Walk of Shame (35 page)

"I've thought about
it," he answered with a smile.

"I can hook you up with a
site where you can freelance and give it a try."

"You put a family in close
quarters like this and it'll be hard to make a spot quiet enough to record for
any real length of time."

"True."

He smiled. "You like the
sound of my voice?"

I smiled back at him. "Yes.
And I like how this place smells like you."

His smile broadened, though he
tried not to let it, as he set his laptop aside and moved over to sit next to
me on the couch. "So, you like what you hear and what you smell. I assume
you like what you see." He brushed my hair behind my ear and nuzzled my
neck. "Do you like what you feel?" he whispered when I breathed a
sigh. His hands cupped my chin and let his lips hover centimeters from mine.
"Do I overwhelm your senses?"

"Keep it up and you just
might," I whispered back, closing my laptop before he reached over and
took it off my lap to place it on the side table.

By the time he got me horizontal,
Troy was knocking on the door to snag me for interviews about my day.

After Troy finished with me, I
joined the nightly gathering around the fire pit. I let Chloe hold court for
the night. She was in the midst of quizzing the guys how they have handled a
crisis on the road. They all had ready answers.

I shook my head at her. If she
thought to help eliminate a guy because he wasn't road savvy, I thought she was
going to come up empty-handed. They all seemed to have a good handle on the
lifestyle.

Goldie whined on the outskirts of
the gathering, and I looked down to find her with a stick and a wagging tail. The
poor dog looked like she didn't even care who got up to throw for her. She'd
take anybody. I felt bad over not having had any time for her over the last couple
days and got up to go to her.

Jared was already standing to
help her out as well. He gave me a questioning brow and I nodded. We walked
Goldie the short distance to the lake and he started tossing the stick out for
her to swim after.

"Do you miss your dog?"
I asked him.

"Yeah, I do, especially now
that we're back in our rigs."

"How do you keep him from
messing up your field samples?"

"I gate off the
kitchen."

"Like with baby gates?"

"Yep."

"And he respects the
gate?"

"If he doesn't want a time-out,
locked in the bathroom, he does."

"Cool."

His grin was lopsided. "I am
the alpha dog."

I grinned back at him. "I
bet you are."

He took my hand. "And they
like to sleep with me because I have the cuddle thing down to a science."

I turned into his ready embrace
and stared at his mouth. "Well this, I know. And I bet you manage to rub
them in just the right spots, too."

His gaze fell to my mouth, as his
smile grew more confident. "Damn right I do," he whispered before
closing the distance to kiss me under the moonlight.

We ended up horizontal in the
sand before Goldie got impatient enough to come over and shake off the water
clinging to her coat right next to us. It was enough to break the spell between
us.

Jared walked Goldie and me to our
door, where Chloe was waiting. He said goodnight and winked before turning to
leave.

I shut the door and grabbed a
towel to help dry Goldie.

"Why is there sand in your
hair?" Chloe questioned.

"Because we were at that
small portion of sandy beach a little bit down from here."

"That explains sand on your
feet and legs. It doesn't get in your hair unless you're rolling around on
it."

"Jealous?"

"Yes."

We laughed,
then I showered before collapsing into bed.

"You've got to be freaking
kidding me! Go. Away," I yelled at the door that'd been stupid enough to
let somebody knock on it.

Goldie whined and lifted her
head.

"Don't you dare bark,"
I muttered at her.

She yawned, dropped her mouth
open to pant, and wagged her tail.

Jared opened the door and stuck
his head in the room. "We have breakfast waiting," he said.

I grunted at him.

He took two steps into the room
and closed the door behind him. "If you want, I can bring a plate in to
you," he offered.

Goldie whined and inched her way
over to the edge of the bed.

"I'm too tired to eat. I'll
find something at lunch, if I'm still alive," I said.

He stepped forward, gave Goldie
an affectionate pat, kicked off his sneakers with a sigh, and got under the
covers with me. He wrapped his arms around me, nuzzled my neck, nipped my ear,
and started whispering in his low, southern voice. "You're the center of
attention, baby. We need you out there. We're all lost without our ray of
sunshine."

I blew out a breath. "You're
so full of it."

"Wow. Usually you think I'm
all sorts of cute. And deep whispers in your ear make you feel like you're
being coated in melted butter."

I reached around and put a finger
on his lips. "Shhh. I'm tired. I'm grouchy. I don't want to take that out
on you, so either hush or leave." Then I rolled back over and snuggled with
a pillow, hoping someone would hit the pause button and let me sleep a little
longer.

