KAT
Maria seemed set on slowing down her interest in Farley. I didn’t blame her. We’d only arrived in Little Memphis an hour ago.
During the last few months, she’d been solely focused on my health and future. Maria gave up her hobbies once I was on bed rest. The last thing she needed was to immediately hook up with a man when our future remained uncertain.
Avoiding a relationship right now made sense. However, as soon as Farley returned to the condo, Maria couldn’t take her eyes off him. He settled into a chair and focused on Goblin, but I caught him frequently glancing at Maria.
“How are my boys?” Rowdy asked and leaned over the back of the couch to see Colson and Cavan. “No more puking, right?”
“Don’t tell us how to feel,” I said in a little voice and waved Cavan’s hand around as if threatening Rowdy. “Do you know who my grandfather is?”
“Hell yeah,” Pax said from the nearby kitchen. “Don’t take shit from anyone, boy.”
A smiling Rowdy kissed the side of my head. “I’m going to do something stupid now. Pretend it’s sexy instead.”
“I’m already wet thinking of it,” I whispered back, winning a wide-eyed reaction from Maria who overheard me.
As I laughed at her expression, Rowdy got on the floor next to the other couch and rested on his belly. His face was near Goblin’s. The dog casually licked Rowdy’s cheek before focusing back on the cats.
“What do you think?” Rowdy murmured to the dog. “Are they friends or foes?”
Goblin stood up, wiggled his ass, and returned to resting flat. Rowdy looked at me and sighed.
“I must have been away for too long because I don’t know what that ass shake meant.”
“At least he isn’t barking, and the girls aren’t hissing,” I said and set the bottle on the table. Rowdy watched me adjust Cavan in my arms and stroke our boy’s back. “Do you think Goblin can stay here overnight since they aren’t fighting?”
Rowdy glanced at Farley. “On a scale of one to ten, how much did my boy miss me?”
“An eight.”
“That’s it?” Rowdy demanded from his dog. “I expected more. What the hell?”
Goblin heard Rowdy’s louder tone and jumped up to bark at him. Dancing around, he licked Rowdy’s nose before dropping to the ground again to watch the cats.
Giving up, Rowdy got off the floor and set his ass next to mine.
“Do you have plans tonight, Farley?” Rowdy asked while fondling my thigh.
“I was going to the Sorority House for a barbecue.”
“Why not hang out here, and I’ll order barbecue?”
“I can cook,” Bebe offered.
“No,” Pax said, wrapping her in his arms. “Let your son use his money to spoil you while you enjoy grandma duty.”
I loved how Bebe glowed when Pax mentioned her grandmother role. Her loving reaction toward Cavan and Colson was the same as when she looked at her four kids. I hoped I’d become as devoted a mom as Bebe clearly was.
“So, what’s it going to be?” Rowdy asked Farley. “Do you want to hang around a bunch of foxes you already know, or would you like to spend time with these new foxes? Plus, my handsome little boys. As a bonus, a little part of you is dying to know who will crack first, Goblin or the fur twins.”
Farley smiled and nodded. “I keep waiting for him to go after them. What are their names?”
“Witchy and Wicked,” Maria said before Rowdy could answer.
I smiled at how she pretended to be casual, but my sister’s mind was very obviously on the handsome biker.
The ensuing conversation revolved around pet talk with Farley sharing how he hadn’t been around when they found the litter of Chihuahuas, which was why he didn’t have one.
“We prefer cats,” I told him, winning a grunt from Rowdy. I smiled at my handsome boyfriend and stroked his jaw. “Cats use boxes. Since we didn’t have a suitable yard, a dog wasn’t really an option.”
“But you love Goblin, right?” Rowdy said in that little boy whine he got whenever he was messing with me. “He’s like your third son, isn’t he?”
“I’ve known him for an hour, so of course, he is.”
“You won’t be an evil stepmother to him, will you?”
“Maybe, but I promise to be more like Cinderella’s evil stepmother than Snow White’s evil stepmother.”
“I don’t know the difference.”
“We didn’t watch any of those princess movies in our house,” Pax explained as he took a seat in a nearby chair and sighed. “None of my little princesses were interested in such things.”
“Not even Sabrina?” Rowdy mocked. “Didn’t a Disney movie help her understand she was gay?”
“No, it was that ‘Baywatch’ show,” Bebe replied as she shoved herself next to Pax in the chair. “She said none of the half-naked men gave her a lady boner. The half-naked ladies, on the other hand, had the right stuff.”
Rowdy grinned at me. “Sabrina has impeccable taste in women. She said you and Maria were curvy in all the best ways.”
Sharing his smile, I admitted, “I’m weirdly proud of that praise.”
“You should be. Sabrina’s a cool chick with lots of qualities, and she finds you bangable.” When Farley frowned, Rowdy shrugged. “Your sister isn’t a horny lesbian like mine, so you can’t relate.”
“You have a sister?” Maria asked, seeming startled by her own voice.
Farley’s scowl immediately disappeared. Now smiling, he replied, “Her name is Zadie. She lives at the Sorority House part-time and in Rawlins the other half of the time.”
“Is she older or younger?”
“Older. She’s always watched out for me.”
“Farley and I know the power of older sisters,” Rowdy said and kissed my cheek. “I grew up feeling safe when I was running around the neighborhood. People feared my older sisters in Little Memphis, just like they feared Zadie down in Rawlins.”
Maria’s eyes widened, and she glanced worriedly at me. Knowing where my sister’s head had gone, I asked, “Is your sister scary like Rowdy’s sisters are scary?”
“I don’t think Zadie’s scary at all,” Farley replied.
Rowdy pointed out, “Well, she did try to neuter a kid at school that bullied you.”
“Zadie just likes to talk tough. She’s really sweet.”
Rowdy looked at me and shook his head. “He wears rose-colored glasses when it comes to his sister.”
Farley insisted, “Zadie isn’t like Sabrina. She wouldn’t actually neuter a guy for bullying me. She only made the threat to get him to back off.”
“Did it work?”
“No. Guys like him aren’t afraid of women.”
Rowdy asked, “Did you send your moms after him so he’d realize how frightening women can be?”
“No, I beat him up myself.”
Nudging me, Rowdy grinned. “Farley’s moms raised him to be a badass, just like my mom did with me.”
Bebe shared her son’s smile. Everyone was in a wonderful mood despite our stressful morning. Rowdy couldn’t hide how relieved he was to be back in his condo with Goblin nearby. Admiring his smile, I promised myself I would focus on the future and keep my fear of change in check.