Bruno came sliding into home, crashed into the breakfast bar and scrambled to his feet. I winced and went to the cupboard to get him a treat. I wished that he would stop doing that, but if he insisted on traveling everywhere at light speed, then I should tie a buffer cloth to his butt. At least I could get the floors cleaned.
“Those things don’t matter so much.”
“They matter to me.” He leaned up against the counter and watched Bruno run off somewhere with his tiny Milk Bone. “I don’t want you to think back to the moment I proposed to you and remember being dressed in leather and latex. Besides, I’m a guy, and I don’t want to introduce you as my fiancée to anyone, even my parents, unless you have a ring on your finger.”
“Okay, but you don’t have to make big plans. You’ve already swept me off my feet. Trust me.”
He turned his full attention to me and my tummy actually fluttered. “I just want to make it special. Then we’ll tell our parents and I’m sure they’ll want to make a formal announcement and throw a big engagement party.”
“Oh, a big party! See this? This is my excited look.”
“What’s wrong with having a big party to celebrate?”
“I just don’t do parties very well, Braden. Gatherings are fine. Get-togethers I can handle. Parties, not so much. My chit chat leaves a lot to be desired. I usually wind up standing in a corner petting a cat or sitting on a flight of stairs talking to somebody’s kid. Once I did someone’s laundry.”
“Don’t worry about anything, baby.” He laughed. I amused Braden a lot. “We’ll have a very nice engagement party with no pressure. Pet as many cats, talk to as many kids and do as much laundry as you want. Just let me keep you company.” He finished the water and tossed the bottle in the recycling, then came over to put his arms around me. I leaned up against him and enjoyed the feeling of his warmth and his hard muscles. Then I breathed in deeply to enjoy his familiar spicy scent.
“I don’t mean to sound so anxious. It’s just hard to wrap my head around the idea of getting married, let alone marrying you. Sometimes I still can’t even believe that I get to see you naked.”
“You can see me naked whenever you want,” he said, putting a finger under my chin and tipping my head back so he could look at me. He smiled and leaned down to kiss me lightly on the lips. “In fact, I highly encourage you to ask whenever and wherever possible.”
“There are moments in court …” I smiled back lasciviously. The adrenaline we built up arguing with each other in court seemed to stoke both of our libidos more and more.
“That might have to be the one exception, or we could wind up in jail, at least if you’re talking about open court. Ever since our rendezvous in the interview rooms, I’ve been fantasizing about getting it on with you in all kinds of places around the criminal courts building.”
“We should make a map of doors that lock,” I joked and rubbed his back, enjoying the feeling of his taut muscles under my fingertips.
“Personally, I think that with what we do every day, we deserve to relieve our tension whenever and however we can.” He lowered his hands to my bottom and pulled my hips up against him. The bulge pressing against my abdomen told me that this discussion was starting to give him some interesting ideas.
“Relaxing by the pool will be fun,” I said, pressing against him even closer and enjoying all of that warm, hard, Braden-ness.
“I was thinking that we could invite Adam and Mark. Are you okay with that?”
“That’s okay with me. It would be nice if you invited Cameron too though. After last night he’s probably worried.”
“He should be worried, but fine, we’ll invite Cameron. I still want to make sure that we have alone time while we’re there though. Maybe we can skinny dip in the Jacuzzi when everyone’s gone to bed.” He looked down and gave me a sexy smile that made me feel all tingly. I noted that he was starting to look quite aroused.
“Can we invite Jess too?” An idea was forming in my head.
“That could be fun, although it might be better for our relationship if I just watched.” He backed up and retreated beyond my reach just in time. “So violent!” He laughed.
“You had better watch or you’ll be sleeping alone tonight, mister.”
“You would deny me? I’ll bet I could get you to change your mind if I tried hard enough.” He came back over to me and reached under my shirt to stroke my ribs with his thumbs. He knew how much I loved that. In fact, he was an expert when it came to my body. He knew just how and where to touch me to drive me out of my mind. I had to stay focused though, because I needed something to distract me from my nerves. Matchmaking was always a good project, and besides, I was Jewish. It was in my blood – like the instinct to tell corny jokes, go to law school, and migrate to Florida at age sixty.
“Can we invite her or not?” I asked throatily, starting to fidget.
“If you want.” One hand traveled up and started to trace the lower curve of my breast and my heart started hammering to a salsa beat. I’m sure that he knew how aroused I was becoming myself. The fact that I was panting more than an obscene phone caller was probably a dead giveaway. I was becoming lightheaded, but I was on a mission, so I toughed it out and backed out of his reach as I started thinking about how I could manage to get Cam and Jess together.
I knew they were both attracted to each other and both of them were intelligent, successful and good-looking. Even more than that, though, they had fun together. They always seemed to be laughing about something but I knew that Cameron tended to hesitate and that Jess wouldn’t push the issue. I, on the other hand, could be very pushy.
“Good. Then I won’t be the only girl.” I looked up and gave him an innocent-looking smile, or so I thought.
“Why do you have that look on your face?” he asked suspiciously. I obviously would have to work on my innocent smile. This would have to be my own private project as I was smart enough to realize that Braden probably had the typical male aversion to the idea that somebody might be maneuvering a guy into a relationship.
“What look?”
“The ‘I’m planning something’ look.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” I even managed to sound vaguely offended.
“Even though I’m sure I should explore that subject further, I’m feeling pretty amorous at the moment,” he said, pulling me to him again. “Maybe you should…” My cell started to ring then, “…answer your phone,” he finished with a sigh, releasing me.