CHAPTER TWENTY

O’Shea stretched.

And blinked.

Her nose twitched, smelling something good, and…

Hell, yes . It was Billboard.

The man was stretched out beside her on his bed, snoring slightly.

O’Shea went up on one elbow, gazing at him. So freaking handsome. And that body… She could look at him all day. He was more relaxed now than she’d ever seen him, and she wondered if it was how he normally slept—all tension leaving him—or if it had something to do with the absolutely amazing sex they’d had last night.

O’Shea pouted.

Only one round of it, though.

That was her fault. She’d been so worn out and blown away by what Billboard had rung out of her, she couldn’t even remember him coming back to bed after she’d waved him off to the bathroom.

Billboard’s breathing changed, and she was immediately aware that he was awake.

“Having a good look?” he asked her raspily, his dark eyes still closed.

“Uh, huh. You’re cute when you snore,” she told him impishly.

“I don’t snore,” he rebutted, then cracked one eyelid to give her a skeptical stare.

“Do too,” she countered. “But don’t worry. I won’t tell.”

He snorted. “Nobody would care.”

Then he got a slight grin on his face. “Someone else is looking pretty chipper this morning.”

“Oh, you mean me?” O’Shea chuckled sassily. “Yeah. I always wake up like this after a smattering of mind-blowing orgasms.”

“A smattering, huh?’ he scoffed. “That technically means a few, a smidgeon, a hint.”

O’Shea shrugged with a tip of her head.

Billboard mock growled. “Well, in that case I’ll have to show you I can do better.”

He rolled, grabbed her around her bare waist, and hoisted her up on top of him. The sheets slipped to her hips, and…

Billboard hummed his appreciation.

“Best possible thing a person could wake up to in the morning,” he murmured, then reached out and cupped both her breasts in his big hands, her nipples immediately drilling holes in his palms.

“Mmm,” O’Shea responded, wiggling her ass on his waking-wood. “I beg to differ. I think I have the best thing, right here.”

“Maybe we should explore both of those statements,” Billboard proposed. “What time is it?” he added gruffly.

O’Shea heaved out a breath. “Too late to do anything because you played hooky yesterday and promised Del you’d be in today.”

“Well, crap,” Billboard moaned, tentatively rolling her nipples. “Maybe I should call in sick.”

O’Shea snorted, then groaned. “Right. Like your boss would believe that.”

He gave one last tweak, lowered his hands, and agreed. “He’d definitely call me out on what I’d be doing if I stayed home.”

Reluctantly, O’Shea lifted herself from her awesome perch and slid off the bed, padding toward the bathroom. “Give me a minute to pee, then join me in the shower?”

“I thought you said we didn’t have time,” he chuckled.

O’Shea turned around, catching him ogling her ass. She gave it a little extra swish as she answered and continued toward his ensuite. “The time we save by showering together should be just enough…”

She let that trail off.

Billboard got the picture.

****

Twenty minutes later, after getting both clean and dirty, O’Shea sat across from Billboard at his kitchen table, eating bowls of cereal that snapped and crackled. The atmosphere was upbeat as they flirted, post-sex, and even though O’Shea didn’t want to kill the mood, it was, unfortunately, time to pop Billboard’s happy bubble.

“So, I’ve been thinking…”

He groaned. “Never an auspicious beginning to anything good.”

“Well, maybe not, but I think this might be necessary,” she told him.

“Let me hear it,” he agreed, sighing.

“I think I should move out of here, and take Anna Jakes up on her offer to move in.”

A deep scowl had Billboard’s eyebrows pointing down in the middle.

“But—”

O’Shea held up a hand. “No. Hear me out.”

Billboard nodded, but not cheerily.

“First of all, I’ll tell you that I feel awesome. You know that sex between us was fantastic; a moon shot if ever there was one.”

That got her a ghost of a grin.

“And I also think we’re doing a really good job of getting to know each other.”

Whether he agreed with that or not was up for grabs, but O’Shea wasn’t going to give him a chance to argue.

“Also, whether it slipped your mind or not, we, uh, kind of messed up your agenda on not getting all sexy and shit before you spilled your guts. But in defense of that, you haven’t been exactly quick on the trigger to tell me all the things you’ve alluded to that I should know, so…we did the deed.”

“Yes, we did.” His gaze heated.

“ Now , I think we should give ourselves a little space, so you’ll eventually come to grips with whether full disclosure is important or not.”

