“Got sucked into a show last night. Haven’t been to sleep yet,” I lied. I sipped at the coffee. “Damn good coffee.”
He hummed, a sure sign he didn’t believe a word I’d said, and took a seat in one of the chairs at the patio table before frowning at me. “If things are getting bad again, Corvus, you can just tell me. I’m here if you need to talk about it. Or about anything.”
I shook my head, hoping he wouldn’t see through my bullshit more than he already was. “Nah, I’m good. Promise,” I lied, even smiling at him. It was a smile I’d practiced so much, it was second nature to use it. Only Hudson had ever been able to see through it.
Kreed just nodded, his face and his eyes not revealing anything, then he stood. “Hudson will probably sleep the day away like he always does.”
I smirked. Summer vacation had finally come around, and we’d only been home for two days. Hudson was drained from school, and he’d been sleeping all night and nearly all day to recuperate. I’d barely seen him.
“If either of you needs me, just call,” Kreed said, his hand on the door handle. “Credit card is on the kitchen counter if either of you don’t want the food that’s in the house.”
“You’re spoiling me, Kreed.” I leaned over onto the arm of the chair a little, fluttering my lashes at him. “Got room for one more in your adorable-as-fuck relationship?”
He snorted a laugh. “Hudson would kill you.”
I laughed and sat back. “He would, but I’m only messing about.” I waved him off. “Have a good day at work. And don’t forget to send my best friend a dick pic. You know how much he loves those.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Kreed muttered then headed inside. I chuckled to myself and lifted my blunt back to my lips, determined to relax and maybe catch a few more Zs before the sun came out to play.
Chapter One
Michelle
Bracing my arm on the top of the fridge door and planting my other hand on my hip, I leaned in, perusing my lunch options. There was leftover lasagna, which I’d brought in from dinner the night before. I screwed my nose up. Nah, I wasn’t feeling lasagna again. We had the stuff to make a sandwich, but I didn’t really want a sandwich either. The prepackaged salad looked good, but I knew I’d be hungry again in an hour if I ate that. I knew a sandwich was the more logical choice so I could jump back into working quicker, but I wanted a sandwich even less than I wanted leftover lasagna.
Sighing, I shut the fridge. Kip, my husband and best friend, chuckled from behind me.
“Ordering out today?” he asked, setting an order form for a part on the desk.
Kip was Japanese-American with beige skin that had a slightly golden undertone, ink-black hair he kept long enough to pull back into a half-bun, and warm brown eyes. To others in our kink community, we didn’t really work on paper. He was aDaddy Dom through and through, and I was a Mommy Domme, though I liked to switch for the right person—Kip being that person. I trusted him wholly, but the Daddy kink just wasn’t something I was into. We made it work by sometimes taking in a third to play for a night. Sometimes, we even decided to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend for a while, but they never fit one hundred percent with us, usually because they were into having a Daddy but not a Mommy.
Kip pulled his towel from the back pocket of his grease-stained, dirty jeans and began wiping his hands somewhat clean. I stared at the veins in his arms, wishing so badly we weren’t swamped with work, so he could just bend me over the desk and have me for lunch. But alas, we were adults with a booming business, and sometimes, that took priority over a lunch quickie.
“Probably,” I told him. “I want a salad, but I’ll be starving in?—”
I was cut off by the office phone ringing. Sighing, I grabbed it off the desk and answered it. Kip smirked at my annoyed face, then kissed the side of my head and headed back out into the workshop.
“Thank you for calling Tanaka Motors. How can I help you?”
“Yeah, um, I need a tow?” The guy formed it as more of a question than a statement. “My car suddenly lost speed, and the temp began rising. I’m on the side of the road.”
“What road?” I asked, already reaching for the tow-truck keys, which we kept on a hook on the wall near the door.
“Gwinnett Road,” he told me.
“Hang tight. I’ll be there in about ten minutes. The tow will be a hundred. That doable?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll see you in about ten minutes. Thanks.”
“Sure thing.” I ended the call then walked out into the bay, where Kip leaned over the engine of a truck once more, clearly putting off lunch for a little while longer.
Sensing my presence, he glanced over at me, arching a brow. “What’s up?”
I set the phone on his toolbox, so he’d hear it if someone called. “Got a call for a tow.” Leaning in, I kissed him. “Order a pizza or something, and I’ll eat when I get back.”
“You better,” he warned. “No jumping straight into work without eating,tsuma.” And just like always, hearing him call me his wife in Japanese made my fucking heart melt. He rarely spoke the language, but he liked using that as his term of endearment for me. And I was a sucker for it.
“Promise.”
