wife-beater, to the foot of her bed where he’d piled his duffel, his cut, and his boots.
“I guess you were planning on spending the night?”
“Didn’t realize that was in question.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. “Well...”
“Think she cares that I’m in your room?”
“I care.”
“Don’t want me here?”
“I worry about what she’ll think about it.”
“Not for nothin’ but did you plan on stayin’ celibate ‘til she’s eighteen?”
“I just don’t...”
He surged from the bed and stalked toward her, not stopping until they were toe to toe.
“Want a revolving door,” she finished softly, staring up at him.
“You plannin’ on another man comin’ through that door,” he jerked his chin toward the closed one behind her, “tomorrow night?”
“No.”
“The next night?”
“No.”
“One man in your bed don’t make a revolvin’ door, Cass.”
“No men would be better.”
“For who? You?”
“For Daisy.”
“Why? What’s wrong with teachin’ your girl that women have certain needs and there’s nothin’ wrong with gettin’ those needs fulfilled?”
“I don’t want to be a bad mother,” she whispered.
“Baby, if you think wantin’ sex makes you a bad mother, you’d be fuckin’ wrong. You wanna know what a bad mother’s like? I can have you talk to a few people who’d make you think you’re the best fuckin’ mother in the world.” He slid his fingers into the hair above her ear, tipped her head up and his down until their mouths were close but not touching. “Wantin’ my dick don’t make you a bad mother, makes you a normal woman.”
“What about tomorrow morning?” she whispered.
“Be outta your bed early. Will get her and the dogs up and let you sleep. Yeah?”
“Undisturbed sleep sounds better than an orgasm,” she breathed, her fingers fisting the cotton of his tank.
He grinned. “Guess I gotta work harder on those orgasms, then. Musta been fuckin’ slackin’. Guess I’ll start now.”
He bumped his chest against hers, making her take a step back. He did it again until her back was to the door. Pushing his knee between her thighs, her legs widened slightly. His right hand, which was still threaded in her hair, slid around to the back, bunching it within his fist. He tugged the handful until her face was tilted up and her neck arched and exposed.