Page 42 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

“Then get someone else to come.”

He was the only one in her price range, but that was too humiliating to admit, so she shrugged instead.

Valeria rolled her eyes. “Really, you couldn’t get him to do anything before he left.”

“No, he insisted on being paid upfront.”

“You still could have gotten him to do something. He’s only a man after all.”

Her face heated as she thought about what Valeria had expected her to do for the repairs. It was too steep a price for a chimney, but maybe she would have considered it if he was the roofer.

“Then maybe you should have been there to negotiate with him.”

“Oh, if he was here after dark, I would have been down there, but there would have been no negotiating.”

“It’s too bad you’re such a heavy sleeper,” she snapped.

“It’s a real shame for you because I would have had this handled without a problem. Really, cara, you’d think you had never been taken care of before.”

Caroline narrowed her eyes at Valeria. She hated the implication she couldn’t take care of herself. She had been more than capable of doing so since she was at least twelve years old, if not earlier. Currently she was having a difficult go of it, but she had done an admirable job overall.

“Then it’s a shame your sun sickness means you’ll never be able to take care of me.”

A look of horror slowly bloomed over Valeria, but Caroline was too angry to feel bad about her harsh words.

“I have a headache, so I would appreciate it if you could leave me to sleep while you do whatever it is you do every night.”

“Very well, I’ll leave you to your wallowing.”

Caroline didn’t move from her place on the floor even after she heard the door close behind Valeria. She was tired of having to take care of everything on her own, but she didn’t know another way to move forward.

CHAPTER 12

Fingers stroked over Caroline’s face, and it took her a moment to realize it was Valeria hovering above her.

“Don’t think this means I’m not still cross with you.”

Caroline’s lip twitched. “Don’t worry, I’m still cross with you too.”

Valeria smiled down at her. “I’m glad we’re in agreement.”

“Me too. Now this means we can enjoy our night.”

“Actually, it’s daytime, but the sentiment is the same.”

“Do you really want to ruin a beautiful moment with semantics?”

“Is this your way of telling me I should be kissing you instead?”

She nodded, and Valeria smiled before she leaned down to kiss her. As far as Caroline was concerned, they should always be kissing.

“Your mouth is even sweeter than I imagined,” Valeria said as she moved her lips over Caroline’s jaw. “So sweet I could sink my teeth into you so easily.”

She trembled, and Valeria gave a throaty chuckle.

“Don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe here. Besides, I never come to you hungry.”

Caroline grabbed Valeria’s face and pulled her down for a kiss. What she lacked in finesse, she more than made up for in enthusiasm as she eagerly darted her tongue into Valeria’s mouth.