Dix rustled around behind her and she knew he was pulling clothes on. To his credit, he’d let her say her piece without interrupting. Moments later he stood behind her, wrapping a flannel shirt around her shoulders, pulling her back against his body. Probably to keep her from knocking Eve out as much as to comfort her.
Pickles flattened her mouth into a thin line before responding. ‘I had no idea you disliked me so intensely. I assure you, there’s nothing going on between myself and Charles. We share our memories and our daughters. You’ve made it clear you’re sleeping with him.’
Kate couldn’t help herself, she actually guffawed. Wiping her eyes, she cleared her throat. ‘Oh, Eve, I know there’s nothing between you and Dix. I just want you to knock when you come into a room where I’m sleeping. Now, I’m going into town for groceries which means I need to change clothes so you need to get out.’ Satisfied, she turned her back, extricating herself from Dix and began to grab clothes to change into.
‘We need to talk. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be down in a few minutes.’ Dix gently pushed Pickles back and closed the door in her face.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, coming back to where she stood, dressing.
‘Yep. Heard it. Been there, done that. The T-shirt is worn very thin.’ Her anger made her brittle, her movements sharp. Her inner shrew was just about to make an appearance and she resented the situation. This was supposed to be her holiday with him. Supposed to be time when she got to know his daughters better. And now, because of Eve, it had turned into something uncomfortable and annoying. If she wanted that, she could have gone to her parents’ house.
He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing. ‘Darling Kate, your anger makes you magnificently hot. I’m dealing with it right now. Clearly this has gone on far too long. You’re right to be angry.’
Unreasonable, yes, but his niceness just pissed her off more. She extricated herself from his embrace and slapped at his grabbing hands until he got the message and backed off. ‘Of course I’m right to be angry! Like I need your permission? I can open my own jars and get mad when I want to. That fucking stupid thundertwat you married is lucky I didn’t pop her one right in the eye for that comment about how she forgot. Like you two divorced yesterday. She. Is. Poison. Cancer. She’s gonorrhoea! A pustule on the anus of a syphilitic maggot! I hate your ex-wife. Because she is useless. Utterly. What an offence to femininity she is.’
He tried not to laugh, she could see it. She clamped her teeth together and left the room.
He followed her into the en suite bath. She ran a brush through her hair and he watched as she did it, like a cat watching a bird. He crowded in as she brushed her teeth, touching her, sliding his hands over the curve of her ass and kissing her neck.
‘Get off.’
‘I’m trying, darling Kate. But the women in this house keep trying to stop me.’
She spit into the sink and rinsed her toothbrush, barely holding back a snarl. ‘If I were you right now, I wouldn’t call attention to Pickles who is now officially also too stupid to knock on a closed door. Even that cat who lives next door to you, the one who walks into walls and stuff? Yeah, that one can figure out how to knock on a door, but, somehow, Eve can’t. Thank God the girls got your intelligence.’
He snorted a laugh and continued to eye her as she dotted lip gloss over her lips. With a sigh, she moved past him to pull on socks. He’d given her a beautiful ring for Christmas – one he assured her was just an I love you ring until she was ready to admit it was an engagement ring – and she smiled briefly as the stones caught the light just right.
‘I knew you liked that ring.’
She turned and kissed him quickly, dancing back out of his reach. ‘Doesn’t mean I still don’t want to hit you and your dumbass ex. But of course I love it. Who wouldn’t love a ring this gorgeous?’
He nodded, seeming partially satisfied, but he still eyed her and she considered how she’d get out the door without him springing on her and fucking her senseless. He liked to defuse her anger with sex, which she normally didn’t find problematic, but, in this case, she didn’t want it. She needed that anger right now.
‘What do you need lip gloss for? You look very pretty. All fresh faced but also with an air of I’ll cut you if you mess with me, which you know how hot I always find.’
‘I’m going into town. I’m not a hundred and fifty, so I like to look halfway decent when I leave the house. At least I don’t have to apply my cosmetics with a trowel to attempt the aging-gracefully-moneyed-divorcee-who-hasn’t-been-fucked-in-a-year look. I used to think she had her act together, that she’d mellow out when you truly moved on. How wrong I was.’
‘Meow. Careful, Kate, you know how much it makes my cock ache when you’re bitchy.’
‘Your marriage must have been a veritable fuckfest then.’ She went to the door, but he pressed her against it, his body hard against hers. His eyes sparkled as he looked down into her face.
‘Our marriage will be.’ He slid his hand between her belly and her jeans, down into them until he found her pussy, wet and ready. ‘Wet.’
She writhed, jutting her hips forwards, stroking herself against his knuckle. Oh all right, just this
