Running the tip of my nose gently across hers, I whispered, “I’m going to fix it, I promise.”
All the worries that she’d hate me flew out of the window when she smiled and leaned into me. “I know. And it’s kind of funny.”
It was an awkward move to do given that there was over a foot difference between our heights, but I weathered the pain in my neck and spine and lowered my head so that my forehead was resting on hers, letting her see the relief I was feeling. “Thank you, baby.”
“Can you do me a favor, though?”
Not even needing to think about my answer, I rasped, “Anything.”
“Remember how nice I’m being the next time I do something to piss you off. Your dog likes me because I feed him treats when I break into your house, so one day I might get in and do something like this. You need to remember this moment when I do, and then embrace the forgiveness factor you’ve got deep down inside,” she said seriously.
“Sweetheart, I’m talking to you with a blue mouth after drinking sweet coffee, and after drinking potting soil instead of coffee,” I reminded her. “If I didn’t spank your ass for those stunts, I think it’s safe to say I won’t lose my shit if you do something like this to my house. Although, I think we need to make a rule that states no destruction of property, seeing as how it looks like that’s the direction we’re headed in.”
Thinking it over, she eventually looked back at me nodding. Unfortunately, the nod contradicted the words that followed it. “I’ll think about it.”
I didn’t see this ending with me laughing, but as always the unexpected happened and I did it anyway, aware that she watched every second of it with a soft look on her face. When it left me, I opened my eyes, and felt it pertinent to tell her a home truth that was going to change both of our lives.
“You’re mine, Rose Beauregard.”
For the first time since I’d ever met her, she wore an expression that was impossible to read. I want to say it was shock, maybe even confusion, but there was a tint of happiness and irritation, so I wasn’t sure. Then she frowned, and I braced for a war. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
The answer was simple. “Do you want one?”
Looking around us at the state of her living room, she stared on the hole in the wall beside us and then looked back up at me. “Hell no.”
The relief I felt at those two words was inexplicable. Just as I leaned down to kiss her again, my brother came through, holding the fat cat in his arms. “If y’all are done with smoochy time – barf by the way – your hippo’s ok. No injuries at all, thanks to the amount of padding he’s got.” He nodded down at the purring tiger in his arms. “I’ve got time to fix shit, so I’ll get to work on it all in the morning, if that’s good with you?”
And that’s when Logan came back through, putting his cell back in his pocket. “Seems like DB’s gonna having a matching eye,” he said looking at Rose. “He just got punched breaking up a fight at the retirement home.”
Small town living, it wasn’t for everyone, but I fucking loved it.Chapter TenRose“So you and my brother?” Garrett asked, evening up the white shit he was spreading on my wall.
“How’s your ass?” I countered, making myself comfy on the couch with the cookie I’d stolen out of the pack on the coffee table.
Fortunately, Rex hadn’t broken anything hugely expensive during his wrecking ball mission, so aside from the walls, some shredded cushions that I’d wanted to replace for a while anyway, and a couple of other things, it was a pretty easy fix. Would the Evans men accept that, though? In short – no. They apologized every time I saw them – which was a lot – and they kept bringing over apology gifts, too. It had been two days since it had happened, the blue had worn off, and things were almost back to normal. Get over it all ready.
“It’s itchy,” he mumbled, grimacing like he wanted to give it a good scratch. “I keep waking up because I’m rubbing it on the sheets.”
Nodding, I swallowed the chunk of cookie I’d been munching on and thought over the healing process of burns. “Were you offered the possibility of a skin graft?”
Dropping the scrapy thing he had in his hand back into the pot of goop he’d been putting on the wall, he tipped to the side and moved so that he was partially leaning against the wall.
“Yeah, the doctor who treated me said they could do it, but I’ve got a condition called malignant hyperthermia so I avoid anesthetic as much as I can. A few scars won’t bother me that much. I’d rather have those than die because I tried to cover them up.”