“You know, I’m not wholly innocent here,” I confessed. “When you were asleep on the couch, I tried to wake you and couldn’t.”
Mark scoffed and looked down at me with slight amusement. “It’s not slipping into someone’s bed as they sleep though, is it?”
“What about kissing them?” I asked him as my face screwed up and I shut my eyes.
“What?”
“I tried to wake you up,” I confessed, looking at him and rising to my feet too. “You kinda woke up, I think. I was leaning over you, you pulled me down, there was straddling, kissing, it was all…wrong.”
“Wrong?” he asked quizzically. “You didn’t like kissing me?”
“No, you were great, I mean, really nice, I mean, you weren’t awake.” I saw his confusion. “I thought you were awake, but I don’t think you were. That’s why my door was open; I was worried you’d wake up and not know where you were.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “Straddling?”
Oh God, why did I have to tell him that? “I guess I need to say sorry too,” I murmured.
“So, you liked it? Kissing me?”
Well, this was awkward. “Yes.” I saw his slow smile, and huffing out a laugh, I turned back to the kitchen until I remembered what he said when he kissed me. “Though I shouldn’t. I, um, I’m sorry.”
“Why?” He watched me carefully.
“We said we weren’t married, but we never mentioned partners. I don’t have anyone…”
“I’m not with anyone,” Mark confirmed.
Biting my lower lip again, I looked at him, taking in his earnest expression. “Okay?”
“You don’t believe me?” Mark walked into the kitchen. “I’m really pissed I missed our first kiss,” he told me as he stepped up close. His head dipped. “Do I get a replay?”
His lips hovered over mine. It would be so easy to move my head, tilt it slightly, our lips would meet. “Mark?”
A featherlight brush of his lips caressed mine. “Hmm?”
“Who’s Josie?”
CHAPTER FIVE
IRIS
Isaw his confusion before he stepped back, the playful smile gone. “Josie?”
I should have let him leave.
“When we were…” This was awkward. “On the couch, you um, you said her name.” Avoiding eye contact, I focused on the cup on the counter.
“When I was kissingyou, I saidJosie?”
“Yes.” I had no need to be embarrassed; I hadn’t done anything wrong. “So, who’s Josie?”
Mark looked at me with wide eyes, and then I saw his blush creep up his cheeks. “Er, well, this is humiliating.” Scratching his jaw, he looked at me with a shrug. “Um, Josie is my…” His face screwed up, and his eyes squeezed shut.
The suspense was killing me. “Wife? Girlfriend? Lover?” My anger was mounting.
“Dog.”
I had no words. My mouth opened and snapped closed again.