Chapter 15

Dwayne couldn't sleep. A glance at the luminous dial on his wristwatch told him it was 4:43 AM, so he rolled his feet to the floor. He'd make his own coffee; June wouldn't mind.

June. What a woman! So beautiful it made his eyes hurt just to look at her face. Smart, too. And sweet. She had a sweet disposition. He liked that in a woman. At the end of his marriage, his ex-wife had no sweetness in her. She'd morphed into a shrew.

He turned on the shower, let it run until hot water arrived, and then adjusted the temperature to just above warm. While he soaped his body, he reflected on the previous day when he'd driven June shopping. He'd expected a fat woman. Weren't all chefs overweight? No fat, not on June's gorgeous body, at least no excess fat. Maybe a little extra in her tits. Thinking about June's tits lengthened his cock.

What the hell, he thought. Might as well jack off. I'm not gonna get any pussy for a while. Can't go looking, even. Gotta save my money for my little girl.

His good hand wrapped his cock and stroked it slowly, at first. He turned his mind loose to conjure situations and mental images to aid his quest for an orgasm. Although June was definitely the star of the off-Broadway play running in his mind, she wasn't the only woman in his fantasies. Darla fucked him. And Nora. Carol sucked him off. But he emptied his load in June. When he mentally buried his prodigious cock in June, with an animal-like roar, he spurted semen on the glass wall enclosing the shower.

While toweling his large body dry, he wondered if it was late enough back east to call his ex-wife again. He'd called her the night before, forgetting about the time difference, and woke her up. She'd pitched a fit about him calling so late, so he'd told her that he'd call back.

Wait awhile, he told himself. Have a cup of coffee first.

June was grinding coffee beans when Dwayne stepped into the kitchen.

"You're up early," he said.

"I'm up this early every morning," June said. "David likes a cup of coffee before he goes to his office to make his trades when the markets open."

"It's Sunday, June. The markets won't open today."

"Doesn't matter. In ten or fifteen minutes, he'll lope in here for a cup of coffee, and it will be ready for him. I'll fix it the way he likes it. He'll tell me I'm one in a million with a look or with words, which will make my heart go pity-pat, and he'll go about his business."

Dwayne grinned and sat at the kitchen table. June was in love with David like every other female in the place. The alpha male, Dwayne thought. That the young man stood firmly above the rest of the men around him didn't bother Dwayne at all. He'd never been the alpha male, and what's more, he had never felt slighted or less of a man because of his standing in the human herd. Hell, he deferred to Flint.

He watched as June retrieved something from a lower cabinet. She was wearing a tight pair of jeans, and the denim material showcased her heart-shaped ass, especially bent over as she was.

"Were you looking at my ass, Dwayne?" she said when she straightened up. She'd caught his hungry gaze from the corner of her eye while bent over, and she'd asked the question to see how the big man would react. When he blushed, she grinned.

When she grinned, he said, "Guilty as charged, June. Your ass is a work of art, and I'm an art lover."

"Hah!" she said. "Art has nothing to do with it."

"You're wrong about that, June," he said. "I'll admit that you have a sexy ass. No doubt about that, but just because it's sexy doesn't automatically eliminate appreciation from an aesthetic point of view."

His comment surprised her, and she slumped into the chair facing him. Smart! He's smart, not a big, dumb hunk like I thought. I've misjudged him. Maybe. Test him.

"I don't think so, Dwayne. Describe my ass aesthetically without reference to sex."

He grinned again. For this, he was on firm ground. "Consider some of the tenets of art, June. Form, balance, line, texture, color, and mass come into play. Is that coffee perked?"

She hopped up and reached for a couple of mugs in an upper cabinet. Yep, he's looking again. Good.

"Go on," she said as she poured two cups of coffee.

"Form first. Your ass is heart-shaped, and the soft camber from waist to hip creates a sinuous line..."

She snorted disdainfully and said, "Sinuous brings in sex."

"Sensuous would have brought in sex, but sinuous refers to the shape of the line, June." He smiled. "Not that the line from your waist to your hip isn't sensuous, as well, but..." He sipped from the cup of coffee she'd placed in front of him. Good coffee, he mused. "Where was I? I remember. Balance. I skipped over balance, perhaps the most important tenet of art there is. Proportion and mass are elements of balance. Your ass is in perfect balance with the rest of your body, not too large, not too wide or narrow. Perfect. A work of art."

She blew air over the rim of her cup and said, "You skipped texture and color."

