Free Honey Does by Kate Richards Page A

ready?”
    “On the counter.” Like every morning.
    “Thanks. Anything exciting going on today?”
    She minimized the screen. “Oh, you know...” He didn’t…but he would soon enough.
    “Everything okay?” She was kind of surprised he noticed her distraction, but touched. Honey spun her desk chair and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his warm, just-big-enough-to-be-comforting belly. Mack had gained some weight in their years together, but it did nothing to lessen his appeal for her. His red hair was combed back, still damp from the shower.
    “Everything is fine, and thank you for asking.”
    “Okay.” The big goon kissed her hair again, and she let him go. “Have a good day.” He scooped up his lunch box and headed toward the door, off to spend his shift with grownups. With his partner. All day in the squad car with Sexy Sandy.
    The woman should be a model instead of a cop. Not that she didn’t trust Mack, but why couldn’t he have been assigned someone a little less…blonde?
    Honey’s gaze darted back to the screen. The answer to all their worries would be delivered by the guys in brown. Appropriate for the item. Even if not one of them could compete with the erotic lure of the guy she made dinner for every night.
    Ten minutes later, she walked the kids to the bus, waved while they left then raced back to begin the real work of the day. Waiting for the box.
    Honey paced from the living room to the kitchen and back again, still in her robe and slippers. She didn’t dare leave the house for fear the delivery would require a signature. Or maybe not be in such a “discreet” package as the site advertised. Her next-door neighbor would love reporting a purchase from a sex toy site to everyone at the Neighborhood Watch meeting. Bitch.
    Honey didn’t even want to take a shower until the item was safe in her possession.
    She also couldn’t focus on anything else. Her dull life needed something to liven it up.
    She hadn’t minded staying home while the kids were little—not most of the time. She and Mack had agreed in her hospital room as she’d kissed Bonnie’s downy, newborn head. Her job lent itself to telecommuting. She could return to the marble and steel high-rise and her corner office when their children were in school. A few years. And it might be nice to spend time at home.
    So she’d worked during naps and late at night while her family slumbered, struggling to keep up and missing promotions others gained by their presence in the office—even if her work surpassed theirs. Not a situation Miss Most-Likely-To-Succeed tolerated with much grace.
    But since their youngest had entered kindergarten, Honey’s presence mattered even more. Homework and teacher conferences, three kids who took turns with colds and tummy troubles…how could she go back to work and leave them to another’s care? Lots of moms didn’t have the options she did.
    So she worked at home, in sweats or pajamas, maybe shorts and a tank top on a good day. She wondered why her husband showed any interest at all. But she planned to make a change. Today.
    Honey fled back to the computer and brought up Sodom&Gomorrah.com. “Sex toys guaranteed to send you straight to hell.”
    She giggled and hit the bookmark for the particular item she’d ordered. If she couldn’t make vice president for a while, maybe she could win the award for most creative wife.
    When her local friends offered no help with her problems—in fact seemed appalled a woman with such an active sex life would complain—Honey had consulted her online acquaintances at HardworkingMoms.com. More and more often, these ladies who lived all over the world filled in the blanks where her PTA people left her flat. They seemed to understand her need for a life beyond wife and mother.
    All stay at home moms like her, they also found time and ways to express their creativity, their intelligence, and their sexuality. A resource she found invaluable—and