35. Ariella
THIRTY-FIVE
ARIELLA
TO BE SEEN IS TO BE LOVED
There was no way this was a good idea.
Yet here I was anyway, folding my endless collection of leggings and spandex shorts and stuffing them into the drawers of a really freaking nice dresser that hadn’t been there last time.
Despite telling Dalton that I wasn’t staying past a few days, I couldn’t resist setting up all my little things. Each item I unpacked felt like laying another brick on a path I wasn’t sure I should be walking down. One that veered away from my originally laid out road. Although, if I were being truthful with myself, it didn’t really veer off…it was more like it ran parallel. Because I was still working toward all my goals, there was just an extra person walking alongside me.
Like every time this topic came up in my mind, I shoved it aside, focusing on unpacking instead.
I set up the photo collage of my cousins and me, the neon sign that said brujita , and the collection of coconut- scented candles that filled the room with a sweet, tropical scent that reminded me of my favorite body wash.
“Hello…holy shit,” Gracie called out from where she stepped inside the front door. I smirked, knowing full well her jaw was on the floor. Rounding the corner, sure enough, her mouth was in the shape of an O, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“If you decide you’re not staying here, I’ll sure as fuck do it.” She walked farther into the open-concept living room, making a beeline for the exact thing I had—the view. “God, this is…I mean…wow. Does he have any single teammates? Hell, I’ll put up with that grumpy-ass coach even.”
I shook my head. “First of all, I’m not letting you anywhere near my players.” She wrinkled her nose at that. “And there’s no way in hell you and Monroe would work. The most amount of words that man has said was what you heard at the press conference.”
She huffed. “After my last date, I think I want a man who doesn’t speak.” She moved around the space, face still in awe.
“I know, it’s the nicest place I’ve ever seen,” I said, reading the unspoken words on her face as I came to stand beside her. Watching all of the cars buzzing around down below was surreal. I’d never imagined seeing Dallas from this vantage point.
“Nice?” She whipped her head toward me, “No, prima . Es maravillosa .” She nudged me playfully before moving toward the kitchen, leaving me shaking my head with a smile.
“Go ahead, Gracie. Just make yourself at home.” I teased, trailing behind her, trying to calm the nerves at being in Dalton’s space without him. I’d texted him earlier asking if it was okay if she came over, and he’d told me I lived there now and to have anyone I wanted over.
“Damn, girl, how good are they paying you? Maybe I should have been charging you more for rent. You bought every type of drink you like?”
“What are you talking about?”
Entering the kitchen, I found her crouched in front of the drink fridge. My heartbeat picked up the closer I got. I peered over her shoulder, shocked at the sight.
The fridge was fully stocked with all my favorite drinks.
“I didn’t buy those,” I said quietly, staring in disbelief.
She laughed. “What do you mean you didn’t buy them? You two just happen to like the same drinks?” She looked over her shoulder, smiling until she noted my face, and then her mouth dropped even wider than it had when she saw his apartment. “Wait a minute…”
“Holy shit.” She yelled, jumping up and gripping my shoulders. “He stocked the fridge with all of your favorite drinks? How does he even know which ones you like? I mean, he even got the Topo Chico in the?—”
“Glass bottles,” I finished for her, biting the inside of my cheek, eyes still glued on the drink fridge.
It wasn’t that I didn’t think he was paying attention to me when he’d asked all of those questions, but I’d never imagined that he was asking them because he would go out and buy them for me. My eyes caught on an orange sticky note on the top of the counter.
The exact spot he’d set me on the night I was here .
Before my cousin noticed it, I snatched it up, eager to read the words on there.
The height of luxury is a well-stocked drink fridge. Leave a spicy water for me. P.S. Check the pantry.
My body was on autopilot, moving toward the door tucked away beside the fridge—a lump formed in my throat when I pulled it open. Ten bottles of Tapatío were lined up. I pressed a hand to my mouth to stifle the surge of emotion. “Gracie, when do we start our period?”
“Huh?” She stood behind me, trying to peek at the note, but I held it close.
“I’m hoping that the fact that I feel like crying over this is because I’m PMSing,” I answered, dabbing the corner of my eyes. “Because who the hell cries over drinks and hot sauce?”
She moved to stand directly in front of me, her eyes softening. “It’s not the drinks, babe. It’s the fact that someone took the time to see you.”
I groaned as she wrapped me in a hug, squeezing tight. “Don’t start,” I mumbled into her shoulder, though a part of me clung to the comfort.
“Oh my gosh, a boy likes you, Ari,” she sang teasingly, pulling back to beam at me. “And you like a boy.”
“Of course, I like him. As a friend.”
“Mmmhmmm. I also let my friends eat me out at work.” I went to hit her, but she spun away laughing.
“Graciella, I told you that in confidence.”
“You know, now that I think about it, I totally would let my friends eat me out at work.” She wagged her eyebrows, grabbing a Red Bull. “I’m going to go snoop,” she said, skipping off, leaving me to work through the pile of emotions sitting on my chest.
What the hell was I doing here? Ari from three weeks ago would never have agreed to this. But when Gracie had told me that movers showed up at the apartment to get my stuff and take it to Dalton’s, my heart had sped up, not in anger, but in excitement. The control I had over the situation between us felt as if it was slipping through my fingers, and now I stood here wondering if I should be worried about the fact that I wasn’t worried.
Fuck my head hurts. This is why I avoid relationships and emotions…
Gracie burst back into the kitchen, her face pale and panicked, looking like she’d seen a ghost.
“Code fucking red, Ari,” she blurted out, pacing with her arms over her head, breathing like she’d just sprinted a mile. “Or maybe worse. What’s worse than red? Whatever it is, that’s what we’re dealing with.”
I moved toward her, gripping her shoulders so I could talk her off the ledge. She had a tendency of being dramatic, so I was sure that whatever she had to say wasn’t all that big of a deal.
“Slow down, what’s the problem? Did you spill? Break something? I’m sure Dalton wil?—”
She cut me off, her eyes wild. “Your brother is coming to town tonight, and I accidentally told him you moved out,” she said, biting on her knuckles.
“What?” I nearly yelled. Now I was the one pacing the oak floors. “Start from the beginning. You just walked out of here, and everything was fine. