His Sugar Baby(51)
She had been right, she thought grimly, more right than she had realized at the time. She had refused to give Michael the assurance he wanted from her that she would miss him. She had not surrendered her emotional self to him. She had managed to keep intact the line that he had mandated from the beginning. He must never know that he had become so important and necessary to her. Important? Necessary? Cathy’s thoughts sheered away from the ramifications of where the logic of that admission might lead her.
Instead, she returned to the logistics of her affair. Michael would want to see her. Their affair had progressed to the point where they were seeing one another several times a week. How was she to manage that when Chloe was at home? A sense of urgency began to press in on her. She needed to come up with a solution soon, because she knew that he would not be away much longer. Yet, no matter how she looked at it, there was no easy answer. She couldn’t very well justify the expense of a home nurse as a babysitter whenever she was supposed to spend the night with Michael!
I need you to watch my daughter, who happens to be recovering from a life-threatening illness, because I have to go screw the man who is paying your salary.
Cathy shook her head, disgusted with herself. She tightened her lips, stiffening her spine. She would just have to take it one day at a time. That’s the way she had survived Chloe’s illness. That was the only way that she could deal with this.
In the meantime, she was going to do some serious shopping with her best friend.
That night, armed with all of the new cleaning supplies that she and Vicky had bought, Cathy started cleaning the apartment. She threw all of the towels and sheets into the wash with hot water. While the laundry was going, she scrubbed everything down with Comet and Lysol. When the linens could be thrown into the dryer, she took down all of the cheap cotton curtains that had come with the apartment and put those into the wash also. She emptied all of the trash and treated the cans with Lysol. She put liquid antibacterial soap in the bathroom and in the kitchen. Cathy knew from past experience that properly and frequently washing hands was the most important precaution against infection that she or Chloe or anyone else could take. She put a disposable cup dispenser in the bathroom for Chloe’s use. It was simpler than having to wash every glass after every single use. She put a HEPA filter in Chloe’s bedroom and also one in the living room to help purify the air.
It was nearly midnight when she was finished, and she was exhausted, but Cathy felt good about what she had accomplished. When the day came that she was given permission to bring Chloe home, everything would be ready. That night, for the first time in a long time, she had no difficulty falling asleep or sleeping through the night.
Chapter Sixteen
Michael returned. He had been looking forward to his reunion with Winter. He had not been able to get her out of his mind. He had missed her more than he had expected.
When he had called her and suggested that they go dancing in celebration, he had heard the inflection of pleased surprise in her voice. It had made him aware that he had not taken her out very often, despite what he had outlined to her when they had first begun their affair. The truth was things were generally so hot and heavy between them that he just never gave any thought to squiring her around town. That was going to change, he promised himself. She deserved to be given more than just a view of his bedroom ceiling.
She had told him that when she got off work she would come over.
Michael watched her from the doorway of the bathroom as she finished her toilette. He reflected how easily Winter had slipped into the fabric of his life. Weeks earlier, she had started to leave things at his place. It was more convenient, when she stayed over, for her to have fresh clothes ready to put on. They had not ever discussed it. He had simply remarked that he had cleared out some drawers and closet space for her. Winter had nodded, and the next time she came over, she had left some items. Without making a production of it, he had also given her a key to the house.
Michael had wondered whether it would irritate him to have tangible reminders of her presence, like heels in the closet and feminine products inside the bathroom cabinet, but it had done just the opposite. It had given him a sense of rightness, of satisfaction. Those things were proof of the existence of the beautiful woman who was in his life.
Michael eyed her appreciatively while she was putting the finishing touches to her makeup. She had on a short, black clingy dress, over black hosiery and strappy black heels that made her legs look like they went on forever. With her auburn hair left free to curl to her shoulders, she appeared stunning.
He knit his brows, looking her over again. That smoking-hot dress needs a necklace, maybe some bracelets. He recalled suddenly that she had said once that she didn’t have any jewelry. He had since given her a few simple pieces, but nothing that would do justice to that dress. Well, that was something else he could do for her.
She leaned over the sleek granite counter toward the mirror to apply her lipstick, and he drew in a long, slow breath. All rational thought dried up as his gaze froze on the rise of her delectable behind.
Michael stepped inside the bathroom. Just watching her had been mildly arousing, but when she had bent toward the mirror and her firm ass tilted out, he went completely hard. He couldn’t bear it any longer. He had to touch her.
He moved up close behind her and pushed up her dress until he could cup her bare bottom. All she wore underneath was a lacy black thong and a matching garter belt to support her thigh-high black hose. Smoothing his hands round the curves of her pale buttocks, he teased her sex with his thumbs. Their eyes locked in the mirror. She set down the lipstick, and her tongue flickered out to touch her glossy lips. Without a word, just like that, she invited him. She canted her ass even more sharply into his palms.