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Authors: Gretchen Galway

Tags: #Contemporary, #Romance

This Changes Everything (18 page)

BOOK: This Changes Everything
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24

S
ly was filling
the dogs’ water bowls in the kitchen when he heard Cleo arrive. The ugly dog, Zeus, who was only slightly larger than a football, kept trying to climb him like a tree. He lifted and carried him to the front door, surprised by the dog’s enthusiasm.

“Welcome,” he said to Cleo. He bent over to kiss her but found Zeus’s tongue slipping into his mouth instead.

She laughed as he sputtered. “Friendly little guy.”

“A little too friendly.” He pushed Zeus into her arms and walked past her through the doorway. “Need help carrying stuff in?”

“That would be great. How’d it go with Liam?”

He smiled at her over his shoulder. “We dodged a bullet tonight. He wasn’t home. The dogs were with the nanny.”

When the woman next door had told him Liam and Bev were out at the movies, Sly had almost kissed her. He was too tired to argue with Liam tonight.

“I’m surprised they weren’t lying in wait for us,” Cleo said, joining him at the car. “To hear about how it all happened.” They carried the bags and keyboard into the house. The three little dogs began yapping again.

“Maybe they don’t know,” he said.

“But she must’ve told them.”

“Why do you think that?”

Her blue eyes, no longer adorned with makeup, widened with alarm. “She must have. If just to explain why we’re moving into the house. Was the nanny surprised to see you?”

“She seemed glad to get rid of the dogs. They kept eating the baby’s toys, she said.”

Cleo looked down at the three animals. “They’re cute. I wonder where they sleep.”

“Not with us.” He caught her hand and pulled her against him.

“So, we’re really doing this then?”

“You’d rather go home?”

“No, I mean us.” She leaned away from him. “This.”

He slid his hands down over her round bottom and stroked. His voice lowered to a growl. “I sure hope so.”

♢ ♡ ♤

That night, the dogs expressed some anxiety with the new living arrangements. During the frenzied lovemaking Sly and Cleo began the moment they got upstairs, they were able to ignore the dogs’ pitiful cries, far too engaged in their own feelings. But afterward, when the two tired humans curled up together in the guest room’s bed, the whimpering became unbearable. And so when they woke up the next morning, three little animals stretched out between them on the quilt, lined up tail to tail like a furry chastity belt.

Sly reached across them and stroked the soft curve of Cleo’s exposed breast. Her skin felt chilled. “Are you cold?”

“Mmm,” she mumbled, wriggling under the sheet. The dog’s weight pinned the quilt down at her waist.

As much as he enjoyed the view, he dislodged Zeus, who was nestled under her breasts, lucky dog, and pulled the quilt up to her chin. She smiled, not opening her eyes, and burrowed into her pillow.

Something softened inside him. They’d been nice to each other in the past—they were good friends—but now he was compelled to be a different kind of nice. Macho protector nice. He couldn’t fight off any wild boar, but he could deal with the family before the shit hit the fan. It was Monday morning, just past eight. Liam had never come by the night before; Mark hadn’t called. This had to mean Trixie hadn’t told them about the wedding.

Quietly, watching Cleo, he climbed out of bed. Her lips were parted, slack with sleep. He fought the urge to kiss her. She needed her rest. And he had that morning-after feeling that maybe they’d gone too far, too fast. As she’d said, he was only the second man she’d ever slept with. Had he considered how much power that gave him to hurt her?

While he was pouring kibble into the dogs’ bowls in the kitchen, he decided to call Mark. As soon as that unpleasant task was accomplished, he’d call his father. Or not. Maybe he’d lie low on that one, at least for a few days. He never knew how his father, a chronically logical, serious man, was going to react to things. Family could bring out the hidden passions in him.

Cursing under his breath at the spot he was in, Sly made coffee, relieved to find some fresh beans and a grinder. As cheap as he could be, he didn’t skimp on his java.

Mark could also be a mystery. The famous introvert wouldn’t express his unhappiness verbally but would probably withdraw into himself, avoiding social conflict until he’d calmed down or it had blown over.

Deciding he could deal with that, Sly picked up the phone and called him. Mark didn’t answer the phone right away, and when he did, he sounded short of breath.

“If this isn’t an emergency,” Mark said, “call me later.”

Sly heard Rose’s voice in the background. “I have to go to work anyway.”

