Wrangled Mess by Reese Madison

pout. Then I panicked. What time is it??
    I rolled and grabbed my phone. Nine-fifteen. Okay. Not bad. Now, were is everybody? I got up and adjusted my clothes. Seems to me I remember some wandering hands last night. I smiled at the way he’d stop and lay perfectly still as soon as suspected he’d woken me up. Sneaky, but not. I have no doubt if I’d told him to stop, he would have stopped.
    After relieving myself and washing up, I went to the living room. They didn’t see me at first. I froze.
    Trace is reading the newspaper on the couch with one hand, and wrestling Bits to his back with the other. There’s an empty plate of what I’m assuming is Trace’s breakfast, and an empty bowl of whatever he’d fed Bits. I recognize the bowl I’ve been using for the little piggy.
    The scene before me is domestic, yet not. This is not the type of man one finds sitting on the couch of a model Tuscan home reading the paper and wrestling with a piglet. This is the kind of man women look for on the cover of romance novels.
    He sensed me and smiled before looking up and over, “There she is.”
    Bits did some kind of piggy Kung Fu ninja move and flipped off the end of the couch to haul his little butt full force towards me. Bits makes me feel as loved as Trace does.
    I scooped him up before he crashed into my feet. “Oh my goodness. Did you miss me?” I asked dodging kisses and snout nudges.
    Trace set the paper down, “Save some for me Bits. You hungry Cookie?”
    “Coffee first. What have you two been doing?”
    “I got an early call so I took him with me. That way you could sleep in. I reset your alarm on your phone to ten thirty in case I didn’t make it back.”
    “Thank you. It felt good to sleep in. What kind of call did you get?” I tucked Bits in like a football. He’s getting heavier already. Then again, he’s eating every freaking thing he can get his snout on.
    “Woodpeckers of all things.”
    “Woodpeckers??”
    “Yeah, they get a little aggressive sometimes, and don’t mind drilling some ugly holes in people’s houses. I set deterrents, and traps for relocating. A couple of my traps sprung this morning, so Bits and I ran out to relocate them.”
    “Was he a good boy?” I rubbed his little snout.
    “He was until he ate my breakfast.”
    “You didn’t eat here?”
    “I wasn’t going to, but that little idiot ate my breakfast burrito while I was trying to drive. He’s food aggressive in the mornings. I probably should have fed him before we left.” He shrugged.
    “Next time you’ll know better.”
    “I owe you an apology for the mess I seem to have brought into your life. Between the piglet, and exposing Jackson for the thief he is, I feel like I’m disrupting your otherwise peaceful life.”
    “More like boring, and disrupt away. You saved me from possibly being taken to the cleaners, and brought a troublesome little pig into my life that I can’t imagine living without now. Kind of like you.”
    “Kind of like me what?” He asked handing me a hot cup of coffee.
    “Did you put sugar in it?”
    “I did. Like me what?”
    I sipped the coffee and relished the flavor. “Oh that’s good.”
    “Celeste.” And there’s my bad girl name again. How can he scold me and make me feel sexy at the same time??
    “Hmm?” I looked up hoping the innocent act works.
    “Like me what?”
    “I forget. What was I saying?”
    “You said you can’t imagine life without the pig. Then you said like me. Don’t play dumb with me woman.”
    “I can’t be held responsible for the things I say before coffee. That’s rule number one in this house.”
    “Right. What’s rule number two?”
    “Check the switch on the Sho-Vac, make sure it says suck not blow.”
    He smacked my ass just hard enough I almost spilled my coffee. “That was your fault. Who leaves the vacuum on blow??”
    “I do. I get more out of blowing than I do sucking.” I screamed as he chased me from the kitchen.
    “Go sit down you