She smiled so hard her cheeks hurt. “Me too.”
She snaked her hand around Heath’s waist and pinched the crap out of his backside. If only she’d had a nail, she could use him as a voodoo doll.
“I’m just so damn happy.” Heath swiped fake tears from his eyes.
Yep, she was going to kill him. As soon as she got her hands on some hydrofluoric acid and a penis shackle.
* * *
Chapter 14
* * *
“What did you do?” Lyric turned mean eyes on him. Her look was so sharp, he should be missing some vital organs. At least she’d waited until they were in Cherry Cherry to bite his head off.
“What did I do?” Heath played stupid as he stuck the key in Cherry Cherry’s ignition and prayed that she turned on. He was at least
halfway sure that Lyric wouldn’t murder him as long as the car was in motion in a populated area. Mostly because she had a strong sense of civic duty and wouldn’t want to risk mowing down any innocent bystanders. And also, witnesses.
“What. Did. You. Do?” Her voice was a lot more strangled sounding than usual.
When he didn’t immediately answer, she went to snatch the key from the ignition. He stopped her, but then gave up the game with a sigh. He’d known he was going to have to face the music. He’d just hoped for more time to come up with an explanation his logical, brainy scientist would actually buy.
One that was a lot more convincing than the truth, which was that he really didn’t know why he’d told her father they were getting married. Sure, he could make the argument that he’d wanted to put a very sick man’s mind at ease. And that might even be part of it. God knew, Bowman Wright had been more of a father to him than his own ever had, and he couldn’t stand seeing the man worry about Lyric when there was something he could do to put his mind at ease.
But using that excuse was also a cop-out, because there was another reason he’d done what he’d done. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was there in the back of his mind, niggling at him. Trying to get him to pay attention to it.
But he knew better than to pay attention to little niggles in his mind—ninety-nine out of a hundred times, they led down a slippery slope from which there was no escape. He was already lying at the bottom of one such slope, his damn bum knee keeping him from climbing back up to the top. Which was why he’d be damned if he deliberately charged down another one. Especially without knowing what lay at the bottom waiting for him.
But that didn’t solve his immediate problem, namely that Lyric was still sitting next to him, furious and fierce and absolutely breathtaking as she demanded an answer he didn’t have. And while he might not be Lyric smart, he wasn’t dumb enough to think he’d be able to put her off much longer.
“It’s one thing to tell them we’re together, but another thing to actually tell them we’re engaged. What were you thinking?” Lyric threw her hands up.
Maybe he could insane-logic Lyric enough that she actually believed him. “Your daddy was worried about dying on that table. I just wanted to give him something to ease his mind. Now he doesn’t have to worry about you. All he needs to do is concentrate on getting better.”
“So you told him we were getting married?” she shrieked loud enough to drown out Neil Diamond singing about his Sweet Caroline. Cherry Cherry coughed in warning.
“No, of course I didn’t. I swear. I just told him we were together. He extrapolated the rest.” That was mostly true. He pulled into traffic and prayed she wouldn’t hit the driver. Maybe he should ask her for some scary car crash statistics. That might distract her.
“My father extrapolated that we were getting married?” She shot him a look that would have brought a lesser man to his knees. It was a good thing for both of them that his ego provided a lot of cushion. It would take a more than a couple dirty looks to penetrate its protection.
“Well, extrapolate might be a little bit of an exaggeration.” Heath nodded. “Now that I think about it, I might have hinted that we were engaged.”
“Hinted? How do you hint about an engagement?” She scrubbed her face with her hands.
She had a point, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
She ground her teeth together. “Can you please, for once in your life, be straight with me?”
“I am being straight with you.” Or at least, straight in a meandering kinda way. Straight was relative.
“No, you’re talking in circles. Or ovals or octagons, I don’t even know at this point. But you aren’t being straight with me.” She was coming unhinged. It was a little frightening.
“Octagons have straight lines,” he felt honor bound to point out. Especially since they had just pulled up at a stop sign. He was nothing if not helpful like that.
“I don’t even know what to say. This is insane.” Lyric let out a little scream of frustration.
He had no idea what it said about him that he found the sound incredibly sexy. So sexy, in fact, that he couldn’t help wondering if he could get her to make it again. Preferably when they were in bed together and she was underneath him. Or on top of him. Or trying number twenty-two in Cosmo’s list of best sex positions.