Jared pulled his arms away and I
thought he was going to go and take Goldie with him. I was sorry to have chased
him away and made a mental note to apologize to him later. But then his hands
reached under the back of my pajama top and he began to massage my shoulders.
When I didn't respond right away, he upped the pressure and dug in, kneading
the muscles.

Heaven, pure and simple. He
worked the back of my neck, both my shoulders, and lower back with me humming
and sighing the entire time.

He massaged me out of my
grouchiness.

And this time when he nuzzled my
neck, my head moved back to rest on his shoulder. He reached down and pulled my
hips back against his. I could feel him through his shorts, against my
backside, and it took everything I had not to grind back on him.

But then he nipped my ear and
whispered, "All better now?"

And I ground back on him anyway.

Goldie jumped down to the floor
and resettled herself, safe away from nudging feet.

Jared groaned and started laying
strategic kisses on my neck that had me humming in a completely different way.

I rolled in his arms, pushed him
on his back, and climbed on top of him.

Chloe opened the door and snapped
her fingers for Goldie. "Do whatever you two are going to do, but don't
corrupt the dog." She shut the door after Goldie left.

The intense spell broken, we
laughed and decided that it was time to get up and get the day started. Jared
straightened his clothes and headed back out to the guys. I grabbed my robe and
made my way to the shower.

Showers usually served to revive
me a bit, but it didn't work this time. I came out feeling about as energized
as I was when Jared first woke me up. The MA came, dressed me, and swiped her
brushes all over my face. She tried to engage me in conversation, but the most
I managed was a few grunts. She sighed, swiped something else on me, and deemed
me acceptable for the cameras. I went outside and flopped into a camp chair.

"Good morning, princess,"
Troy said from the picnic table.

I just looked at him, still in no
mood to really move or do anything.

"Tired, are we?" he
asked.

My stare continued.

He nodded knowingly. "Over-stimulated,
I know. Too much going on," he murmured. He clapped his hands together and
looked up at the guys. "You all broke the pretty, pretty princess when you
wouldn't give her any downtime."

"So now what do we do with
her?" Jared asked with a devilish grin. "Toss her in a boat and throw
her overboard?"

"How about we turn back time
and don't make her get out of bed?" I tossed out, openly letting my
sarcasm flow.

"Okay," Troy said,
trying to placate me. "What would you like to do today?"

"Nothing," was my
immediate response. "You know how you feel when you need an extra day of
vacation to recover from your vacation? That's how I feel. I need a day of
nothing. No work, no pulling me in a half-dozen different directions, no
cameras, just a day of nothing."

"All right," Chloe said
with a determined nod, turning to Troy. "She's mine today. Tell production
we're deliberating over the men, or whatever you need to say, to keep them out
of our hair." She turned to me, "Go hook your computer up to your TV.
I'm going to go put an order in with catering."

I didn't wait for anybody to
agree to anything. I just got up and went back inside my home. I was in the
middle of hooking the cord to the TV when Chloe got back.

She came in with a grocery bag
full of stuff, set it on the floor, and started yanking cushions off the couch.

"What're you doing?" I
asked.

"You remember when we'd get
sick and Mom would gather all the cushions, pillows, and blankets on the
floor?"

"Yeah. She said she was
building us a nest for us to relax and get better in."

She lifted and unfolded the pullout
bed and pointed down to it. "Well think of this as a nest for adults. Go
grab all your pillows."

I had to hand it to my sister a
few hours later. She knew how to break my mood. We watched back episodes of my
favorite soap opera and snacked on junk food. I was back to almost normal by
mid-afternoon.

Catering knocked on the door at
two and dropped off two more bags of groceries to Chloe.

"What are we making?" I
asked.

"I can do it myself, if you
still need more time," she said.

"Are you just making
something quick for dinner, or are you going to get a project going?"

"I was thinking a big batch
of meatballs."

"Using Mom's meatloaf
recipe?"

"Yeah. Cook up some
spaghetti and let the guys see a little of what they have to look forward to.
We wouldn't have to eat with them. We could fill our plates and then throw the
rest out the window, they'll come running like dogs," she teased.

I smiled. "I could handle
eating with them if they'll stop dragging me off to different places."

"I didn't realize how
exhausting this all must be for you. I was picturing all Champaign and
moonlight for you."

"It wasn't this bad before.
It's just that since we got here, they've all declared open season on getting
my attention. Every time I turn around, someone is snagging me to take me
somewhere else. I'm used to there being some semblance of a break."

We continued with our discussion,
and she got me talking about how things were going this week as we pulled out
ingredients and started mixing. We rolled the balls and got them in the oven,
having to cook them in two separate batches because of the smaller size of my
appliance. Then we started simmering them in spaghetti sauce.

