“Don’t threaten it either. You’ll scare the shit out of him.”

“Scare him enough not to get ideas?”

“Joe!” she snapped.

He grinned at her and repeated, “Relax.”

“You can’t go around threatening everyone.”

“Sure I can.”

“Joe!”

He put his burger down, turned to her and said seriously, “Baby, relax.”

“Telling me to relax doesn’t actually mean I’ll relax, Joe.”

“It should.”

“Why?”

He turned and hooked a hand around her neck, pulled her to him and up to his face.

“Because the time when your head is filled with shit and you gotta worry about everything and everyone is over. The time when you can relax is now. So, I’ll say it one last time, buddy, relax.”

Her eyes moved over his face then he saw them change. In fact, her whole face changed. That look settled on her features that he’d seen once before when she was on his couch talking to Sam. Affection, plain as day, love shining in her eyes, all of it focused on him and he felt his left chest contract so powerfully, the feeling radiated throughout his frame and his hand tightened on her neck.

Before he could process this, she leaned up, touched her mouth to his, moved slightly back and whispered, “Eat, Joe.”

Then she pulled away and turned to her plate.

Cal took his hand from her neck and turned to his.

He’d been ambivalent about the concept of God his young life, something that sent Aunt Theresa into a tizzy. But you lose your Mom at a young age that shit’s bound to happen.

He lost his ambivalence when he lost his Dad who was a shit Dad but Cal knew he’d once been a good one, a great husband and a decent man and he lost his son the same day.

Now he reckoned, Vi moving in next door, maybe finally someone was looking out for him.

Or his luck had changed.

Whatever, he was grateful.

Sitting next to Violet in a booth in a damn fine greasy spoon, Joe Callahan lifted Frank’s Indiana-wide famous burger to his mouth and took a bite.

* * * * *

“Joe,” I breathed, my head arched back.

“In my mouth, buddy.”

My head tipped forward, my hands went to his jaws, I rode him harder because I couldn’t help it. His strong fingers were digging into my hips, pulling me up and pounding me down.

“Joe,” I whispered into his mouth as I felt it coming.

His hand lifted to my hair, fisting, twisting and he growled, “Say it.”

“I’m coming, baby,” I whispered.

“Say it,” he demanded.

My fingers went back and clenched in his hair. “I belong to you.”

Then I came, slamming down, my back bowing, my moan escaping my mouth to be absorbed by his.

I was astride Joe but he was sitting up which made it easier for him, mid-orgasm, to flip me to my back and drive in harder which he did until he came right in the middle of giving me a deep, brutal kiss.

When he was done, his mouth left mine and slid to my neck and, as his c**k glided in and out of me, my fingers moved through his hair.

We kept doing this awhile before his tongue ran the length of my jaw and then he pulled out, rolled off, leaned down, yanked the covers over us and settled me into his side.

Joe was silent, as usual.

I couldn’t be silent, as usual.

“School starts soon,” I whispered.

Joe didn’t respond.

“Back to school clothes,” I went on.

The tips of Joe’s fingers slid randomly around my hip and ass but he didn’t speak.

“You goin’ to the mall with us when we go shoppin’?”

Finally, Joe spoke.

“Hell no.”

I smiled into his shoulder then my smile died.

“What should we tell them?” I whispered.

“The truth,” he answered, knowing I meant the girls.

“That being?”

“I’m here now.”

I gave his waist a squeeze and informed him, “It’s not that easy.”

“Only hard you make it hard.”

“Joe –”

“Vi, I told you, I walked outta your room and the girls didn’t blink.”

“They were probably tired and they’re emotional.”

“They know the way it is between us.”

His words shocked me so much I lifted my head and looked at him. “They have no clue.”

“Buddy, Keira invited me to the mall and Kate brought me a Coke while I fixed our garage door opener and offered me a sandwich and that was before the scene when your Dad and Mom came callin’. They know.”

“They don’t.”

“They aren’t dumb.”

“I know that.”

“Okay, they don’t know we’re f**kin’, but they know we mean something to each other.”

He was right, they knew this, I knew they did with the way they acted the second time Joe turned.

Still, I stared at him and asked, “Do you think?”

He grinned at me. “Baby, clue in, the whole block knows.”

“That’s probably because Tina’s big mouth.”

“It’s because I installed your system at no charge, I fixed your garage and your daughters used to come over daily to talk to me. Been livin’ here a long time, buddy, my whole life and haven’t done that kinda shit for anyone and no one came by to talk to me, ‘specially not two teenage girls.”

I stared then asked, “They came over daily?”

“Yeah, right before I f**ked you over the second time.”

I didn’t know that Kate and Keira did that.

But I liked it.

“Oh,” I whispered.

“So they get home, I take Dane out, you sit ‘em down, tell ‘em I’m here now. Ask ‘em if they got questions, answer them. Done.”

He thought it was that easy?

Obviously, he hadn’t lived with the likes of Keira.

However, by all accounts (including my own experience with her) Bonnie was far more unpleasant.

“What if they don’t like it?” I asked.

“We deal.”

“How do we deal?” I pushed.

His hand flattened on my ass. “How ‘bout we find out if they don’t like it before we get wound up about it?” he suggested.

This sounded like good advice, simple, logical but totally impossible.

If Joe thought that simple and logical was going to work, he was in for a world of hurt living for two months with three females.