Somehow she managed to climb out of her truck and shut her door without screaming in pain. It took her twice as long as it usually did, but she managed to drag her ass to the front door and let herself inside. When she didn’t see Darrin, she counted herself lucky. Groaning softly as she tried to work out the stiffness in her shoulders, she walked into her apartment, tossed her keys on the small table by the door and made herself walk up the stairs, whimpering pathetically with each and every step.

By the time she’d made it to the second floor, she was more than ready to call it a night and curl up into a ball on the landing and stay there until her alarm clock went off and forced her to get up so that she could crawl in her room and beat the shit out of it. But she knew that if she didn’t go pop a few Advil and a take an excruciatingly hot shower now that she’d regret it in the morning.

She walked into her room, slapped her hand against the wall, leaned over and started the long, tedious process of untying her work boots. Once she had the left boot off, she dropped it with a grunt and worked on removing the other one. Once that was done, she let out another pathetic groan and headed towards the bathroom, stripping her clothes off along the way.

She turned on her shower, turning it all the way up, grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste and forced the muscles in her arm to work. Five minutes later, she was closing her eyes and savoring the hot water as it helped soothe her aches and pains. It felt so good, but all too soon the water started to cool off.

With a sigh of disappointment, she shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. She dried off with a towel and then wrapped it around herself so that she could comb out her long hair.  Biting back a yawn, she grabbed a bottle of lotion and walked into her bedroom, dropping the towel along the way, letting it hit the floor with a mental promise to pick it up in the morning.

She pumped some lotion into her hand and placed the bottle on her nightstand. Rubbing the lotion between her hands, she began rubbing it all over her body, moaning softly as she worked the last of the tension out of her muscles.

Once she was done, she reached over, switched off her light and crawled in bed. She curled up on her side, closed her eyes and released a sleepy sigh as she settled in for the night before she muttered, “Get the hell out.”

A warm chuckle teased her ear, making her shiver as Darrin wrapped his large arm around her and pulled her closer. “I was wondering when you’d get around to kicking me out,” he said, kissing her shoulder.

“Now you know,” she said around a yawn, “so get out.”

He kissed her neck. “Turn over.”

Oh, God…

It actually frightened her how badly she wanted to do just that. She usually loved how he could drive her crazy with just a few words, a look, a smile or a simple kiss to her shoulder, but not right now. Right now she just wanted to pass out and stay that way until it was time to drag her ass out of bed and go to work.

“I can’t,” she mumbled, whimpering a bit at the end there.

“You can, sweetheart,” he said soothingly as he gently pulled and shifted her a bit until she found herself draped over him.

She was too tired to push away from him and crawl back to the safety of her side of the bed. Instead, she lay there, whimpering as she waited for him to say or do something that was going to leave her begging for more. God, she hated being this weak.

“J-just make it quick,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her body start to respond to the large erection pressed against her stomach.

He chuckled as he kissed her forehead. “Shhhh, just relax, sweetheart,” he said in that damn soothing tone of his that made it difficult to keep her eyes open.

It didn’t exactly help when he started to run his hands over her back and shoulders. God, it felt so good being in his arms, she thought sleepily as she felt herself start to drift off.

“What did you do to the pizza?” he asked softly, pressing another kiss to her forehead as his hands continued to work their magic, lulling her into a deep sleep.

“Hmmmmm?”

“The pizza that you left in my fridge,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “What did you do to it?”

“The pizza?” she mumbled, trying to focus.

“The pizza that you left in my refrigerator, sweetheart. What did you do to it?” he asked with another kiss that made her very happy.

“Black Jack pizza?” she mumbled with a frown.

“Mmmhmmm,” he murmured, rewarding her with another kiss.

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure?” he asked after a slight hesitation.

“Mmmhmmm,” she murmured, shifting to get more comfortable and so that she could press a kiss against his chest.

“Good,” he whispered with another kiss, sounding relieved.

“I coated the half eaten candy bar that I left on my kitchen table with Ex-Lax though,” she explained around a yawn. He really did make a comfortable mattress, she thought absently as she noted the exact second that her words registered.

“What are you-oh, shit!” he said, gently shoving her off so that he could crawl off the bed with his hand pressed against his stomach and make a run for her bathroom.

“I took all the toilet paper out of the bathroom before I left,” she informed him on a pleased little sigh as she curled up on her side.

“Shit!” he groaned, stumbling towards her bedroom door.

She opened her mouth to tell him that she’d taken it upon herself to remove all his toilet paper from his bathroom as well, but decided against it. He’d figure out the extent of her revenge soon enough, she mused as she blindly reached back and grabbed his pillow so that she could hug it.