Dinner turned out well. We made
the meatballs and then realized we could call catering and ask them to handle
the rest. By the time we ventured out of the rig, they had sent down spaghetti,
salad, and cheesy garlic bread.

"The pretty princess is
still on a dating strike," Chloe warned the guys, after I'd sent her
outside first. "If you spook her, she will go back into hiding."

"We'll just do the group
thing tonight," Mike said.

Once I'd overheard their ready
agreement, I came outside with the pot full of meatballs. "Whenever Chloe
comes out on the road with me," I said after I'd set the pot down on the
table with the rest of the food, "we like to cook massive amounts of
something yummy and then eat it for days so we don't have to do it again
anytime soon."

"Yeah, and if we get tired
of it before it's gone, we'll freeze what's left to come back to later, after
the next batch of whatever we make is gone," Chloe agreed.

"And this is an antic you
two plan on continuing after you marry whoever you end up with?" Liam
asked.

"Yep. Sometimes I do it when
she's not around, especially if I'm knee-deep into a novel that I have a ton of
ideas for." I fixed my plate and kept right on talking. "Sometimes I
get tired of being in the living room day after day and I'll set up a spot on
the bed for a few days. Sometimes I'll take over the dining area table with
stuff spread out for conventions for three days and deal with it all in stages.
Sometimes I pull out the sleeper sofa and take over the whole thing with
pillows and blankets, like Chloe had me do today, and write there for a few
days. Sometimes I'll sleep out there just for the change of pace."

They were all looking at me as I
sat down, waiting to see if I'd say anything else, so I kept on talking.
"I'm so particular about my awning because if you look at it, you'll see
Velcro pieces sewn in all along the edges because I have screen material I can
attach and create a screened porch for myself. On insanely gorgeous days, I'll
extend the awning, drag the spot's picnic table underneath, open up my outdoor
kitchen, and screen myself in. I have a box in one of the storage compartments
that has all the parts for a three hundred dollar desk chair, and the mat to
roll it around on. I have to be comfy when I'm writing, so I'll put it together
and put it out at the picnic table to work. Or sometimes I put it at the
kitchen table and shove two of the standard chairs under the rig."

I looked up at them, after
getting my drink settled on the ground, next to the chair I'd claimed, and my
plate balanced on my lap. They were all still watching me. "Mostly I work
on the couch, but I need a change of pace from time to time is all I'm
saying."

"What spurred all that
on?" Stephen asked.

"You guys are tripping over
yourselves to snag time and sell me on how each of you should be the one. I'm
just trying to give you more insight on what you'll be getting. I know that
maybe I won't be able to take over the table, or what have you, after I get
settled with one of you. But I'll need some temporary alternatives sometimes,
and it'll go on for up to a week before I'm back to my normal spot."

"Have you always suffered
from bouts of cabin fever?" Jared asked with a smile.

"I used to be fairly normal
before I started sitting at a computer for hours on end, day after day."

"No, she wasn't," Chloe
said.

I turned and looked at her.

"What? You used to rearrange
your bedroom two or three times a year." She turned to the guys. "Her
senior year, we got snowed in with a blizzard."

I started laughing. "Yeah,
okay, I wasn't normal."

"What did she do?"
Phillip asked.

"She switched the living and
dining rooms and made me help," Chloe said.

"It's no wonder you can't
live in a house like a normal person," Mike teased.

"Maybe if I was commuting
back and forth to an office... No, not even then." I sighed and shook my
head. "My point is for you all to know what you're getting into with me.
It's like there's a whole slew of things I have to go through and take care of
before I can sit and focus on my novel to the point that the world falls away
and my mind can get to a different place. "

"Almost like you have to be
in a different place in order for your mind to get to where it's going?" 
Mike asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"I get that," Stephen
said. "That's probably why you also like wide open spaces to park your
rig. It lets your mind wander."

"Exactly. I'm glad you guys
seem to get it," I said.

"There's something else
about her that you guys should know," Chloe said.

I turned to her, frowning.
"What?"

She looked at me. "You
snore."

"I what?" I asked.

"You snore." She turned
to the guys. "She snores."

"What kind of decibel level
are we talking?" Jared asked, grinning.

"Yeah, should one of us
invest in some earplugs?" Mike asked, his eyes sparkling.

"Here, judge for
yourself," Chloe answered, looking at something on her phone.

"Oh, come on!" I
yelled, jumping up to snatch her phone away from her.

She fended me off with one hand
and gave the phone to Phillip with the other.

I dove after it and Mike yanked
me off my feet and lifted me with his arm wrapped around my abdomen.

We spent that
evening goofing off in camp. To counter my embarrassment, the guys started
telling tales of things that happened in the main house and of the other's
antics. It was a perfect, laid-back ending to the day.