Page 29 of Keeping it Casual
There’s a knock at the door. I glance at my watch. It’s too early to be any guests.
“Can you get that, honey?” I ask.
As soon as she’s out of the room, I frantically grab the proper glass cleaner and try to fix the smears she’s created.
“Daddy, someone is here for you,” she says as she comes into the living room trailed by a familiar tall, dark, and handsome guy.
I’m on my knees as I turn to him.
Dustin meets my eyes and offers me a small grin. I guess he’s quite familiar with me being on my knees at the moment.
“The party is not until two,” I say as I stand, putting the glass cleaning spray on the coffee table. “Did I tell you the wrong time? Sorry, all this cleaning and tidying has really addled my brain.”
“No, I know it starts at two. I just thought you might want some help setting up.”
Okay, I might have done some panic-texting to him last night about the state of my house, but I didn’t expect him to show up like a knight in shining armor. Although I guess it is in his name.
I want to throw myself at his feet and weep, but instead, I take a deep breath.
“Are you handy with a vacuum cleaner?”
“I’ve been known to operate one in the past,” he says with a smile. “Point me in the direction of the vacuum cleaner, and I’ll take it from there.”
I show him my hallway cupboard, where the vacuum cleaner lives, before retreating to the kitchen. As I frantically mop the kitchen floor, I hear the vacuum cleaner starting.
After I finish my mopping, I take the bucket and mop to return to the laundry. On my way through the living room, I’m struck by lust.
Naked Dustin is all kinds of sexy, but him vacuuming my living room carpet, his forehead puckered as he concentrates, is almost as sexy.
Is it possible to have a cleaning kink? Hmmm…that French Maid costume I had as a Halloween joke costume a few years ago might need to be dug out of the closet.
Dustin looks up and gives me one of his special sexy grins, which I can’t help returning.
I stash the mop away and come back into the living area. I’m thinking hard because I’m pretty sure there’s a fun joke about him using the vacuum cleaner to suck and me rewarding him by doing some sucking in return, but I can’t quite work out the phrasing. Before I’ve had the chance to figure it out, there’s a knock at the door.
I open it to find Em standing there holding a plate offood.
“Hiya!” I say, then cringe at my overbright tone. Shit. I always do this with Em now. Veer from being cautious to overly friendly. It’s awful. I wish we could return to the natural, easygoing way we used to relate to each other.
“I made those cherry tarts you love,” she says as she steps inside.
“Oh, that’s great. Thanks heaps.”
As I take them from her, I remember we used to joke about how we’d popped each other’s cherry and how we were both tarts.
I’m fairly sure that bringing that up now wouldn’t be the best idea.
Emily follows me through to the kitchen. I’m just unwrapping the clingfilm off the tarts when Dustin comes in.
“I’ve finished the living area. Do you want me to vacuum anything else?” he asks.
Em’s eyebrows fly up. “Oh, hey.” Her gaze ping-pongs between us, and I can see the question mark on her face.
I find myself stumbling to explain his presence. “Dustin just came over to help me because I was freaking out about not having the place ready on time. He’s my knight in shining armor. Get it? Because his last name is Knight? And instead of wielding a sword and shield, he’s armed with a vacuum cleaner. It would have been interesting if real knights had used vacuum cleaners to fight, don’t you think?”
Emily’s and Dustin’s foreheads rumple identically as I blather on.
Shut up now if you ever want to have sex with Dustin again, a wise voice inside me strongly suggests.
