Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 199(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 199(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
“If you drop that,” I warned him.
“Not a chance,” Rush responded. He was practically salivating.
“Thank you so much,” I said. “I, uh, wow, this is just really nice.”
“It’s no trouble,” Amanda said, and then she was giving me a hug despite the stuff in my arms. As the ladies said their goodbyes, a strange sense of loss came over me. I glanced at Rush, but he didn’t say anything, though I had a feeling he knew what I was going through.
“Um, would you ladies like to come inside? There’s way too much here for just me and Rush,” I said. As right as the invitation felt, I was also a little terrified by it. I’d been living a low profile for so long that I wasn’t sure I even knew how to entertain guests.
The ladies turned their heels on a dime.
“We couldn’t…”
“Just for a little while…”
“Wine and a Theresa cake? Jay is going to be so jealous,” Margie said.
“Oh, well, you can invite him if you want,” I offered.
“He’s a she, and she’s out of town,” Margie said easily. “Married for fifteen years, and I still can’t sleep without her next to me. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” Margie put her arm around me as she grabbed the bottle of wine and cast a glance at Rush, who was surrounded by the other two women.
I should have used the opportunity to correct what Rush had said about being my boyfriend, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I responded to her comment about not being able to sleep without my man by my side with total honesty.
“I do,” I agreed. I looked over my shoulder at Rush, who shot me a wink even as he charmed the ladies.
He hadn’t even been sharing my bed for more than a couple of days, but I couldn’t even fathom what it would be like to one day have to sleep without him by my side.
It was insanity.
As Margie urged me toward the house, I realized something.
Maybe a little insanity was just what the doctor ordered.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RUSH
The next several days flew by in most ways but dragged in one very important one.
Christopher had had his blood drawn the previous day so the RNA test to check his viral count could be run. The results would take anywhere from two to four days to get. Although we tried to stay busy, there was no denying that both of us were needing and dreading the call that the results were in. Even then, there would be more waiting because the doctor would only share the results with Christopher in person, not over the phone. Based on her schedule, it could take another day or two to get in to see her.
So keeping busy was vital.
During the day, I worked on some of the remodeling projects Christopher had mentioned while he worked in his room, where he had a small nook that was just big enough for a desk. At night we held each other as we watched movies and talked about everything and nothing. I’d learned more about Christopher’s childhood both before and after Con had come into their lives. It had been the death of Christopher’s father that had brought the MMA fighter into Micah’s life, and while it had been a bumpy journey, there was no doubt that Christopher considered Micah and Con his fathers even if he didn’t call them that.
In turn, I’d told him about how I’d planned to live in Colorado close to my folks. Since my work required a lot of travel, I’d been living out of hotels pretty much nonstop, but I’d been ready to set up a home base somewhere, and that somewhere was supposed to have been Colorado.
They were all the conversations that normal people had long before they began playing house, but our way worked for us. After the bloody nose thing, there’d been no more talk of whether or not I was staying over. In fact, Christopher had taken it a step further by insisting we gather up the rest of my four-legged brood and bring them back to the house with us. The bunnies spent most of the day eating through all the overgrown grass and vegetation in the less than tidy fenced-in backyard.
Except Thumper.
She was too busy sticking to Pip’s side like glue. The pair had become inseparable, and they were so damn cute together, Christopher and I often joked that they needed their own social media page.
As smoothly as things were going, there was one glaring sticking point that neither of us talked about.
His family.
Specifically, King.
I still had a job to do, and that kept me in daily communication with King. I often went to his and Gio’s house to work with King on logistics and strategy, but I hadn’t once mentioned my relationship with Christopher. Even on the multiple occasions that the topic of Christopher had come up between Gio and King while I’d been there and I’d been forced to see how devastated Gio was by the turn his and Christopher’s relationship had taken, I’d stayed silent. When Gio and King had told me they’d put their wedding on hold because Gio wanted Christopher to be his best man but wasn’t sure his onetime best friend would say yes, I’d actually had to make up an excuse to leave because I’d been so fucking torn up inside for all of them.