Violet elbows me in the ribs, so I do a push-up. She flips over. I try to get a knee between her thighs, but she keeps them pressed together. I’m forced to straddle her instead. My dick rests on her stomach, the head poking her navel.

She runs her fingers over my jaw. “I have client meetings today. Buck needs me to look over some stuff for him, and I have a presentation to prepare for.”

“Can’t you reschedule those and do the rest from home?” I try to sound less petulant, and more like I’m trying to seduce her with the idea.

She exhales through her nose. “No, I can’t. Besides, if I stay home, I won’t get anything done. Then I’ll have to stay late tomorrow, which won’t work because you have a game, and I want to go.”

I sigh, frustrated. She’s not going to give in. I already know it. Violet can be stubborn. I love this about her, but I also hate it, because it means she doesn’t cave for me as much as I’d like her to. “You should just quit.”

She purses her lips and pushes on my chest. When I don’t move she pushes harder. “Get off.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do, but you won’t let me.” I nudge her navel with my cock again.

“I’m not kidding, Alex. Get off me.”

Shit. She’s pissed. Usually my morning advances are welcome—even when we’ve already had lots of sex, and especially after I’ve been away for a few days.

“Come on, Violet. You know I’m joking.”

That’s a lie. I’m not joking at all. She doesn’t need to work. Ever. I make more than enough money to provide a very comfortable life for both of us. And our children. When we have them. Eventually.

“Liar! Now let me up. I need to shower. I can’t go to work smelling like your jizz.”

I give in and roll to the side.

She throws off the covers and pops out of bed. She’s naked. So, so naked. Her pert ass looks biteable as she crosses to the bathroom and slams the door. Huh. Maybe she’s getting her period or something. She’s usually not this testy. Well, if I can’t convince her to stay home, I can at least enjoy some shower sex before she goes to work.

I roll off the mattress and head for the bathroom. Turning the knob, I push and get nowhere. I try again, but the handle doesn’t budge. “Baby, want to open the door for me?” I call out.

“I’m in the shower,” she yells back.

“Uh, yeah. I get that. I was thinking maybe I could join you.”

“Sorry. I can’t hear you over the water!”

She can hear me fine, obviously. Goddamnit. What the hell did I do wrong? I look down at my hard-on and give it a reassuring pat, even though I have a bad feeling I’m not going to get to use it the way I’d hoped this morning.

When the water turns off a few minutes later—Violet takes quick showers when I’m not in there with her—I lean my forehead against the door and tap on it. Incessantly.

“There are five other bathrooms in this house, Alex. If you need to pee, go use one of them!”

I don’t say anything; I just keep knocking.

“For fuck’s sake,” she grumbles from the other side of the door. I hear the lock turn so I step back. She throws it open. “What?”

She’s covered by a towel. But there’s cleavage. “Why are you mad at me?” I say to her boobs.

She snaps her fingers in my face. I look up. Her cheeks are red and her eyes on fire, though not with lust, even though my hard-on is pointing at her, waiting for her to use it as a handle.

“Why?” she asks, incredulous.

“Yeah. What did I do?”

She throws her hands up in the air. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know what I did to make you this angry, but I’m sorry, whatever it was.”

“That you don’t even know is a problem.” She turns away, but at least she doesn’t shut the door on me. I’m taking this as progress.

I review the events since we woke up. Maybe my rolling on top of her was the problem, but I do that all the time. “Is it because my dick was near your ass again? I promise I’m not going to try to get in there.”

She huffs, opening the vanity. “It’s not about anal, Alex.”

I scratch the back of my neck. “Is it because I asked you to stay home with me today?”

“No.” She grabs her brush and yanks it roughly through her hair, cringing when it gets caught on a bunch of knots.

Shit. I know what I did wrong. “It’s because I said you should quit your job. I wasn’t serious, Violet.”

I’m lying again, but I don’t want her to be angry. And I’m still mostly hard, so if I can get back in her good graces, I might be able to get some action before she leaves for work. I’m really horny.

Violet spins around, her wet hair slapping me in the chest. The head of my cock rubs her hip and pokes her stomach through her towel. She uses the end of her brush to push me back so my excited parts aren’t touching her anymore. “You do realize this is the fifth time in the past two months you’ve told me I should quit my job, right?”

I know I’ve said something about it before, but I didn’t realize it was that many times. “You had to work a lot over the holidays.”

“I was off the whole week between Christmas and New Year’s.”

“But my family was here, so I didn’t get as much alone time with you as I wanted. And you’ve been working late a lot since then. We’re always playing catch-up after I get back from away games, and then I’m gone again. I don’t like it. And you’re mad at me.”