He somehow managed not to roll his eyes at her. “That’s what you say, but you’re acting jealous.”

Veronica took a step back, straightened her spine and returned to the self-confident woman he knew well. “Not jealous, Shade. Envious. I was really looking forward to being f**ked senseless tonight. No one has your stamina, baby.”

Well, his dick was looking forward to a night of rest.

“Will you take me home at least?” she asked. “Selene isn’t off work yet. She dropped me at the parking lot to wait for you. That’s why I took your car.”

Shade glanced over his shoulder at the house. Taking Veronica home would cut into his time with Amanda, but it was only a ten-minute drive, and it would take longer than that for a cab to arrive. “Yeah, okay. Just give me a minute.”

Shade picked up Veronica’s discarded shoe on his way into the house. Amanda stood in the foyer with her arms crossed over her chest and looking very awkward.

“I should go,” she said.

“Please don’t. I’m just going to give her a ride home. You can come along if you want.”

“Your car is a two-seater, Shade.”

Shade? She was one of the few people who called him by his given name, so her using his stage name set off all sorts of warning bells. Shade rubbed his forehead. He was really f**king things up. “Right.”

“I thought you were going to call her a cab.”

“It’ll take longer for a cab to get here than for me to drive her home. She doesn’t live far.”

Amanda shrugged. “Whatever. I understand. Maybe we’ll do this some other time.”

Shade took his sunglasses off and looked down into her eyes, hoping she could see the sincerity in his expression. “I don’t want you to leave, Amanda. I want her to leave.”

She surprised him by blushing and lowering her gaze. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and then smiled up at him. “I’ll order the pizza while you’re gone. I hope you’re a fan of anchovies and pineapple.”

“I like them almost as much as I like Steel Magnolias.”

She laughed and patted his chest. His heart leaped, and his dick decided it no longer wanted the night off. Down boy. Hot or not, Amanda is off-limits.

“Go take Naked Babe home. I’ve got you covered.”

He fought the urge to kiss her gently smiling lips and instead put his sunglasses back on. “I’ll hurry.” There were benefits to owning a car that went zero to sixty in under four seconds.

By the time he closed the front door behind him, Veronica was waiting in the car. He climbed inside and dropped her shoe on her lap.

“I’m sorry if I upset you,” she said. She leaned close and kissed his neck. Her hand slid over his thigh and between his legs. “Forgive me?”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

He started the car, and its quiet, electric engine purred. He’d owned bigger, louder cars in the past, but he actually liked the calm power of his Tesla. It rode fast, like any sports car, but the engine was almost silent and it shifted seamlessly, taking the handling out of his hands and putting it in the car’s control. He mostly loved this car because it made him feel he was driving a vehicle from the future and because he never had to fill it with gas. He would have to charge it when he got home, however. The battery was low on juice.

“I could make it up to you.” Veronica’s hand slid to his crotch. “Would you prefer a hand job or a blow job?”

“Not interested right now,” he said, but his already engorging c**k was making a liar out of him. Sometimes his libido was a liability.

“I can feel that,” she said and produced a throaty chuckle. “I’ll take care of you. Big-eyes doesn’t have to know about it.”

“Big-eyes?”

“The pretty little thing you have waiting back at your place.”

“You saw her?”

“She has a tendency to watch things, through windows, that are none of her business.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll thank you for getting me hard. Keep on doing what you’re doing and I’ll be ready to f**k her as soon as I walk in the door.” He figured that would be more affective at getting Veronica to stop fondling him than if he asked her to stop. She jerked her hand from his crotch and put distance between them in the close quarters of the car by leaning against the passenger door and crossing her arms over her ample bust.

“You really are an ass**le.” She tried to glare a hole through the dashboard.

“And you don’t know how to take no for an answer.”

“I don’t understand why I should have to. We always have a good time in the sack.”

And that was the only thing they had in common. Tires squealed as he turned into her driveway. He stopped in front of her garage door. When she continued to glare at the dashboard and didn’t make a move to get out of the car, he leaned over her and opened the door.

“You aren’t even going to get out of the car?”

“Nope, I’ve got a raging hard-on now and am eager to get back to Big-eyes.” Which was true, but the two statements weren’t linked. Not that Amanda and raging hard-ons didn’t go hand in hand. He just wanted to be with her for reasons other than what was going on in his pants.

“I hope your dick falls off,” Veronica said and stumbled out of the car with one shoe on her foot and the other one in her hand.

He chuckled. “No you don’t. Then you wouldn’t be able to f**k it.”

She growled at him and then slammed the door. Smiling at her, he waved goodbye, backed the car out of the driveway and headed for home. Another good thing about having a fast sports car was that when a spiteful woman threw her shoe at it, she missed.

Shade was relieved to see Amanda’s car was still in his driveway when he returned. He’d expected her to have left. He could understand why she’d feel uncomfortable enough to split. What woman wanted to hang out with a guy who came home to uninvited naked chicks in his hot tub? Amanda probably thought he was the biggest man-whore on the planet. And maybe he was a contender for the top ten pu**y chasers of all time, but he didn’t think with his dick. He just liked to keep it happy by giving it what it wanted. It was an entirely conscious decision on his part. He didn’t have a problem telling a woman no. Just like a woman should never have a problem telling him no. Easy come, easy go. But mostly easy cum.

Shade pulled into his garage and plugged the car into the charger before entering the house through the mudroom. He could hear Amanda singing in the kitchen as soon as he stepped inside. She was screeching the eighties song “Walking on Sunshine” entirely off-key. He smiled and followed her voice to the chef’s kitchen. He watched her from the doorway. She had ear buds in her ears and unaware of his presence, treated him to a little dance as she helped herself to the fresh fruit in his fridge. She did a sideways shuffle to the sink and washed grapes, strawberries and apples before tossing them into a bowl and opening several drawers until she found a knife.