“No, don’t go. It’s only Sylly,” Mark said, his voice muffled.

Sly heard her shout hello from a greater distance than she had been a moment earlier.

“Damn it,” Mark said into the phone. “This better be good.”

“Sorry to interrupt the married bliss.”

“She has this crazy idea she has to go to work and leave me here alone all day.” Mark had not only written software for WellyNelly, the health website they’d started up together, but also other software, some of it far more profitable than WellyNelly. Mark was sitting on millions.

“Your wife doesn’t want a sugar daddy?” Sly asked.

“I understand she wants a career. But can’t it start after noon? So she can stay in bed with me a little longer?”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to,” Sly said. “Your personal hygiene used to be a bit sloppy. Have you fallen into old habits?”

“The only old habit I’ve fallen into is answering your calls. You’re not my boss anymore.” Mark had worked briefly recently as an engineer at WellyNelly before marrying Rose, who still worked at the company. “Why are you bothering me so early?”

Here it came. Sly walked over to the back door and let the dogs out to do their business. “Guess where I am?”

“You were in Las Vegas this weekend, weren’t you? That’s what my mom said.”

Suddenly, telling his old friend about witnessing his widowed mother’s wedding to his lovesick uncle at the Taco Chapel wasn’t so easy. Standing in the man’s childhood home, Sly couldn’t make himself say it over the phone.

“Are you busy this morning? We need to talk,” he said.

“Don’t tell me you lost all your money and you need your job back,” Mark said, “because I already hired Poppy. Thanks to you.”

“No, no. Nothing like that.”

“Then what?”

“Look, I’ll explain when you get here. I’m at your mother’s.”

Mark’s voice sharpened. “What happened? Is she all right?”

“She’s fine,” Sly said quickly. “You haven’t heard from her?”

“Why would I hear from her? Let me talk to her.”

“She’s not here. She extended her trip.” This wasn’t going the way he’d intended. “I agreed to housesit. Watch the dogs. Since I’m a bum these days. But you should come by and I’ll tell you the rest of it.”

“You’re sure she’s all right?”

“She’s very happy.” That was true enough. “Come over, all right? Oh, by the way, Cleo is here with me. You’ve met her a few times. The musician.”

“The cute piano teacher?”

Unexpected jealousy stabbed into Sly’s gut. Mark was hardly a ladies’ man, and he was passionately in love with his wife, but Sly didn’t like him expressing the slightest hint of attraction to Cleo. “Yes.”

“She’s there with you? Like, overnight?”

Sly cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said again.

Mark whistled. “I was wondering when that would happen. Mom strikes again.” He chuckled.

“It’s no big deal. Just having a good time.” He didn’t want Mark to embarrass Cleo when he came over. “See you soon.” He hung up and let the dogs back in. They rushed in as if they’d been gone a month, sniffing and jumping on him.

Cleo spoke behind him. “Who was that?”

Startled, he spun around. She wore a men’s red plaid flannel robe that hugged her hips and plunged low between her breasts. “Mark.” He caught her by the waist and reached under the robe, already hungry for the feel of her.

“He’s coming here?”

He nodded. “I called to tell him about the wedding, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him over the phone.”

With an odd expression on her face, she leaned away from him. “I’d better take a shower.”

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize this was how it was going to go.”

“What?”

“Mark. Coming over. It was just going to be a phone call.”

“Oh. Right. It’s no big deal.” She patted him on the shoulder and broke free. “Just having a good time, right?”

She’d disappeared into the kitchen before he realized what she’d said. The same words he’d used with Mark.

Not good.

He jogged after her. “I said that to Mark because I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine. Good times are good.” With a wave over her shoulder, she went upstairs.

Cursing under his breath, he picked up Zeus, who continued to shadow him, and succumbed to a face licking. Affectionate little guy.

Did she really mean it? She wasn’t upset?

From another woman, he would’ve thought no. He’d screwed up, and she was hiding her true feelings. But with Cleo, he wasn’t sure. They had a long history of being brutally honest with each other.

Of course, they also had a long history of keeping their clothes on.

He set Zeus on the floor and wiped the dog spit off his cheek.

Had they gone too far, too fast?

♢ ♡ ♤

To calm the waters, Sly made pancake batter. Cleo loved pancakes. Trixie’s kitchen was well stocked, and Cleo had brought butter from her place. Butter could make so many things better. It was a reliable happiness lubricant.

