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Her delight bubbled to the surface. "You sure did. You got totally carried away by lust, Bonner. Totally."
"I'm not the only one. And it's not funny. Having somebody walk in on the two of us is the last thing your reputation needs right now. It's bad enough that I'm living at the cottage with Kristy gone."
"Yeah-yeah." She regarded him mischievously. "That tongue thing… You did it on Saturday night, too. I like it."
He rolled his eyes, exasperated, but also amused.
"Do you know the last person I did anything like that with?"
"Not G. Dwayne I'll bet." He moved over to the coffeemaker, as if he didn't trust himself to stand so close to her. She saw the distinct bulge at the front of his jeans and felt a rush of womanly satisfaction.
"Are you kidding? He was a dry pecker."
"A what?"
"He used to give me these dry little pecking kisses that never quite made it to my mouth. No, the last time I kissed like that was my junior year in high school with Jeffrey Dillard in the Sunday-school storage closet. We'd both been eating Jolly Ranchers, so it was sweet in more ways than one."
"You haven't done any tongue kissing since your junior year of high school?"
"Pathetic, isn't it? I was afraid if I did I'd go to hell, which is one of the good things about the last few years of my life."
"How's that?"
"I don't worry about hell anymore. I've sort of developed a 'been there, done that' attitude."
"Rach…"
He looked so distressed she wanted to bite her tongue. Irreverence might help stave off her fear, but it upset him. "Lame joke, Bonner. Hey, you'd better get back to work before the boss catches you loafing. He's a real tightwad, and, if you're not careful, he'll dock your pay. Personally, I'm scared to death of him."
"Is that so?"
> "The man has no pity, not to mention being stingy. Luckily, I'm smarter than he is, so I've figured a way to get a promotion."
"How's that?" He took a sip of coffee.
"I'm going to strip him naked and then lick him all over."
His lengthy coughing fit left her with a sense of satisfaction that carried her through the rest of the afternoon.
Edward crouched on his haunches, the heels of his hands braced on his knees, and gazed into the cardboard box. "It's not dead yet."
The kid's pessimistic attitude annoyed Gabe, but he tried not to show it. He returned the mixture of ground beef, egg yolk, and baby cereal he'd been using to feed the sparrow to the refrigerator. Edward had been hanging around the box all evening to watch, but he finally stood, pushed his rabbit headfirst into the elastic waistband of his shorts, and wandered into the living room.
Gabe stuck his head through the doorway. "Leave your mother alone for a while longer, okay?"
"I want to see her."
"Later."
The boy pulled the stuffed rabbit from his shorts, tucked it against his chest, and regarded Gabe resentfully.
Rachel had been holed up in her bedroom with G. Dwayne's Bible ever since Kristy had brought it over. If she'd found anything, the door would have blown open, but since it hadn't, he knew she was facing another disappointment. The least he could do was keep the boy occupied while she dealt with it.
Now he watched as the five-year-old ignored his instructions and tried to sidle inconspicuously toward the back hallway.
"I asked you to leave your mother alone."
"She said she'd read Stellaluna to me."
