“You’re such a good guy,” she gushed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Tell me again why I don’t want to keep you forever?”
“Because according to you, you’re a bad girlfriend,” he supplied, tongue in cheek. “But I think it’s because you don’t want to be tied down with someone like me who’s serially monogamous.”
She made a face to hide the sudden racing of her heart rate. Was he right? Was she afraid of trusting again? Possibly. “That was the most passive-aggressive statement I’ve ever heard so early in the morning,” she said with a small roll of her eyes. The best defense was a good offense.
But Layton wasn’t giving up. “Fair enough. How’s this? Because you’re afraid I’m going to be clumsy with your heart like that last douche even though we’re nothing alike.”
Oh, he hit the nail on the head. “No one ever starts out acting badly,” she told him quietly, hating that she was still affected by what Riker had done. It was hard to think of yourself as a strong, independent woman when you were still licking the wounds from the past. “That comes later.”
“Only if you’re hardwired that way from the start.” He kissed her—perhaps to stop her from thinking too much—and it worked. Within moments, they were touching, feeling, tasting and loving each other as if the world were about to end.
By the time they emerged from the bedroom, they were starving and raided the kitchen to make French toast and bacon.
“Easiest way to my heart,” she admitted around a generous bite of French toast. “I swear I’ll be four hundred pounds by the time I’m middle-aged. I love food. I cringe at the thought of cutting out carbs or going paleo or doing any of those crazy restrictive food plans. I need variety. I need sugar and carbs and grains! I rue the day someone tries to put me on some kind of diet.”
“Hey, more meat on your bones means one thing. Bigger boobs, so eat up all you want.”
She laughed. “You’re impossible. There’s more to life than boobs.”
“Debatable.”
She finished her breakfast and then she grabbed her phone only to find it dead. She’d forgotten to charge it last night and now it was completely dead and it would take about fifteen minutes to even get a tiny signal.
“Can you call Erik and see if he answers? My phone is deader than a doornail.”
Layton fished his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed Erik.
To her relief, Erik picked up.
“Hey, man, there you are,” Layton said, gesturing to the phone with a thumbs-up to indicate everything was A-okay. “Your sister was freaking out because you didn’t call.”
But then Layton sobered and frowned with concern and she knew something was wrong. “What is it?” she asked, tugging at Layton’s sleeve. “Is everything okay? What happened?”
He held up his hand to quiet her as he was listening and then said, “All right, that sucks but glad to hear you’re okay. That could’ve ended a lot worse. So you’re going to stay there until the car is repaired?”
Car? Her eyes widened. “What happened to the car?”
Layton covered the microphone and whispered, “They were in a minor car accident. The SUV slid off the road and landed in a ditch but they’re okay.” He returned to Erik. “Alexis’s foot is fine. The swelling went down and we didn’t need to take her to the hospital. I’ve been taking real good care of her.”
At that, Alexis pinched his nipple and he tried not to yelp. “Don’t worry about Alexis... I got everything under control.” Then his expression changed and he frowned. Something told her Erik was giving him an earful about something he didn’t like. “We’ll talk more when you get home. Drive safe.”
Once he clicked off, Alexis pounced. “What happened?” she demanded to know. “Is everyone okay?”
“They’re both fine but it was a little scary. They slid off the road into a ditch and because of the snow no one saw them right away. No injuries, just a little shaken up.”
“I knew something was wrong. Erik and Emma are both OCD in that they would’ve called.” She worried her bottom lip. “Poor Em! She just wanted to spend the weekend with her parents and all these terrible mishaps happened. It’s almost as if the universe didn’t want her to be there. I wonder what that’s about.”
“Well,” Layton said with a small shrug, “if I’m right about Erik seeing Emma as more than just your friend...maybe spending some alone time worked out for them.”