Before he’d heated the pan, the doorbell rang. He set aside the batter and went to the door.

“You could’ve come right in,” Sly told Mark, surprised he’d rang the bell. “Your house, not mine.”

Mark, in a sweatshirt and old jeans, stepped inside and looked around. “I didn’t want to interrupt anything.”

Cleo appeared on the stairs. “Was that the doorbell?”

“It’s Mark,” Sly said. If she and Mark had ever met, it had been a couple of years ago, and Mark had changed since then. His wife Rose had burned the rags he used to wear, and sexual triumph had given him a taller stature. “Mark, Cleo.”

“Hi, Mark,” she said. “Nice to see you.”

“Hi.” Mark managed to smile at Cleo before turning his gaze to the floor, cheeks flushed. Marriage hadn’t cured him completely from his natural shyness around women.

Sly patted Mark’s shoulder, stalling for time. How was he going to tell him about Trixie and Hugo? He caught Cleo’s eye and gestured for her to go back upstairs. No reason for her to get caught in the crossfire.

She hesitated, then said, “I have to dry my hair. Then I’m going to take your mom’s dogs out for a walk like I promised. Did you feed them, Sly?”

“I fed them,” he said, gesturing again for her to go. Finally, she turned and walked upstairs.

When she was gone, Mark said, “You’re like an old married couple.” Something in Sly’s face must’ve amused him, because then he laughed. “Let’s go into the kitchen. My mom hides chocolate in the back of the junk drawer. She thinks I don’t know.”

“Good idea. You can eat a pancake when they’re done.”

“Who’s making pancakes?”

“I am.”

Mark strode into the kitchen and opened a drawer by the fridge. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I’m thirty-five. I would’ve starved by now if I couldn’t.”

“You can afford to eat out,” Mark said, untangling a chocolate bar from a wad of string, screwdrivers, white earbud cords, tape. “But I suppose that’s why you’re cooking breakfast foods. Not so easy to get delivery.”

Sly turned on the heat under a nonstick griddle. As much as he’d love to continue talking about himself, it was time to get to the point. “Listen, about your mom,” he began.

The chocolate bar froze halfway to Mark’s mouth. “I thought you said she was fine.”

“There’s no easy way to say this. I tried to stop it. But nobody would listen to me.”

“For God’s sake, what?” Mark asked.

Sly took a deep breath. “She and my uncle Hugo got married.”

“Excuse me?”

“They called us first thing in the morning from one of those all-night wedding chapels off the Strip, asking us to be their witnesses,” Sly said. “They really went through with it. I’m sorry, I really am, but there wasn’t anything I could do.”

To his surprise, Mark barely reacted at all. His brow furrowed the way it did when he was absorbed in an engineering problem. “This was yesterday?”

“They didn’t seem intoxicated, but they’d probably been up all night having a good time.” Sly cleared his throat. “My uncle has, ah, liked her for a long time.”

“Interesting.” Mark took a bite of the chocolate, his gaze fixed on Sly’s face. “So, they called you and Cleo, you came, they got married.”

“You’re taking this really well.”

“Just trying to get the whole picture,” Mark said. “The ceremony, it was just the four of you?”

Sly paused. “And Elvis.”

“Wow,” Mark said flatly. “No wonder you were upset. You hate Elvis.”

Sly felt that Mark wasn’t taking this at all the way he should’ve been taking it. “They really did it. They’re married. My Uncle Hugo is now your stepfather.”

“Having a vet in the family could come in handy. Rose and I are thinking about getting a cat.”

Smelling the butter burning, Sly turned off the heat and shoved the pan to a back burner. “I should’ve told you over the phone and saved us both the trouble. I assumed you’d want to know.”

Mark took another bite of chocolate. “I do want to know. Now tell me exactly,” he said, “how it is you and Cleo ended up living here in my mother’s house.”

“Your mom wanted a honeymoon. She asked Cleo to watch the dogs.”

Mark laughed softly, shaking his head. “Of course. And you’re here because…?”

“My uncle has a new dog, a really big one, and he’s sensitive…” Sly realized how absurd that must sound. “Look, I couldn’t let her face you and your family by herself. Liam’s right next door. I know how he can be.”

“That’s true. He’d jump to conclusions, lose his temper. He’s a little like our father sometimes. My mom’s said so herself.” Finishing off the chocolate, Mark looked around. “Coffee?”

BOOK: This Changes Everything
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