“That’s fine,” he said, giving her a small smile. “I plan on being there, although I wasn’t planning on scening... we could do something light if you’re feeling up to it.”

One hand automatically drifted towards her sore ass as she thought it over. Sitting on his hard dining room chairs hadn’t done her any favors. Mostly, it had just made her kinda horny again. “Maybe. I’m going to need a little bit of time to recover before another hard scene, but I could maybe do a light scene tonight. If you stay away from my ass.”

Michael bopped her on the nose with a soapy finger. “I’m sure I can find plenty of other parts of you to torture, beautiful. Would you be interested in getting dinner beforehand?”

“Um, no... I can’t... I um, have stuff to do.” She winced at her stammer and the obvious lie, but Michael didn’t call her on it. He just kept his attention on the dishes, as if she hadn’t made the most idiotic excuse in the world.

“Okay,” he said easily, loading a plate into the dishwasher. She relaxed, although her hands stayed in front of her, twisting slightly, and she couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t calling her on it. Wasn’t threatening to spank her for such a blatant lie... had she wanted him to spank her? “As for the scene, we can see how we feel tonight when we get there. If you just want to hang out in the club, that’s fine too.”

She relaxed even more, her hands dropping to her sides, although she still felt a little awkward. Especially since she wasn’t sure what she wanted from him right now. Time to get out. Definitely time to get out. “Okay. Um... I’m going to go get my clothes and head out.”

“Alright,” he said, giving her another smile. It was an understanding smile, but somehow that was nearly as bad as pity right now. Ugh. Why did she have to be such a mess?

By the time she came back out with her purse and clothes, Michael had finished loading the dishwasher. He walked her out to her car and gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. For just a second, she thought about what it might be like if she went up on her toes and pulled him down for a kiss on the lips... a kiss like they’d had last night...

And then she regained her senses. That had been during a scene. Not real life. You’re not ready for a real relationship or intimacy, remember, crazy-girl?

But her lips still tingled as she saw him watching her drive away.

When she got home, Watson opened one eye, looked at her, and immediately went back to napping.

“Yeah, I missed you too,” she said with a sigh.