And in time... (16 page)

Mr. Dog’s ears perked up. Hearing the car before she did, Mr. Dog answered with a bark. “Stop it now,” Alexis scolded with a stern tone, wiping her moist hands one more time while she walked to the porch to meet her company. Cory ran to the porch, dodging raindrops without success.  

“You look very hot,” he said with a quick kiss, handing over a grocery bag and dropping the pink backpack to the floor. The hot comment made her smile, after all, that’s what she had been going for.

“Here, take this umbrella,” she offered.

Cory ran back to his car, retrieved Riki and another bag. Riki wanted the umbrella as soon as her little feet were on the floor.

“Me hold it.”

“You look very hot.”

Alexis laughed. “I think we had this conversation already. Are you hungry?” 

“I’m starving. I missed lunch today. No, that’s a lie. Misty shared her egg salad sandwich with me. How about you, Riki, you hungry?”

“No, me go down there,” Riki pointed with a crooked finger, wanting to take the umbrella into the yard.

“No, let’s go inside, Mr. Dog is cold out here,” Cory coaxed while using Mr. Dog as a decoy, taking the umbrella and trying to get her attention focused on the dog. He steered her inside, holding both her hands above her head. Alexis discreetly took the umbrella and they managed to get her inside without the fit.

“Why?”

“Because it’s cold and rainy out here,” he explained. Cory turned back and grabbed the two bags up from the porch. “Alexis?” he questioned with a disapproving tone.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“It smells like cleaning stuff in here. Why does it smell like lemon and bleach in here? I thought I told you to rest today.”

“I had to do something, somebody had my vehicle.”

“You didn’t need a vehicle. You were supposed to lay on the couch and watch chick-flicks all day.”

Cory lifted Riki, slipped her shoes off, and kissed her with a growl under her neck.

“No, Daddy, me have a pet her,” she said in half a giggle, pushing his face away with her hands.

“Him. It’s a boy dog.”

“Him wikes me,” Riki assured her dad while she smiled up after dropping to her knees. Mr. Dog placed his head on her lap, soaking up the attention.

Cory followed Alexis to the kitchen and put away the beer. “It’s ready. Let’s eat.” Cory wasn’t the only one hungry. Being busy with stuff she wasn’t supposed to be doing kept her from lunch, too. 

“What dis door for?” Riki asked from her the tips of her toes, trying to turn the handle.

“That’s the laundry room, where I wash clothes.”

“Why?”

“They get dirty. I have a chair in there for you. Let’s see if we can find it.”

Riki lifted her arms to Alexis. “You can pick me up?”

Alexis sucked in the smile and picked her up.

“Why do you have a booster seat? You hate kids,” Cory questioned.

“I do not. I never said that. It’s an old one that was left here from the Tates. I didn’t have the heart to get rid of it.”

Alexis scooted Riki to the table and slid her in. Cory took the sippy-cup of tea when she chugged half of it in one gulp.

Riki sucked in air like she’d just worked up a sweat and huffed. “Me firsty.”

“You have to eat. Your belly is going to fill up on tea.”

“Mmmm,” Riki hummed at the plate of spaghetti. The bread wasn’t ready, but that would get her started. 

“Do you like spaghetti?”

“Me not wike a peas.”

Alexis smiled again. She didn’t even make peas.

“Use your fork, Rick,” Cory coaxed. He placed the fork in her hand, only for her to drop it back to the table. Riki was hungry, too. She paid no attention to Cory and sucked spaghetti through her lips with her fingers. No fork needed.

Cory took the cold beer from Alexis and smiled right at her breasts being purposely thrown in his face. She wasn’t fooling anyone. He knew exactly what she was up to, and he found it extremely sexy and amusing. The knowing of how nice her ass looked in those jeans was used to her advantage. She bent to place the bread in the oven, purposely lingering with her backside facing Cory a little longer than needed. She leaned against the sink, crossed her high-heeled boots, and slowly brought the beer bottle to her lips. 

“I know what you are doing,” Cory assured her.

Alexis stared through sexy constricted eyes briefly before speaking. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do, and it’s not going to work.” Cory smirked.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” she countered with her own smirk.

Alexis was in love. She had no idea that she had missed this. She loved sitting at the table, pretending to be a family, listening and laughing at the funny things Riki said, and flirting with Cory.

“Me want some,” Riki said when Alexis dipped cottage cheese onto her plate. She gave her a spoonful and Riki scooped it into her mouth, only to spit it right back out. She wiped her tongue with her napkin and grunted. Her little nose scrunched up and she assured Alexis that she didn’t like it. “Me not wike bumpy ice cweam.” Alexis slid her sippy-cup and laughed with Cory. Riki downed it, ridding her taste buds of the awful ice cream that didn’t taste like ice cream at all. “My belwy too full,” she decided with one hand covering her little tummy, pushing her plate away.

“Can you eat two more asparagus?” Alexis asked.

“No, me belwy too full, see?” Riki demonstrated with reassurance, lifting her shirt.

“Yes, I see. Let’s wash your hands,” Alexis said while giving in. She had to. She was too darn cute to say no to.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ve got her,” Cory said as he wiped his mouth and slid his chair.

“I don’t mind. Eat. I’m done. We’ve got it. Right, Riki?”

“Me no wash my face.”

Cory watched while he finished his own plate. He wasn’t going to argue. His belly wasn’t full and Alexis was a very good cook. Alexis lifted Riki to the counter, washed her hands and fingers, and preoccupied her long enough to wash her face. The crank on the hand mixer turned out to be the perfect distraction. This wasn’t her first rodeo. Coming from a big family and working with kids all day probably made her more qualified than Cory. Almost. Maybe not. Cory was so good with her, and if it was at all possible, she fell even more in love with him. Alexis cleaned up while Cory bathed Riki and got her ready for bed. Once she finished, she stood by the bathroom door and listened. 

