Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“Good, they can do the heavy lifting,” Alyssa says.
Sure enough, Sterling and Rushton come out of the house and offer to help us move our bags. The others are in the house with the kids.
“Did you have fun today?” Rushton asks as he places my bags into the trunk of my car. I watch to make sure he doesn’t pay too close attention to the bags that hold his gifts. I ended up buying him a pair of Oakley sunglasses, and I remember him saying his were “scratched all to hell”—his words not mine—a hoodie, and some cologne. The idea of giving him me still sits in the back of my mind. The ladies had some good points today, and it’s definitely a lot for me to think about, but just like earlier, now is not the time.
“I did actually. It was a good time. They’re fun to hang out with. I’ve never spent an entire day shopping, and I wasn’t sure about how it would go, but it wasn’t bad at all.”
“Do you have time to come in and say hi?” he asks.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say no, but I surprise us both when I say, “Sure.” His face lights up, and he pulls me into a hug.
“I’ve missed you,” he says before he steps away.
“You saw me last night when you showed up at my place with Chinese.”
“Right? That’s been almost twenty-four hours. Too long.” He winks and, with his hand on the small of my back, leads me inside.
Everyone spreads out in the living room, and we spend the next couple of hours talking and getting caught up on everyone’s day. It’s mostly the guys telling us about the babies’ adventures. According to Heath, Penelope had a diaper blowout that could have stopped a war or started one. He wasn’t sure which angle he was ready to settle.
Blakely was mad that her dad made her wear her wiener pants and that she wasn’t allowed to carry her little brother around the house like the big girl that she is.
Brooks claimed that Remi was an angel, despite his T-shirt being his third of the day from her spitting up on him, and Orrin complained that Orion slept the majority of the time.
We laugh at their retelling of the day, and my face actually hurts from smiling.
“I like this on you,” Rushton says about twenty minutes later when he walks me to my car that he started for me.
“What? This coat?” I look down at my winter coat.
“This.” His thumb traces my lips. “This smile.”
His admission only makes my smile grow wider. “I had a really good day.”
“You missed me, though, right?” The moonlight shines on his own grin.
“Yeah, I missed you.” The confession is easy. I don’t stress about what it will mean for us, where it’s taking us, or where we might end up. I just gave him my truth.
“You want me to follow you home and help you unload all of this?”
“I didn’t buy that much.” I laugh.
“Can’t blame a man for trying to get an invite from his girl.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
“Are you really looking for ideas because I can think of a few things, or fifty.” He chuckles.
“I should go,” I say. “Thank you for walking me to my car and for warming it up for me.”
“You’re welcome, baby. Text me when you get home so that I know you made it.”
“I’m a big girl,” I remind him.
“Yeah, but I’ll still worry. Please?”
I nod. “I’ll text you. Be safe.”
“You too, baby.” He leans in, and I’m ready for his lips to press to mine, but they never do. Instead, they land on my forehead before he steps back and gives me room to climb into my car. With a final wave of goodbye, I’m on the road, and this time I don’t stop myself when I think of him or try to push him to the back of my mind. That’s not been working, so instead, I process everything the girls and I talked about today.
Can I let go of my fear and take a chance? I don’t know, but what I do know is that if anyone could change my mind, it’s Rushton. After all, he's already made me fall in love with him.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Rushton
In the past, I might have been known to give my brothers a hard time about following their ladies to girls’ night. It wasn’t because I was jealous or because I thought that it was wrong. To be honest, I just wanted to give them shit. We’re brothers. That’s what we do. However, it never stopped me from joining them as they watched the women they love from the back of a room enjoy themselves.
I didn’t understand it.
I supported it, but I never really comprehended what they were doing.