"Your ass is not bare, June. It's encased in denim, and the denim lends texture and color to the object of art." He chuckled. "If I talked about the texture and color of your bare ass, I couldn't avoid wandering into the realm of sex." He looked her in the eye. "And to be honest, June, when you bent over, sex came to mind, not art."

"Thought so," she said and laughed gaily.

"What's so funny?" David said as he strolled into the room.

"Dwayne thinks my ass is a work of art," June said.

"Nothing funny about that," David said as he sat next to Dwayne.

"You had to be here," Dwayne said, blushing.

David nodded as June put a cup of coffee in front of him. "I suppose, but you're right about June's backside, Dwayne. It is, indeed, a work of art. I particularly enjoy the sinuous line from her narrow waist to her hip."

June shook her head. "You two are somethin' else."

Dwayne ginned and said. "We're just a couple of art lovers who appreciate a world-class ass when we see one."

David hooted with laughter. "Well said, Dwayne. Well, said."

That's for sure, June thought, and glanced at Dwayne. The sudden, gut-clenching urge to run her hands over his baldpate shocked her. The idea of it also made her panties wet.

"Gary, it's Dwayne. Is Mildred handy?" Dwayne had hoped his ex-wife would answer his call. No such luck.

"Yes, but before I call her to the phone, I must tell you that I don't appreciate calls in the middle of the night, Dwayne," Gary said.

Crap! I don't need this. "I apologize, Gary. I failed to consider the time difference."

"Just don't let it happen again," he said. "Hang on, here's Mildred."

Dwayne listened as his ex-wife berated him even worse than her husband. He finally interrupted her rant.

"Mildred, I got me a good job."

"That's good, Dwayne. I'm happy for you, but..."

"How would you feel about Katy living with me for a while?" Dwayne asked and held his breath.

That shut her up, he thought, stifling a chuckle.

"She's in school," Mildred said after the pause in their conversation.

"Phoenix has schools, Mildred," Dwayne said. He didn't mention the homeschool David was setting up. Mildred was a beautiful woman but not very bright. Not like June, Dwayne thought. He didn't want to confuse the issue or his ex-wife with a discussion of homeschooling versus private or public schools. "It's a good job, good pay, so I can afford a nice place to live. I'm living in Tempe in a good neighborhood. I have access to a swimming pool, and there are other children Katy's age nearby. I can give Katy a good home, Mildred."

"I don't know, Dwayne. On one hand, Gary has some plans that..."

"How about we leave it up to Katy?" Dwayne said. He didn't want to hear about Gary's plans. "If she doesn't want to change schools or would prefer to live with you and Gary, I'll back off."

"Let me talk about this with Gary before we bring Katy into the discussion," she said.

Dwayne pumped his fist in the air and tried not to let his elation show in his voice. "All right." He gave her his cell phone number. "Call me after you speak with him."

Done deal, he thought as he hung up. Katy had told Dwayne that she sensed Gary didn't want her around.

Gary called back, not Dwayne's ex-wife, and the return call came quicker than Dwayne had anticipated.

"Will you pay for her flight?" Gary asked.

"Yes."

"She'll have excess luggage," Gary said. "Even at that, we'll have to box and ship the rest of her things."

"No problem," Dwayne said. "I'll pay for everything. Let me talk with Katy now."

"We already talked with her about it. She wants to live with you, Dwayne."

"Great! Mildred will need to do a few things," Dwayne said.

"Like what?" Gary said, belligerently.

"Like get a copy of her school transcripts from Katy's school, and medical records from her doctor. Katy should bring those documents with her, and others like her birth certificate and social security card."

"Oh. Okay, she can do that. When?"

"Huh?" Dwayne said.

"When do you want Katy to move?"

"As soon as possible."

"Hold a moment."

Dwayne listened to background murmurs.

"Wednesday or Thursday," Gary said.

"You pick. I'll arrange the flight."

"Wednesday," he said.

"Fine. Now, let me speak with Katy, please."

A minute later, a small voice said, "Daddy, is it true? Do I really get to live with you?"

"Yes, sweetheart, it's true."

"Yea!" she cheered.

Del Gilead was a tall man with a long, thin face, gray hair, and moist dark eyes. Gray stubble — three-days worth, David calculated — covered his cheeks and chin. He'll need dental work, David reflected when Gilead smiled at him.

Gilead wanted the job, and Joe gave David the nod, so they tossed the homeless man's things in the back of Darla's hummer. Hobo, David reminded himself, not homeless, grinning at the distinction. June had been correct. Del Gilead was indeed likeable.

"Give me Tom Jensen's address again, Ridley," Flint said, and punched the address into the navigational system as Ridley reeled it off.