Chapter 27 Soft Landing
Chapter twenty-seven
Soft Landing
The argument wasn’t loud enough to reach me upstairs, but I did hear the bump of luggage against the stairs and grumblings about respect in the hallway, which must’ve been courtesy of the guy in sunglasses.
I didn’t know what to do.
Get ready for bed? Pack? Put on my cutest lingerie so I could cheer Angel up when he came in?
We probably wouldn’t be doing any intimate activities now that his mom was in the house. Still, he liked pretty things. He liked me. Loved me?
I might not ever know, since his mom walked in right after my confession.
Footsteps padded closer. Angel’s? I shot across the room, pacing so he wouldn’t think I was eavesdropping.
Someone knocked twice.
“Angel? It’s unlocked,” I said, opening the door. Why would he knock for his own room?
He slipped inside with his gaze downcast and his face a blank canvas. “Hey.”
“Hey. Are you okay?” I started touching him in the anxious hope my hands would find and heal any damage he may have gotten from whatever happened downstairs.
“I’m fine.” He gently pulled my hands away. “Sorry you had to witness that.”
I linked our fingers together. “Families can be complicated. Just wait ‘til you meet Jen.”
He chuckled without much humor and rested his forehead against mine. “Do you want me to take you to Kat’s tonight?”
I tentatively met his stormy gaze. “Is that what you want?”
“No,” he whispered, shutting his eyes. “I’d like you to stay here forever. But even I can’t do that.”
Sympathy stung the backs of my eyes. “Did your mom kick you out?”
“Not yet. Not exactly, anyway.” He slipped past me to grab his duffel bag. “But I’ll need to be out tomorrow morning, and so will you.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story,” he said.
I grabbed a pillow and settled on my stomach on the bed. “I’m listening.”
He rolled his tight shoulders and began to pack. “My mom rents out her house for various enterprises: VidTokkers who want to pretend they’re living good, bachelorette parties, fitness and ‘lifestyle’ gurus. She even rented it out for an ‘indie’ movie once.”
Did he mean an adult movie? I propped myself off the mattress. “Do they use your room?”
He rolled his T-shirt up. “Probably.”
I scrambled off the covers and took the scented teddy bear with me.
“Don’t worry, pidge. We’ve had the place professionally cleaned,” he said.
“Still. That has to be unnerving,” I said, hugging my bear to smother myself in his comforting scent.
He shrugged. “I’m kinda used to it. Mom wants me to manage the house when she’s gone, and I can usually swing some kind of balance between work and my job. But I said I was busy this week, too busy for any bookings.”
“Busy hosting me,” I realized, guilt constricting my chest.
He pinched his arrow piercing. “I thought it’d be nice for us to have some privacy. After all, you’d had a rough couple of months, and we were doing really well. I thought we could use the time to get to know each other with less distractions.”
“It’s been wonderful staying with you,” I said.
“Well, apparently, Mom didn’t want to miss out on any lucrative opportunities—and a certain curly-haired lady was willing to pay a premium to make a couples-oriented video series in time for Valentine’s Day. So, Mom and her man-of-the-moment came back early.”
I furrowed my brow. “She wanted to film at your house? At the bar, you said that lady was asking you for medical advice.”
He cleared his throat. “She did want to rent the house. She also seemed very interested in sharing our knowledge of the human body.”
My blood ran cold, and I plucked a piece of lint from the bear. “So, the couples’ video…did she want you to be part of that too?”
Angel fixed me with a mischievous look. “Her offers didn’t interest me. I’d much rather freeze on a beach with you.”
I snorted and playfully pushed his arm. That had been a special date. So was tonight, despite everything. I began packing alongside him. “Hopefully, we won’t have to resort to sleeping out there. You can go home after filming’s done, right?”
He lifted one shoulder. “Depends if Mom’s boyfriend is still around.”
“That makes sense.” Although it kind of didn’t. This was still his room, right?
Or did we not really have homes at the moment?
“I—we can probably stay at Kat’s until her lease runs out. After that, I’m not sure,” I admitted.
He ran his fingers through my hair. “Don’t worry, pidge. I always land on my feet. So will you.”
I hoped so. There had to be a way we could stick together long-term after this.
We caressed each other with just enough lingering kisses and hugs to get started on the big tasks ahead of us.
Maybe we could pretend we were packing for a new adventure—especially since we were doing it together. I put some music on low volume and bobbed to the beat as I organized everything. Angel smirked and fell into pace with me.
When we were finally done cleaning up, I was more than ready for bed, and tugged Angel toward it.
“I still have a few more things to do, pidge,” he whispered, gesturing to his desk.
“Can’t you study in bed?” I yawned.
“It’d be too relaxing. I’d fall asleep.”
“Right.” It wasn’t like he could safely study downstairs right now either. “Sorry. I guess I wanted to be close to you.”
Angel dragged his teeth over his lower lip. “How about I move the desk next to the bed?”
“Perfect! That way, you can study, I can sleep, and we can still hold hands.”
He smiled softly. “Is that what you want?”
I nodded. “Does that work for you?”
“Let’s try it out. I’ll turn out the lights, and you get into bed.”
I snuggled under the covers. Each little grunt he gave out made my heart race. Maybe I should ask him to rearrange furniture more often.
Finally, he sat at the desk and clasped my hand. “Goodnight, pidge.”
“Goodnight, Angel,” I said.
The glow from his laptop screen highlighted his pretty features. He looked so serious, hardworking, and focused.
He still hadn’t said that he loved me. Maybe once everything else was settled…
His lip twitched up, though his gaze didn’t leave his study guide. “You’re staring.”
I scrunched under the blanket. “Sorry. Is it too distracting?”
“A little. But I’ll admit, it's flattering. Do you need me to read you a bedtime story?” he teased.
“Tell me the one about…cardiac arrhythmias,” I said, squinting at the study topic on his screen. Maybe I’d learn subconsciously.
“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a heart began to beat out of sync.” He started reading the clinical text, his thumb smoothing the ridges of my knuckles.
It all sounded so serene and magical in his soft, confident tone.
Something from a dream.
My dream.
An old one, maybe. But if I could make it a reality…if I could help save somebody…
Trying to visualize how that'd work made my eyelids heavy.
The idea of learning and caring for people every day didn’t fill me with dread. It was honorable and interesting. I could give and receive to the best of my ability. Angel would do that for his patients, and especially for me.
I didn’t need him to tell me he loved me. He showed me.
And maybe I was dreaming, but I was almost sure I heard him say, “Hearts can be complicated. But mine belongs to you, Tori.”