Page 82 of Back in the Saddle

And Eric wasn’t there.

I checked his smart home unit on his nightstand and saw it was around my normal waking-up time, ten to eight.

Eric being an early riser (as I categorized anyone who woke up before me) wasn’t a surprise.

Fortunately, he couldn’t vanish like he had before since I was at his house.

Time to find him.

First things first, I got out of bed and hit his bathroom.

After I took care of business and moved to the double basin decked out with a black marble countertop, I saw beside the unused basin a new electric toothbrush head, the toothbrush upstanding beside it, some toothpaste, and last, a tube of cleanser and tub of moisturizer that were a brand so far out of my price range, it wasn’t funny.

There was also a note.

I washed my hands, dried them and nabbed the note.

J-

Sadie forgot to take these after she and Hector stayed with me.

If you need them, I don’t think she’ll mind.

X

I didn’t think that “X” was a riff on a signature.

I thought it was a kiss.

Or I decided I was going to take it as a kiss.

And it was good to know he didn’t have expensive facial products hanging around for all his babes who fell asleep watching movies with him (or other). But instead, this was Sadie’s (by the by, she was a Rock Chick, and Hector was OG Hot Bunch, they lived in Denver).

It was better to know that he knew a girl who slept in her makeup would think it was priority one to get rid of it when she woke up.

Of course, he’d been married.

But it meant he paid attention to the stuff that might seem small to him, but was important to a woman.

The gooey feeling was back, I was still uncertain about it, but my teeth and face were not uncertain about being brushed, cleansed and moisturized.

That accomplished, I wandered down the hall, already seeing him sitting on a stool at his island at the end of it.

Since he was watching me walk to him, and he looked hot wearing blue lounge pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt that hugged his torso in all the right places, I couldn’t tear my eyes from him in order to assuage my curiosity and peruse the abundance of rooms that sat along this hall.

He swiveled my way when I got close, his bare feet resting on a rung, his long legs spread wide.

I decided to take that as an invitation.

Therefore, I walked right between his legs, felt his hands settle on my hips, watched him tip his head back, and he was so damned beautiful, I decided tease time was over.

I finally got my fingers in that thick, soft hair, dropped my mouth to his, and I kissed him.

He opened for me instantly.

Nice.

My tongue swept inside, and I tasted coffee and warmth and man musk.

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