Page 12 of Their Pup to Tame

I started to say something too and would have been wrong as hell for doing it.

“Now I wish I hadn’t changed before coming over here,” Parker declared, plucking at one of the holes in the raggedy t-shirt he’d thrown on.

“We’re about the same size,” Phoenix said. “I’ve got some jeans and a Harley T-shirt that should fit you. Might be a little loose, though.”

“Loose I can deal with; being seen in public in worn sweatpants and this tattered excuse for a t-shirt, not so much.”

“Come on, before we get left behind,” Phoenix said. “I still can’t see well enough to drive, so if I’ve got to ride in a cage, I’d rather it be his big one than that cramped thing you drive. How the fuck do you even fit in that, anyway?”

“Carefully,” I declared before Parker could defend that sporty-ass BMW convertible he was so proud of. “Unless he has the top down.”

“Because it was bought for that specific purpose,” Parker pointed out. “If I’ve got to put the top up, that means the weather is shit and I’d be better off walking.”

“Quit yapping and go get dressed,” I grumbled, waving them in the direction of the spare bedroom Phoenix had put a couple backpacks full of stuff in after I refused to let him stay alone in his cramped room above the bar until his vision cleared.

Not that he’d complained.

He smiled while I was fussing over him, and still slept on my couch, despite the perfectly good bed in the room he’d stashed his stuff in.

While they headed down the hall, I ducked into my bedroom, selected my wigs, tucked them in their box and grabbed the garment bags holding the costumes I wanted. The makeup case stayed packed. Platform shoes were on the stand next to the rack that held my heels. I decided to go with the thigh-high stripper boots tonight with the performance I had planned and laid them in the duffel bag that hung over my shoe collection.

Theater had been my life since I was small and found my aunt’s costume trunk from her off-off-off-Broadway days. I was rocking heels when most boys my age were vying for the newest pair of Keds, and I still saw no reason to wear sneakers unless someone insisted upon forcing me to hike somewhere.

And it better be a short hike too, because I was a bit of a diva about my skin and pale enough to burn if I stayed out in the sun too long.

I blamed my Norwegian ancestors for that and hair that had always leaned closer to brilliant straw than gold. My nana used to say that my hair was the color yellow aspired to be, while I always wished it looked like the sun, with streaks of red and gold woven through the strands, the way they did in Phoenix’s hair, making me wonder if that was his real name, or one he’d picked up at the club.

Either way, it was beautiful and fit the warm, gentle soul of the man I was coming to see more of as we laughed together over movies and my tendency to make mocktails to go with damn near everything I cooked.

Oh shit, the food! I needed to get that put away before we headed out. Fortunately, it was just finger foods: stuffed mushrooms, cubed sandwiches, and charcuterie fixings, all of which were absent by the time I made it back to the living room. The remote sat beside the candles one of them had blown out, while the pair stood waiting for me in the kitchen, freshly rinsed glasses lined up beside the sink like silent sentinels waiting to be filled again.

“Wow, looks like I’ll be arriving with a pair of badass bodyguards tonight,” I said as I set my cases down so I could snag my keys off the hook by the door. Before I could pick them back up, Phoenix and Parker carried them to the door and even loaded everything in the luggage compartment of the SUV.

“I hope you intend to defend our virtue if anyone gets handsy tonight,” Parker grumbled from the backseat.

When I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw him with his arm stretched across the seat, body angled towards the center console so he could hear what was going on up front.

“I would if I didn’t know for a fact that you lost the last of it back in 2017 on that infamous road trip we took to Palm Springs.”

“My hangover had a hangover by the time we stumbled to breakfast in the morning at that little café that served all the French food. I went from not wanting to smell or look at anything that was supposed to go in my mouth, to nicking bites off everyone’s plates until they forced me to order food of my own.”

“Because when you did order, you got andouille sausage, brioche French toast with berries and whipped cream, a platter of assorted mini quiche, and a gods-be-damned parfait,” Ireminded him. “We were all sitting around sipping coffee until our eyeballs were floating, waiting for you to finish.”

“If everything tasted as good as it sounds, I’d have pigged out too,” Phoenix declared.

“Someday, you’ll have to get him to make you his crème brûlée tarts. The crust is brioche French toast, and you’d swear he worked at a patisserie all of his life with the way he can just whip up a perfect custard.”

“I’ll have to take your word on the whole patisserie thing, since I don’t know what the fuck that is,” Phoenix declared. “But it all sounds delicious. I am prepared to beg if need be and go pick up the groceries.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” I declared. “We’ll have them delivered in the morning, and I’ll make tarts and a few other surprises before we settle in for movies.”

“And I’ll make the coffee, since I fully intend to crash on your couch so I’m there in time for breakfast,” Parker declared. “I believe I’m still owed the cinematic afternoon you lured me to your lair with.”

“My lair?” I said as we wound through streets that were mostly empty on our way downtown. “You make it sound like I’m wrapping victims in silk robes and dragging them back to the house for long conversations about lingerie and the latest season of housewives.”

“Please sign me up for that if you ever do decide to do it. I won’t fight you. I’ll even hold the rope in my teeth if you need me to so you can get the knot tight enough,” Phoenix said. “If you plan on cooking too, I’ll pay for the experience.”

Errrrrrrrttttttt!