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Which would make Christmas a serious downer, not to mention awkward as hell.
“I’m heading to the airport in about two hours.” As if sensing her unease, he twisted onto his side, wrapping both arms around her to hug her securely. “I’ll only be gone a few days, and I’ll call you every night.”
“You better.” She poked him. “If you don’t, I’ll call you, and you will answer.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said jokingly, as if she was his Domme, but she knew he was serious about it.
At least, he sounded serious. There was still that little pit in her stomach, the one that worried something would happen to change things. Everything was going really well right now. Sure, it was early in the relationship, but she felt so much more for him than she ever had for London.
They might not have spent much time together, but they had known each other for years. Been attracted to each other for years. And now that they were giving it an honest try, it was like settling into a comfortable pair of her favorite shoes. It just felt right.
Easy.
“I need to get up.” She stroked her finger over his chest, pushing gently to break his hold on her. He resisted for a moment, dipping his head for a kiss, which she gave back to him, before he let her go.
The way he watched her every move made her feel like a sex goddess as she got out of bed. She loved that he clearly wanted her, but that he didn’t try to make her late for her job. Watching her for a few moments, he finally sighed and got up as well.
While she was sitting on the edge of the bed, tugging on her socks, his phone rang. Leaning over, she raised her eyebrows when she saw the contact name.
“Deadbeat?”
“That would be my bio-dad.” Orlando made a face before tugging his shirt over it. “Just hit ignore. He’ll either leave a message or call again in a week or two.” The expression of annoyance on his face was clear. Feeling a little conflicted, Juliet rejected the call for him.
She didn’t know much about Orlando’s dad. When Mona talked about him, she mostly talked about how he’d supported them through Orlando’s childhood and needed some help now. Juliet had always gotten the impression that there wasn’t any huge acrimony between them, even though Orlando’s dad had cheated on Mona. She knew her dad and Mona had sent the man money a few times, to help him out. That was about the extent of her knowledge.
“Aren’t you worried he’s calling for a reason?” She couldn’t help but be a little curious. Especially since Orlando had him in his phone as ‘deadbeat.’ From the way Mona talked, when Orlando was a kid his dad had had partial custody and he’d also paid more than his fair share of child support, keeping them going when Mona was sick and couldn’t work.
Granted, a spouse’s relationship was always going to be different than parent-child, but she was having trouble reconciling Mona’s descriptions with that of a ‘deadbeat.’ Especially since he was calling Orlando now.
“Oh, he’s always calling for a reason.” A muscle in Orlando’s jaw clenched. Popped. “Heonlycalls for a reason.”
Juliet glanced at the clock. Shit. She needed to get going but there was an inner voice in her head telling her that something important was going on. Something about Orlando’s bio-dad. Why did he feel so differently about his dad than his mom did?
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.” The abrupt, almost shout of the word, made her jerk back in surprise. Orlando looked at her and then away again, dropping his gaze. “Sorry. But no. Thank you. My… bio dad is a sore topic for me. He only calls when he wants money.” Sighing, his shoulders dropped as he tipped his head back, looking up at the ceiling and taking a deep breath, like he was calling on his inner patience.
“Got it,” she said before he could say anything else. It was obviously a painful topic for him and that’s not how she wanted to start their day.
Turning to look at her, he gave her a rueful smile, as if he knew what she was thinking.
“Sorry. He always puts me in a bad mood.”
Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, Juliet stood up and went over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She didn’t need to understand what he was feeling in order to react to it. He hugged her back, running his hand down her spine, and she felt him relax against her.
“I wish I had time to put you in a good mood,” she teased.
“You always put me in a good mood.” Pulling away just enough to dip down and give her a kiss, Orlando hugged her to him again. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too. But we’ll talk tonight anyway, right?”
“Right.”
* * *
Orlando
“Orlando, I swear I’m not calling about money, though I understand why you think that. I just want to make amends. Maybe see if we can get together. Get to know each other again. I-“
