Boudoir Secrets

Chapter 27

The barking of the dogs stirred me out of my daydream. I had been so caught up in my writing that the days were blurring together and molding into one, long, tedious existence. I wonder if that is someone just walking past or waiting to press the buzzer and ask to be let in? Sure enough, the buzzer rang out through the house, like an alarm for the dead to wake once more. I needed to change that tune! I wonder if something more subtle could replace it?

I peered into the monitor to see who was pressing my buttons. Paul. Well that put a smile on my face!

"Come on in hot stuff," I purred into the intercom.

Paul was dressed in his usual denim jeans and long sleeved t-shirt, with the thick, brown, leather  band wrapped around his wrist. Oh, how I wanted him! The dogs yapped at his heels, trying to bite his calves. He looked at me quizzically and said nothing. I stepped outside to greet him and to reassure my babies that he was a friend.

He grabbed me roughly, like he always did and pressed me inside, closing the door behind us.

"I saw your friends James and Air the other day at the pub."

"Oh?"

"Yeh. They seemed to be having a pretty intense conversation. Every time someone walked past, they hushed up and waited to resume talking once they had gone. Weird, huh?"

"Hence why they don't come and go as they please anymore."

"Do they know about me?"

"Does it bother you if they do?"

"I had hoped that we could be a secret. Noone needs to know about you and me and our special relationship."

"Less talky, more action!"

Paul had a troubled look on his face and that made the internal alarm bells ring. Why did it matter if people knew? What was he hiding? Why bring up Air and James? How did he know about them anyhow? I never talk indiscreetly about my other partners. Something was wrong and I wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"Actually, could we do this another day? I have just had a great idea for my story and it can't wait. You know us authors!"

He looked at me, studying my face, searching for a hidden meaning and visibly relaxed. He obviously thought I was a dizzy little thing, incapable of following a single train of thought. I quickly ushered him out and locked the gate. My puppies sensed that something was not right either and started to growl. They would not let him in again.

Shaking, I returned to my house. Maybe all this solitude made me paranoid, or maybe my gut was right. Didn't I feel something wrong with Air and James? Now I felt it again with Paul. I returned to my study and cradled Mawsie close to my chest for comfort. He wrapped himself about my body and hung his head on my shoulder, licking my face.