“Now that you’re in love, you’re not going to turn into a disgusting sap that I can’t stand to be around, are you? Because then I will have to vagina punch you.”
“I don’t think I’m going to become any different than I already am. I mean, I was sort of in love with Royce. Or at least I thought I was.” I hadn’t been, even though I’d told him the words. This felt completely different. Love with Royce felt . . . obligatory? Love with Lucah was something I couldn’t control, and something I didn’t want to control. Loving him was letting go. Surrendering.
Twenty-Three
I didn’t want to make Sloane leave when Lucah came over, so she decided to make us dinner and then vacate so we could have some “ooey, gooey lovey sex”, according to her. But she wanted to officially spend time with my “lover” so she was going to force us to eat dinner with her. I knew there was no point in arguing, so I said it was fine and sent Lucah a text so he wouldn’t be thrown off when Sloane attacked him, as I knew she would.
He said he was okay with it, so he must really love me.
~*~*~
Sloane buzzed him up while I was getting ready, and beat me to the door.
“Hey, lover boy! Come on in. Any lover of Rory is a lover of me.” That probably didn’t sound the way she meant it, but she didn’t seem to care. Lucah just smiled and let her hug him.
“I am so sorry in advance for anything that she says. I am not responsible for her, as you well know.” I pinched Sloane and she yelped.
That was just payback for her kicking me all those times. I hoped she had marks.
“I think I can handle it. Hi,” he said, turning his attention to me and letting the sweetest smile pass over his lips. When he spoke I saw the metal flash of his tongue barbell. How I loved that thing and what he could do with it.
“Hi,” I said and he gathered me into his arms and pulled me off my feet.
“I wanted to get you something, but everything I found seemed silly, so I went with this,” he said, handing me a small box that he’d set on the counter.
“Oohh, what is it?” Sloane said, leaning over my shoulder. Yeah, that wasn’t annoying at all.
“Well, I don’t know yet because I need to open it.” I reached through the tissue and pulled out what I determined was a paperweight shaped exactly like my favorite red shoes. There was also a coffee cup that said WORLD’S GREATEST BOSS on it. Ha, I didn’t know he was a fan of The Office.
“And I am now realizing the present is silly anyway. There are also some sticky notes in shoe shape in there as well.” He was blushing and it made me laugh.
“It’s so sweet, Lucah. Thank you. I love it. This is a million times better than flowers.” Now I would always have a little piece of him on my desk and no one would know. That was the best part.
“I never knew office supplies could be so adorable, but this is really cute, Ginger. Also, nice brown nosing. Well done.” She really had to stop calling him ginger. I gave Lucah a kiss right in front of Sloane and she made cheering noises and then a pot started boiling over on the stove and she had to go tend to it as I led Lucah to the couch and sat down with him.
“So you like it? You’re not just sparing my feelings. I swear, I can take it.” He pulled me into his lap and I stroked his hair. I loved this hair and the man it belonged to.
“I love it. Really. If it sucked, don’t you think I would tell you?”
“Yeah, you would.”
“She would,” Sloane called from the kitchen. I took the paperweight out and set it on the table and stared at it.
“I love you.” Now that I’d started saying it, I didn’t want to stop. Those three little words were like little bits happiness that seemed to want to spew out of me at random times. It was like I was a love spaz.
“I love you, Sunshine.”
“Okay, enough, we get it. Get a room before I throw up in your dinner,” Sloane said.
“You wouldn’t dare,” I yelled at her and she make puking noises until I got up and threatened to beat her to death with a wooden spoon. Lucah just watched us like we were some sort of comedy show and then started clapping.
“You two should really have your own show. It would be a hit.” I glared at him and he stuck his tongue out at me and then I had to look away because he was turning me on and I was waiting until Sloane left to have any kind of “coffee”.
Dinner was actually fun. Sloane didn’t tone herself down at all, which was actually a good thing. No sense in toning it down only to shock him later. Throw him to the wolves now.
“Well, dessert is in the oven, and I have some things I need to take care of at the studio, so the place is yours for the night. Have fun, sex monkeys,” she said, and sauntered out of the apartment, blowing a kiss as she left.
“I like her,” he said when the door shut.