Free The Naughty Corner by Jasmine Haynes Page B

him.
    Next time she was going to make some demands of her own. And she knew exactly what would give her the power, even according to Gray.

7
    “I’M SORRY, DAD, BUT THE GUYS WANTED TO GET BURGERS AFTER the movie. How was I supposed to say no?”
    Cell phone to his ear, Gray hung his head. “Going to dinner was fine. Not calling me to let me know isn’t. I was worried, especially when you didn’t answer your cell phone.”
    Rafe gave a disgusted snort. “I told you I left it in the car.”
    Gray realized this was another form of punishment. Rafe had used hostility and indifference; now he was employing the tactic of getting Gray’s hopes up, then dashing them. “Well, you better call your mother. She’s worried, too.”
    “Only because you called her.” The hostility was back. And something else, a noise.
    “You’re not driving, are you?”
    “No,” Rafe snapped. “I’m parked on the street.”
    Three teenage boys in a moving car was a frightening prospect, but the driver talking on his cell phone at the same time was enough to stop a father’s heart dead. Gray knew he was nagging, but he’d laid down a strict rule, no talking on the phone while driving. It didn’t matter that his ex-wife’s car had Bluetooth, it was the distraction, not just the hands-free.
    “Stop nagging, Dad”—elongated with a sarcastic drawl—“I know the law.” He meant Gray’s law.
    Gray kept his sigh to himself. “Call your mother. I’ll see you at training on Tuesday.”
    Rafe cut off with a mumbled word which might have been good-bye, or fuck off .
    He sat in the family-room chair staring at the blank TV screen. His guts ached. Teenagers could make a strong man feel weak. When they were babies, you held them in the palm of your hand, so small, so needy, so perfect. Your guts ached with how much you loved them, and you wanted to keep them safe, give them everything. You struggled to make all their dreams come true. Then you lost them and you weren’t even sure when or how. The goal had been to allow his wife to stay home with Rafe, and yes, Gray had worked a lot, he’d had to travel. He’d missed some important events. But he hadn’t missed every single one. He hadn’t consistently shortchanged Rafe. Just a few times. Obviously, enough times. He wasn’t a bad man, but somehow he’d failed his son. Now he didn’t know how to pick up the pieces.
    Gray arched his neck, flexed his shoulders. The kinks remained.
    Yet for a time this afternoon, with Lola, he’d been able to forget everything else. She made him forget. And he wanted her to help him forget a lot more. He planned to, later tonight, when the lights were off and she would be alone in her bed.
    * * *
    AT TEN O’CLOCK, LOLA SENT THE BOYS TO BED. AT LEAST SHE TRIED to.
    “But there’s no football on Monday,” William whined, “so we don’t have to get up early in the morning.”
    “Yes, but I do.”
    “We’ll turn down the volume.” Harry always had an answer for everything.
    Lola was tired of fighting. Besides, she might actually get some work done in the morning while they were sleeping. “All right. But do not make me come out here and tell you to be quiet.”
    Harry grinned. He had an infectious grin when he won, especially if he won over an adult.
    From the bedroom, she could barely hear the TV. The master bathroom was between the living room and her bedroom proper. Despite what she’d told the boys, by the time she laid her head on the pillow, she wasn’t tired. Her body still hummed from this afternoon’s interlude. Gray still hadn’t taken her, entered her, come inside her. But he was getting close, closer, closest. Soon. She felt it. She was already wet with the thought of it.
    Her cell phone vibrated on the bedside table. Glancing at the lighted screen, she didn’t recognize the number. But she knew. Oh yes, yes, yes, Coach Barnett was hot for it.
    “Are you alone?” The deep, sexy timbre of his voice made her nerves twitch. Just