Justin merely moans his delight.
“Whoa, this is good. Is this mango with chia seed, by the way? Is that what these black specks are? Great stuff. Who would have known?”
I’m impressed. I had no idea that a blue collar guy could have such a sensitive palate, but evidently, there’s more to Justin than meets the eye. Conversation between us starts out light, but we end up getting pretty deep within twenty minutes. He tells me how his mom passed when he was just seventeen years old, and briefly mentions his dad walking out shortly afterwards from grief. I’m silent for a moment.
“That must have been tough.”
Justin looks down, but just as quickly, looks back up at me.
“It was, but I’m over it. Besides, I still have family. My younger cousin, Paul, works in the repo business too, and that guy’s a hoot.”
Then, Justin tells me about one of Paul’s escapades and has me rolling on the floor at the tale.
“Really? Paul got that caught in himself?”
My handsome lover nods and grins.
“Yeah, so the girls he was with had to take him to the ER. I think the ER doc practically pissed himself when Justin stumbled in, his pants around his knees and two strippers trailing behind him. But all’s well that ends well, and my cousin’s anatomy works just fine still, thank god.”
My laughter continues and soon both of us are practically bent over in two, holding our stomachs. But then, I decide to be serious because he is the repo man, after all, and I just narrowly dodged disaster for a second time.
Slowly, I tell him how I got myself in this financial rut. I explain that I actually have a very-expensive college degree that’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. After my total failure to find a job, I’m now teaching yoga for peanuts. Justin puts a large hand on my knee.
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he growls, his hand warm. “Besides, I never even went to college. I went straight into the repo business instead, and I’m glad about the way things turned out. I think the business suits me well.”
I lean back and sigh.
“Yeah, I kind of wish I hadn’t gone to college either because now, I just have tens of thousands of dollars of debt. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pay it off,” is my rueful comment.
He squeezes my knee, and shivers go down my spine at the intimate touch.
“When one window closes, another one opens elsewhere,” he speaks rhetorically. “It’ll all work out Marley. Just wait and see.”
I lean back and scrutinize him, grateful for his understanding.
“Are you sure you’re just a repo man?” I ask him.
“What do you mean?” He smiles, but he looks oddly jumpy. I choose my next words carefully.
“You look a bit too polished to be a blue-collar guy. I mean, I was expecting a scary-looking grease monkey to come knocking on my door. Someone who looks like Dog the Bounty Hunter with straggly bleached blond hair and a leather vest. No offense of course. But you…” I trail off. His smile widens. “I swear you’re too well-kept!” I finally blurt. “You even have a fancy haircut, and not tangled weeds hanging halfway down your back. Are you sure you’re you?”
He laughs, shaking his head. He moves in closer and puts an arm around my shoulder before pressing a kiss to my temple, his big bulk warming me.
“Yes, I’m definitely me. You’ve just never had anything repossessed before Marley, so you don’t know what the repo man looks like. But trust me, we come in all shapes and sizes. There are even repo women,” he says with a quirk of his eyebrow.
I gasp.
“Seriously?”
“Yep,” he says in a smug voice. “And they look more like Dog the Bounty Hunter than I do. But I think you’d really like Marlene,” he says with a smirk. “She’s got muscles the size of an oil drum, but she’s actually really sweet.”
I laugh out loud again. This man is so surprising because he’s actually here to inflict harm, but instead, we’re having tea and cookies and enjoying each other’s company.
“But what about my stuff?” I ask, suddenly serious while gesturing around my apartment. “You have to go back with something, right? They’re not going to take no for an answer again.”
He merely shrugs and grins before seizing my chin with a strong hand.
“I’ll tell them you weren’t home for the second time,” he growls. “But first, I want to do this.”
Then, he seizes my lips in a passionate kiss and before I know it, we’re in bed once more. Justin is huge, commanding, and utterly virile, gazing down at me with those cobalt eyes while he pushes in deep. And despite swearing that I would never do this again, instead, I give him everything and enjoy every moment of our time together.