“I can sweep in a dog house.”

“Why?”

“Misser Dog want me a sweep wif him.”

“Stop sliding around like that. You’re getting water all over Alexis’s floor. Mr. Dog sleeps in the house.”

“Wexis say me can,” Riki lied. Alexis covered her mouth and heard the water splash again.

“No, she didn’t. Stop it.”

“Her tell me, me can cause her wikes me.”

“Lay back. Let’s wash your hair.”

“It not all dirty.”

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

“You no twick me, Daddy.”

Alexis had to walk away with that one. She walked away, covering her laugh with her hand, hearing Cory laugh, too. “You’re too smart. How about you just wash your hair and then we’ll watch a movie?”

“Wittle Mormaid.”

“Again?”

“Me wike it. Me be a mermaid, too, see.”

“Riki!”

Alexis heard the splash and knew Riki had just demonstrated her mermaid skills with a splash and a mess.

Cory joined Alexis in the kitchen just as she’d washed the last soaking pan. “Need some help?” he asked, moving behind her.    

“With the dishes?”

“What else?”

Alexis spun in his arms. Cory’s lips were instantly on hers, and her hands were up his shirt. They went there all by themselves. She couldn’t help that, either. He had the sexiest abs and back she’d ever seen, and she loved touching him. Cory followed suit and pulled her shirt from her jeans. Her breath caught in the back of her throat and she pulled her lips from his. Her head dropped to the side and his lips traced the skin along her neck. The short make-out session seemed to go on forever, but they both knew it had only lasted moments.

“Dammit, Alexis,” he whispered sweet words to her skin, wanting her more than he could remember ever wanting anything in his life.

“Okay,” she said with a defeated tone, pulling away. “I’ll stop.” That was more for her own undoing than his. Alexis wanted to take her clothes off. Now! Cory held her in place when she tried to sidestep him.

“Why couldn’t you be in sweatpants and a tee shirt with your hair in a ponytail?” he whispered gruffly in her ear, his voice full of lust.

“I wanted to turn you on.”

“You did that, now what the hell am I supposed to do?”

“I think you know what to do…I mean, you are a doctor.”

“You know I am not going to do that.”

“Dr. Brock never said anything about not having sex, and I looked it up and couldn’t find anything there, either.”

“You looked it up?” he asked, amused.

“Yes. I did. Oh God. That makes me sound really desperate doesn’t it?”

“I think I like you desperate.”

Alexis rolled her eyes and kissed him with a peck before moving around him. “Come on. I’ll show you what I was doing today while I was resting.” She handed him another beer. He opened it, handed it back to her, and took the unopened one before following her to the den. Riki had to come, too, and wanted to know what was in every drawer of the empty desk.

“Where all da books?” she wanted to know while looking up at the empty bookshelf.

“You know what? I bet I have some books for you to read. Do you want to go see if we can find them?” Alexis asked as she dropped to one knee, coming to her level.

“Where?”

“They’re way upstairs in the attic.”

“Me want a weed dem.”

Riki went up first using her hands and feet to crab-climb the stairs.

Cory gestured for Alexis to go ahead of him. “I like the view from back here.”

Alexis flipped her hair and smiled back at him. She was so flirting, and getting used to it. 

The door opened to what looked like a closet. Alexis pulled a string and a set of steps was revealed from a dangling light bulb.

“Let me carry you,” Alexis said as she scooped Riki up. “These stairs are all dirty. You will get your hands all yucky.”

“Why dem all dirty?”

“Because they need to be cleaned.” That was on her list of things to do yet, too. Although she never planned on filling her too-big-for-her house with little ones, she had thought about the attic. It would have made the perfect play place for any kid. She and Bernie spent countless hours in her attic. The good part about it was, they had it all to themselves. The attic had been transformed more times than she could count: a cute little playhouse with a white table for tea, and then a Barbie sanctuary, a stage for singing, a dance studio with a mirror on one of the walls, and by the time they had graduated high school, it housed posters of hot teen throbs, and whatever songs were popular at the time, played loudly. 

Alexis handed, Riki over to Cory, still not wanting her on the dirty floors. She squirmed and slid down his body as soon as she was in his arms.
Oh well, they were just socks.

“Where all da books?” Riki questioned.

“We have to look for them in a box.”

“Dis box?”

“No, not that one.”

“Look, Riki. I found some toys for you to play with,” Alexis announced while flipping the flaps on a cardboard box full of old toys from Paige and her other nieces and nephews. Riki’s attention went to the box of toys while Alexis kept looking. She found the three boxes she was looking for, but only wanted the one, knowing it was the only one with preschool books. The other two could wait. She’d drag them down another time.

Cory carried the heavy box of books, Alexis carried the box of toys, and Riki carried a bag of farm animals. Cory set the box down on the living room floor and Riki made him take them into the den.

“No, no, Daddy, dem have to go in dare,” she demanded with a stomp, pointing to the correct room. The bookshelf was in the den, not the living room. Alexis and Riki sorted out the books and put them on a shelf she could reach.

Cory looked through the un-kid-friendly books left behind. “I remember this book,” he said while holding up the copy of the 1960’s
To Kill a Mocking Bird.

“That was my favorite book in middle school. We had to do a report on it. I read the book and Bernie copied my report almost verbatim. We both got big fat zeros.” Alexis came to the old couch and sat beside Cory while Riki continued to place the kids’ books on the shelf. She wanted to do it all by herself. She then sat in the chair behind the desk and put all of the farm animals out, separating the cows, horses, chickens, and pigs.

“Scrapbook?” Cory asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, something like that.”