Page 44 of Fixed Asset

“Seriously?” Fallon quizzed.

Mason unwrapped a candy bar, his third since we’d been gathered around the kitchen table, and shook his head.

“Nope.” Mason’s tone made it clear that particular conversation was over.

“A loofah is used to cleanse and exfoliate the skin,” Ryan explained with his head bent to his phone, obviously reading from the internet. “However, if not taken care of properly, they grow bacteria and can damage sensitive skin.” Head lifted, his attention came to me, and he frowned. “Brother, I’d advise your woman to ditch the loofahs in favor of a good old-fashioned washcloth. If it ain’t broken, no reason to court a bacterial infection in the . . . you know.” He pointed in the general direction of his crotch.

“Who has a bacterial infection?” Cat asked as she walked into the kitchen.

I did a full body scan—hair wet and hanging loose around her shoulders, fresh jeans and tee, no shoes, no blood, all in one piece.

Safe.

She glanced around the table, made her decision, and walked directly to me. I adjusted my chair to get up so she’d have a place to sit, but the woman had other ideas when she plopped her ass in my lap.

That knot loosened, and my chest stopped aching.

“Do you loofah?” Fallon asked.

I had to hand it to the guy. He looked deadly serious for asking such an off-the-wall question.

“Do I loofah, as in, do I use a loofah?”

Fallon nodded. Cat answered, “No.”

“Then you’re bacteria-free.”

I only had Cat in profile but still I saw her gaze go around the table.

“Should I be concerned five men are sitting around talking about shower sponges and vaginosis?”

“What’s vaginosis?” Mason inquired.

Ryan already had his phone at the ready, thus he was quick to answer. “A common vaginal infection that happens when normal bacteria . . .” He trailed off, his lips turned down, and he silently read more before he put his phone on the table. “We weren’t talking about that. I didn’t know there was normal bacteria . . . down there. I could’ve gone my whole life and happily died not knowing.”

Catarina shrugged. “The more you know . . .”

“The less likely you are to participate in your favorite pastime,” Ryan finished with a lifted brow.

“That, or you’re less likely to come away with a bad—”

I squeezed Cat around the middle. “Baby, please don’t encourage them.”

Catarina shifted to look down at me and smiled. “I’m trying to educate your friends on an important topic.”

There was that smart-ass who had hooked me.

“I’m pretty sure Ryan’s well educated on the topic.”

Her smile widened and her gaze slid back to Ryan.

The guy was good looking. In the time since I’d been in California, I’d seen firsthand just how good looking the women who patronized the bar he co-owned with the rest of the team thought he was. If he didn’t want to go home alone, he didn’t.

“I can see it,” she muttered.

“See what?” Fallon was staring at Ryan with a frown.

“How he’d be well educated on women.”