Dr. Daddy's Virgin

I quickly settled in at KO’s. She might otherwise live a Spartan life, but KO had a bathroom that rivaled any spa in the state. I poured a glass of wine as the tub filled with hot water. I dropped in a bath bomb and watched it fizzle on the bottom of the tub before I climbed in and sunk down into the steaming water. I sighed as I leaned back and let the day’s events turn over in my mind.

In the span of only one day, I’d watched my house burn down, feared that I’d lose my feline companion, been rescued by Blake Gaston, had some amazing sex with him, and spent the day with his entire family. I reached over, grabbed the wine glass, and sipped the burgundy liquid as I tried to process it all. I quickly gave up and sank back, enjoying the combination of the wine and warm water.

After my bath, I dried off and pulled on a pair of KO’s sweats and a T-shirt that said, “Well-behaved women never make history, so fuck off.” I chuckled as I headed to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich and give Howard his medicine.

Howard was still unsettled after the fire and his stay at the hospital, and he spent a good deal of time sniffing everything in KO’s house. He came into the kitchen to see if I had food, but when he realized that it was time for another of his pills, he made a beeline for the couch. We’d been through this drill many times before, so I tucked the pill inside one of his favorite salmon treats and buried it in the hand holding my sandwich plate.

Howard smelled food and tentatively came closer to check it out. I smiled at him as I lifted the sandwich off the plate and took a big bite. He mewed softly and tapped my arm with his paw.

“Oh, you’re hungry, are you?” I asked, as I eyed him skeptically. Howard blinked twice and then nonchalantly looked away. I chuckled softly before I said, “Well, you’re not getting any of this sandwich, my fuzzy friend.”

Howard turned his glare back at me and shot me a dirty look before looking away again. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“Okay, okay, you want a treat?” I asked. He looked at me as if to ask what the treat was. “I’ve got a salmon treat for you. Do you want it?”

Howard mewed loudly as he stood up and walked closer to me. He stood on my thigh with his paws pressing into my flesh as he mewed louder. I held out the treat. “Do you want this treat?” Howard strained his neck toward the salmon treat and mewed again. I held it close enough for him to have to work a little harder to get it, knowing from experience that doing this would cause him to gobble down the treat before he knew there was a pill hidden in it. It worked as I’d planned, and soon Howard was sitting next to me licking his paw and cleaning his ears.

“You’re such a pig sometimes,” I laughed. He stopped cleaning for a moment to give me a dirty look before hopping off the couch and continuing his exploration.

Once I’d eaten, and Howard understood that we were safe, we snuggled up together in the spare bedroom and slept soundly.

I woke up unsure of where I was to the sound of the phone ringing. When it stopped and then insistently started again, I got out of bed and went to answer it.

“Jesus H. Christ, Em!” KO shouted on the other end of the line. “I’ve been calling for a half hour! Why didn’t you pick up?”

“Maybe because I was dead asleep?” I yawned into the phone.

“I was worried as hell about you!” she scolded. “What did you do yesterday? Are you okay? How’s my boy?”

“We’re fine. Fat man has meds to take for the next few days, but he doesn’t seem to have suffered any major damage,” I said, as I took the phone into the kitchen and began making coffee.

“So, how was Christmas at the hot fireman’s house?” she asked excitedly.

“You mean besides the uncomfortable fact that one of my students was there and earlier in the day I’d slept with her dad?” I replied, as cheekily as I could.

“You had sex with the firefighter?” KO yelled. “Oh my God! Are you sure you don’t have a head injury?”

“I’m positive,” I laughed. “If I hadn’t slept with him, I’d have asked that same question.”

“Good point,” she replied. “So? How was it?”

“Hot as hell, my friend,” I said, recalling the feel of Blake’s body pressed against mine. “It was almost worth having my house burn down for it.”

“You’re really hardcore sometimes, Em,” KO said quietly. “You know that, don’t you?”

“I’m teasing, KO!” I laughed. “It was not worth having my house burn down, but it was an incredibly good consolation prize.”

“You going to see him again?” she asked.

“He’s taking me on a date on Wednesday,” I affirmed.

“You can totally have sex in my bed if you want to,” she offered. “Just change the sheets when you’re done.”

“KO, you’re so weird! I’m staying in the guest room; why would I want to have sex in your room?”

“I’ve got mood lighting in there!” she boasted. I laughed out loud as she went on to describe the various levels of lighting and how I could control them all with the remote she had stashed in the bedside drawer. We spent the next hour laughing and catching up on what Kendra had been doing while at home.

“When do you think you’ll come back?” I asked.