“It’s important,” he began, but O’Shea thought differently and kept talking.

“Maybe. But Billboard, I don’t want to force you into revealing anything before you’re ready. If you have to gird yourself to get the information out, which is clearly what you’ve struggled with, then maybe it’s not quite time.”

“A nice, polite way to say I’m chicken-shit,” Billboard huffed. “But I get it. The more comfortable we are with each other; the more likely things will be revealed organically.”

“Exactly.” O’Shea gave him a huge smile. “I’m glad you see it my way.”

He rolled his eyes.

“But that’s not the only reason I think I should relocate for a while.”

Billboard pointed at her with his spoon. She could see his brain cooking. “Ahh. You think, like I do, that there’s more going on at the Jakes’ household than they’re saying.”

“One hundred percent,” O’Shea agreed. “And if I’m on premise, maybe I can get one or both of them to talk.”

Billboard sat back in his chair and gave her a crooked smile. “I hate to say that you have a point, but…”

“…I have a point,” she finished for him, taking another bite of her cereal. “And besides, now that you’re going back to work, I’ll be bored to tears just sitting around waiting for a phone call from the Police Commissioner’s office.”

“True. But to make your new independence happen, you’ll need transportation,” he added reluctantly.

Good. He was thinking logistics, which meant he was onboard with her plan. Not happily, but at least he wasn’t trying to talk her out of it.

She posed a solution to her wheels issue. “I figured you could drop me at a rental place on your way to work today, then after a phone call to Anna, I’ll pack up the cats, my stuff and theirs, and head over.”

“You think… You think it will all be done today?” he asked gruffly.

She reached out a hand and covered his. “It’s okay, Billboard. I’m not trying to ghost you, I promise.” She gave him her brightest smile. “Just the opposite, in fact. This way we can go on dates, make-out in the back seat of your Bronco, and flirt outrageously in front of your team.”

“We could do that, anyway,” he replied with a grunt.

“Yeah, but you’d always be sweating over when you should tell me your secrets.”

Billboard grudgingly nodded.

“ And I think the atmosphere here at your house could get pretty uncomfortable, having that sword hanging over your head. The tension might even derail what we’re trying to build.”

Were they trying to build something? In her mind they were, and Billboard didn’t refute it, so maybe he thought so, too.

“Okay. Point taken.” He gave in again. “It has been on my mind almost constantly, and I’m…not quite ready yet.”

“So,” she gave his hand one more squeeze before attacking the milk that was left in her bowl. For her, that was the best part of the cereal. “Car rental agency?” She tipped the bowl, slurping up the remains, and Billboard didn’t bat an eye at her crass manners.

One more point for him.

“Damn, you’re cute,” he said instead, then cleared his throat. “Umm, a rental’s not necessary,” he told her. “Del will let me use one of the company SUVs for as long as I need it, and you can take the Bronco.”

She placed a hand over her heart. “Oh, Billboard. Seriously? You’ll trust me with your baby?” she gasped.

“Just don’t wreck her,” Billboard grumbled. He’d just had the rear quarter replaced after Murphy’s messy incursion.

“Well, your Boston traffic is a little wonky…” O’Shea began teasingly.

“Don’t even joke about it,” Billboard admonished, then sighed. “But I am insured in case anything happens.”

“Don’t worry, Billboard. I’m an expert driver. I promise. High speed chases have always been my specialty.”

He moaned. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

****

An hour later, O’Shea had to admit that Billboard’s worries about his vehicle weren’t unfounded. The Bronco was still intact, but just barely.

She actually hadn’t known how crazy Boston drivers really were until she’d been in the thick of traffic. Didn’t anyone obey signs or traffic lights in this city? Apparently, like in the movie Starman, everyone here thought yellow meant “go very fast”. And pedestrians? They had no clue what crosswalks were for, dashing for the opposite sides of the street like maniacs, despite the honking horns. And one-way roads? Forget about those. Perhaps they too, were just a suggestion?

Gripping the wheel ‘til her knuckles were white, O’Shea finally made it back to Billboard’s. Thank God.

Once she got inside and greeted her kitties, she sat and dialed Anna Jakes’ number.

“Hey, O’Shea,” Anna greeted. “I wasn’t sure if I’d hear from you or not. Have you made up your mind?”

“I have. I’d love to come live with you until I figure out my next step.” O’Shea gave the woman one more chance to back out. “Are you sure you’re okay with having me?”

“Of course!” O’Shea could hear the genuine happiness in Anna’s response.

