Touch Me by Christie Ridgway

grew up. As usual, Cilla had set up a buffet in the outdoor kitchen and dining area near there.
    He trailed Rose in that direction, noting the healthy state of the lush landscaping. Hibiscus bushes were bright with red, yellow, and pink flowers, their innocently ruffled petals circling unapologetic, upthrusting staminal columns. Citrus trees were beginning to bud and their sweet scent floated on the warm breeze that tickled the ends of Rose’s hair.
    Her booted feet made barely a dent in the thick carpet of grass as she cut across the expanse. She carried a bowl of some kind of salad, of course, because she was the kind of woman who didn’t go empty-handed to a get-together. As Cilla greeted her and exclaimed over the offering, Payne saw Reed Hopkins and his squeeze, Cleo Anderson, standing nearby, under the cantilevered overhang that provided partial shade. As he approached them, Reed leaned down and laid a whopper on his woman’s mouth.
    Payne clapped his hand over his eyes and raised his voice. “Gah! The PDA! It burns, it burns!”
    “Shut up, Payne,” Reed said, laughing.
    Dropping his hand, Payne grinned at the pair. The fact was, he was happy the man had stepped out of the dark and into the light of day to be with Cleo and her sons. A writer of horror novels for children and teens, for too long Reed had lived in his dark imagination instead of out in the world.
    “Good to see you, Professor,” he said, slapping the other man on the back. He dropped a kiss on the top of Cleo’s short blonde hair. “You too.”
    Her eyes were bright and they darted toward Rose. “You brought your…”
    “Warden. Housemother.” He glanced her way himself, noticed how those little pom poms danced around her toned thighs. Temptress. Torturer.
    “Now, Payne—” But Cleo broke off to address her sons who ran by with water guns nearly as big as they were. “If you’re going into the pool, I need to be watching!” Then she hurried in the boys’ wake.
    Reed followed more slowly, and Payne joined the other man, waving a hand or lifting a chin to other members of the tribe as he passed.
    “How are you feeling?” Reed asked.
    “Sick of recuperating. Tired if I do too much,” he admitted.
    “So calling Rose in was a good idea after all?”
    It was a terrible idea. She’d invaded his house, his dreams, his fantasies.
    Be still, darling,” he ordered. “Or I’ll have to punish you.”
    Instead of confessing any of that, Payne shrugged. They came to a stop on the other side of the tempered glass enclosure surrounding the pool. Teenagers Lucy and Jeb were in the heated water, watching Cleo’s Eli and Obie cannonball off the side. At a round table nearby sat Honey and Walsh, both engrossed by their smart phones while Cleo kept her eye on the children.
    Reed gestured toward his brother. “All work and no play. Walsh is getting very dull.”
    “So says the man who used to work vampire hours. Sleeping during the day allowed you very little social time.”
    “Now I have Cleo.” He smiled in her direction. “Thank God.”
    At the sound of footsteps, he glanced over his shoulder to watch Bing and Alexa approach. They were hand-in-hand and wore self-satisfied smiles. “They just got them some,” he muttered to Reed.
    The other man shifted his gaze, spotted the pair. “Oh, yeah. Probably in a closet. Or up in the Maddox castle’s turret.”
    Payne ignored his sudden surge of envy. He could get some himself, if he wanted. All he needed to do was make a phone call.
    Or sniff his pillowcase and take his dick in hand.
    Spinning around, he set off for a short solo walk around the compound, his gaze taking in the place of his wild childhood and his decadent adolescence. Upon leaving the place he’d doubted he’d ever return, but it was Cilla’s idea for them to reclaim the space. Build new, better memories, she said.
    Cilla, maybe the only one of them with a true open heart.
    Laughter in the distance caught his attention and