Page 29 of The Anaconda Downstairs

#FamilyTime #KingmanClan #GameNight #Caturday #CoupleGoals

HOT FOR TEACHER

PENELOPE

Iwoke up with a start, my heart racing as if I’d just run a marathon. The dream had felt so real—Everett’s body pressed against mine, his lips mere inches from my own. I could still feel the ghost of his breath on my skin, the electricity crackling between us.

Great snakes of fire. Waking up from sex dreams of Everett was becoming much too regular of an occurrence. Getting laid had not been on my priority list for why I wanted to get a date, not that it would be a terrible thing, well... maybe for the guy. But my own personal battery operated boyfriend was clearly not fulfilling my needs anymore.

It was already completely embarrassing to ask for dating lessons, there was no way I could also ask for sex lessons, even if I needed them. Or so the last guy I’d been with had said.

“Get it together, Pen,” I muttered, pressing the heels of my hands against my eyes. This was ridiculous. Everett was just helping me out, teaching me how to date. That almost-kiss on his porch? It was just a lesson in body language. Nothing more.

A lesson I’d replayed in my mind about a thousand billion trillion times.

Somebody was hot for teacher.

I flopped back onto my pillow with a groan. This crush that was getting hotter and heavier by the day was not going to find me a date for the Grampys and it definitely wasn’t going to help me maybe someday find a man to fall in love with. And I had absolutely no idea what to do about it.

Work. That’s what I’d do. It was the perfect way to ignore my problems. I had plenty. Although Everett had helped me check one thing off my list by helping me find a snake for Kelsey’s video. Billy’s parents had been more than thrilled, especially given their shiny new snake wrangler and trainer fully paid for by us and the fee we were going to pay them for Snakey’s guest appearance.

Poor girl needed a way better name. I’d work on that with Billy. His mom was a total Bestie, so I’m sure I could get her to put in a good word. Oh, oh, or maybe she’d allow us to run a name the snake contest on our socials. That was going on the to-do list ASAP.

I made my way into the office-den and popped open my laptop. The first thing up was to hammer through a bunch of emails. Which should have taken me all of fifteen or thirty minutes. Maybe it wouldn’t have taken me so much longer if I hadn’t checked my phone about seventeen times to see if anyone, like a dating coach I knew, might have texted me.

He had not. Nada.

Then I took care of a couple of contracts that needed to be signed, and maybe googled best body language to let a guy know you want to be kissed. That led me to FlipFlop and some kind of challenge girls were doing with their boyfriends and husbands. Neither of which I had, so that wasn’t all that helpful.

Unless I asked Everett to...

No. Stop it. Back to work.

I made some travel arrangements for me, Kelsey, and the crew. I was not looking forward to doing all the research andplanning the hotels and venues for Kelsey’s tour this summer. I really wish there was someone whose job it was to go check out potential hotels for Kelsey and the tour staff to stay in all around the world. It would be a pretty cool job for someone who liked to travel.

My to-do list was long, and so far, I’d only checked three-ish things off. I usually got loads done on a Monday morning, but I was so damn distracted.Mondays were Kelsey’s new self-care sleep-in days, and I wouldn’t even see her up and about before noon. Declan always walked Pooh for her in the morning and brought her breakfast in bed, so it’s not like she’d notice if I wasn’t here until this afternoon.

Which was probably good, because she’d definitely notice my lack of focus today. Which would lead to questions, questions about what I’d done last night, and with who.

None of which I was ready to tell her.

But I did really need someone to talk this through with me.

Kelsey was out of the question. She was my friend just as much as my boss, but this was the one problem I couldn’t take to her. Who else was I even friends with though? My life for the past five years had been all about work. I had all the backup singers and dancers who I was friendly with, but I didn’t know if we were actually friends. Not for a crisis like this we weren’t.

The next closest almost friends I had were the other Kingman brothers. I’d get teased and treated like a little sister to no end if Flynn or Gryffen ever caught wind of this. So they were definitely not an option.

It wasn’t like I was going to call my dad. Although I did need to check in on him. But he wasn’t exactly calling me regularly either, so I didn’t feel too bad about not talking to him all that often. As long as I kept paying the bill at his retirement community, we were both good to go.

What I needed was a good old-fashioned gal pal. But... who would understand even half of what was going on in my life? Hmm. Maybe Willa, Hayes’s new girlfriend? She was new to the Kingman whirlwind too, and we’d hit it off at all the events we’d both been to recently.

My phone buzzed with a text, and I nearly slapped it right off the desk. I caught it just in time before it went tumbling to the floor and was irritated with myself for being disappointed at the name on the screen.

It was Kelsey. Who else would it be? Duh.

Meeting Dec for a late lunch. Tried to see if you wanted to join, but I said your name like five times and you didn’t respond. IDK what you’re working on so hard, but I’m sure it will be great.

My stomach rumbled, and I realized I’d worked, or possibly daydreamed, my way right through lunch and apparently Kelsey trying to get my attention.

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