“You know,” Anna continued, “the more I thought about it last night, the more I loved the idea. Having adult company will be a huge perk. Plus, Ethan is home by himself for an hour every afternoon before I get out of work, and maybe if you could skew your schedule a bit, you could be around for him?” She named a time period that didn’t seem too intrusive into whatever O’Shea might have going on.

“Absolutely,” O’Shea agreed immediately. “That is if you don’t mind Ethan and I doing a bunch more training in the woods. Ethan is so good at it by this point, I think he can teach me a lot.”

Anna laughed. “I’m not sure about that, but I’m certain you’re going to be good for his ego. Just don’t let him bully you into doing anything you don’t want to do.”

“No worries. We’ll get along just fine.”

They talked planning for a few minutes; like which shelf in the refrigerator would be hers, and where O’Shea would put the litter box, which, thank the stars didn’t smell anymore. The vet had indeed found a parasitic infection and treated it. It hadn’t been long before the antibiotics had taken effect.

“We’re still a work-in-progress, so don’t sweat anything,” O’Shea assured Anna. “If I do something you don’t like, you have to promise to let me know.”

“Same,” Anna sent back, “and you have a deal.”

“Great. By the time you get home today, the cats and I will be happily ensconced. Oh.” She’d almost forgotten. “Where do you work? I’ll need to pick up a key.”

“I’m the receptionist at a dentist office in Quincy.” She gave the address. “But there’s no need to come here. I leave an emergency key under the back door garden gnome in case Ethan or I forget ours.”

O’Shea didn’t like that, but she wouldn’t rock the boat right away. This new cohabitation was all about building trust, and she didn’t want to get Anna’s back up before O’Shea even moved in.

“Okay. I’ll use that one. And if it’s alright, I’ll find a hardware store and have a copy made for myself.” And maybe, by the time she “remembered” to give the original back, she would have convinced Anna that hiding the key in such an obvious spot wasn’t such a great idea.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen any kind of security equipment at the neat little, one-floor ranch.

Maybe she’d find a way to talk Anna into a door camera and some perimeter alarms.

****

Once they’d said goodbye, it was time for O’Shea to get down to business.

Packing up her stuff took only minutes. Packing up the cats was a completely different story. Apparently, they didn’t want to leave. Every time she approached them, even with treats, the little smarties would figure out her game, then run and hide.

O’Shea finally blew an errant strand of hair out of her face where it had fallen during one particularly lively chase, and dropped her frustrated ass to the living room floor beside the open, mostly-mesh kitty carrier.

She didn’t know why, but she began talking, explaining the intricate situation between her and Billboard to her new feline friends.

“Listen you two, I don’t want to leave, but it’s necessary. Billboard has to discover on his own that I mean more to him than whatever secrets he’s holding on to. If I don’t leave, we might end up like he and his ex, Peggy; making physical contact, but with nothing cerebral behind it.” She glanced at the rapt kitties, hiding under the couch.

“I want to stay just as much as you do, but hopefully, with any luck, we’ll be back here sooner, rather than later.”

Four shining eyes regarded her. Had they moved a little closer?

“You two get it, right?”

She could have sworn Zoe nodded, but still the pair stayed a judicious distance away.

O’Shea piled it on.

“Then there’s Ethan. He’s a great kid, but I can tell he’s lonely. He’s a little nerdy, and so smart that the kids at school don’t know quite what to make of him. He was so excited about having you two in the house. He’s already planning to let you sleep with him.”

The cats had complained heartily when they’d been kept out of Billboard’s bedroom the previous night. On purpose. O’Shea hadn’t known if their tiny brains could be fried by the things that she and Billboard might get up to, but she hadn’t wanted to be responsible for scarring them for life. Now, considering the X-rated stuff that had occurred, the cats would not be invited to sleep with them any time in the future.

Out of the corner of O’Shea’s eye, while she pondered, she saw movement.

Without making it too overt, she slowly turned her head and…

Amazing .

Zoe had come out from her hidey-hole, picked Cheeto up by the scruff of his neck, and was mouth-carrying the little kit toward the carrier.

O’Shea held her breath until the pair were in, then moved furtively forward. She needn’t have bothered. Zoe had settled in, blocking any attempt of Cheeto’s to escape.

“Well, I’ll be,” O’Shea marveled as she closed the windowed door behind the pair. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you understood everything I just said.”

Zoe regarded her with her big yellow eyes…and blinked.