Page 8 of Painless
“Did you train her to do that?” Noelle reached over to give some head scratches of her own.
“Nope.” I stared at the little ball of fur, now grooming one of her front paws. “She did that all on her own.”
Three
MARIPOSA
The deep, thumping bass of rap music floated down the street as I headed toward Jandro’s shop. Having lunch together became our routine and was one of the highlights of my day. I touched the butterfly pendant at my throat, smiling when I saw him stretched out on a creeper, doing some kind of repair under a motorcycle.
His knees were bent, jeans worn down thin, beat-up work boots on the concrete floor. The white undershirt tank tops he wore while working looked so hot on him, even as they got covered in dirt and grease throughout the day.
As I got closer, I heard him rapping along to the song playing on the boombox. The music was loud enough that he didn’t hear me walk up. He didn’t even notice me there until I stepped one leg over his torso and sat down to straddle him.
“I really hope that’s you,Mariposita, or someone’s about to get a socket wrench up his ass.”
“Damn. I really hope it’s me too, then.”
I lifted my feet so he could roll the creeper out from under the bike. If I wasn’t already laughing, his smile would have done it for me. Seeing my sexy grease monkey always lifted my mood.
“Hi,bonita.” He lifted up to plant a kiss on me, careful to avoid touching me with his hands.
“Hi,guapito. You hungry?”
“Always,” he purred, kissing me again, deeper. His hips shifted underneath me, lighting heat in my core like a match.
I smiled against his lips before opening up to let our tongues meld together like they did so well. I had sat on him on a whim just to be silly, but quickly realized I might’ve gotten more than I bargained for.
He kissed my nose sweetly when our erotic tongue-fucking ended. “Let me up so I can wash my hands.”
“Hmm.” I ground into his lap instead, finding his bulge with the space between my legs. “I like you right here, actually.”
“Mari,” he groaned. “You can’t complain about getting dirty when that mind of yours is so filthy.”
“I think it’d be fun,” I teased, tugging down the front of his tank top. “You can’t get my scrubs all greasy, but I can touch you anywhere I want.”
“Reaper!” Jandro yelled in mock despair, tossing his head back. “Help me, we’ve created a monster.”
I kissed his throat, laughing as I finally stood up. “You love that I can’t get enough of you both.”
“My dick hasn’t fallen off yet, so yes, that remains true.” Grinning, he stood and headed off to the restroom to wash up.
I set up our lunch in the tiny kitchen, finding comfort in the small, domestic routine. Jandro kissed my cheek and thanked me for lunch when he returned, then flicked water droplets from his wet hands in my face. I aimed a punch at his bicep, but he batted my fist away and kissed me again. Ah, domestic bliss.
Freyja circled the small table as we ate. The humbling wisdom I’d seen in her eyes earlier was gone, replaced by eagerness to catch a piece of the steamed fish we had with our rice and beans today. In other words, she was just being a cat.
Gunner had recently set up a deal with a guy who stocked local ponds and lakes from a fish hatchery way up in the northern territories. It wasn’t chicken or steak, but at least we had a regular source of protein and denser calories to eat.
“Reaper wants you over tonight,” I told Jandro, once we stopped messing with each other. “Doesn’t sound like he’s expecting good news from the scouting team.”
“He’s always expecting the worst,” Jandro said dismissively. “The way I see it, the first drone was destroyed and we haven’t seen any more flying overhead. Tash, or whoever it was, tried something and it didn’t work. That in itself is good for us.”
“Makes sense. I just hope you can make Reaper see it that way.”
“I try, but you know how he is.” Jandro shrugged. “He sees it as his personal responsibility to expect the worst and prepare for it. After what happened to his mom’s community, he’s not even willing to risk cautious optimism. To him, it’s the same as letting your guard down. And that’s not something he’s ever willing to do when it comes to protecting his people.” He nudged my shoulder playfully. “Until you came along, he never let his guard down at all. Now he’s only crotchety when it comes to running the club, and that’s a huge improvement.”
I smiled at him. “I do love seeing both of you happy. Like actually happy, and not just celebrating being alive for another day. It makes me hopeful for the future.”
“I feel the same way,Mariposita.” He leaned in for a kiss, but I pulled back, making a face at him because he’d just taken a big bite of fish.
