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“I mean, I hope!” Junie replied, but she didn’t sound very hopeful.
I headed home, meeting Barrett at my place. We had a quiet evening and went to bed early where he tossed and turned in his sleep. Around two a.m. I felt his stillness and knew he was awake.
“You okay, Viking?”
He sighed. “Just thinking too much.”
I turned to face him and lay my hand over his heart. “Can I help you?”
He looked at me in the dim light. “Yeah?”
I smiled. “Yeah.”
He pulled me under him, and his mouth hit my throat. He needed even more control than usual. Once he’d wrapped my hands around the spindles of the headboard and spread my legs wide, he treated me to a sensual onslaught that took me up and pushed me over faster than he ever had before. It was quick, it was dirty, and half an hour later we were both sound asleep.
Saturday morning, we headed out on a drive-out. At first, I didn’t want to go so far away from Muffin in case she got worse, but Barrett needed it and wanted me with him. It wasn’t hard to give him that.
Once we passed Milltown’s city limits, I found out it was exactly what I needed as well. My shoulders lowered and I rolled my neck as those muscles loosened as well.
“Where are you taking me, Viking?” I murmured.
“Don’t know, curly, just need to drive,” he rumbled, looking at me in concern. “Is that all right with you?”
“It’s good, honey.”
Seeing him at odds riled all my protective instincts, and I longed to soothe his angst. I reached across the seat and placed my hand on his thigh.
“Do you want to talk?”
He looked at me with amusement and I snorted in response.
He chuckled. “There’s nothing to say. It was and is a disturbing situation. Drive-outs help me process it through my system. Having you here beside me is better than any words you could give me.”
Eventually, we exited the highway and drove through a small lakeside town close to the U.S. border.
“Coffee or photography first?”
“Pictures first,” I decided.
I owned a decent camera, but Barrett’s camera was a dream. It made sense considering how often he indulged in photography. The sheer number of photographs on his walls attested to that. He took many pictures of me throughout the day. Some he let me see, others he kept to himself. I’d taken many of him as well. He was my favorite subject.
By the time we got home, Barrett was relaxed and had regained his customary stillness. We stopped by the clinic to check on his patients and I spent time cuddling Muffin and the others who tolerated it.
We spent Sunday morning in bed where Barrett worked out more of his control issues, and in the afternoon, after spending a couple of hours at the shelter we headed to Mara and Zale’s.
Barrett
He watched her with her sister and Bex. She was completely natural with them. With Zale, there was something different, a reverence almost, and with Rhys she was slightly, but not noticeably, more reserved. With the children, she relaxed completely, easily drawing them into conversation and making them laugh. Even at her sister’s home, she still constantly scanned her environment, constantly tracking her people, but her eyes, when they met his, were happy.
Barrett and Rhys often gathered at their parents, at least one day on the weekend, for dinner. Barrett hadn’t gone, other than for the Labor Day barbecue, since he started with Willa. She wasn’t ready and he didn’t want to spook her but cutting his parents out of his weekly routine for so long was beginning to wear on him.
Chapter 35
You See it Too?
Willa
I spent the entire next week preparing for the fundraiser, looking after Muffin, and dealing with the demands of our asshole client, including the fallout when we could not, or would not, accommodate him.
