Mrs. Bauer sat on the sofa with two dogs and a very angry looking long-haired cat. “Hello, Axel. Long time, no see.” She smiled, holding out a hand to shake with him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I think you’re old enough to call us Moon and Howard,” she kindly said, although she shot Howard a glare. “I’m going to lock you out of the bedroom tonight, mister. You can take your chances with Skye killing you in your sleep for that stunt.”
He grinned as he waved her comment away. “Naw, he didn’t run. That’s a good sign, right?”
Moon shook her head and offered Axel another smile. “Apologies for my husband. I wish I could blame it on dementia…but that’s just him.”
Axel heard a bedroom door fly open somewhere down a hallway. “Mom? Was that the doorbell?”
“Yes, and yes, I already threatened your father. Don’t worry, Axel’s not a runner.”
A growl echoed down the hallway, making both dogs cringe against Moon.
“Would you like a drink or something, dear?” Moon asked.
“Or a tranquilizer?” Howard snarked.
“I’ll take a spare Xanax, if you have one.”
Howard started laughing. “This one’s funny, Skye,” he called out. “Why did you break up with him?”
Another horrified shriek echoed down the hall.
* * * *
Skye had nearly emptied her closet and dresser all over her bed while trying to decide what to wear. Now she was frantically pulling on clothes and trying to find two damn matching shoes to get the hell out there.
I.
Will.
Fucking.
Kill.
Him.
Her father sometimes didn’t know when to stop with the jokes. Not that he was ever mean-spirited, because he wasn’t. But she didn’t want anything messing up this date with Axel, even if they weren’t officially calling it a date.
Shewas.
And that told her a lot.
Maybe he’s secretly kinky and Rusty and the others don’t know about it.
Or even open-minded. She could work with that, too.
But tonight was absolutelynotthe night to get too far into that. Maybe a little. She wanted to spend the night alone with him, reconnecting, relaxing, and trying to get rid of the terrifying jitters coursing through her system right now.
She yanked her bedroom door open so hard it bounced off a stray shoe that had landed behind it and it smacked her in the head on the rebound.
“Ow! Sonofabitch!”
Her father appeared at the end of the hallway. “Honey? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just a minute.”Shit!She didn’t think it’d caught her hard enough to give her a black eye, but wouldn’t that just be a hoot and a half?
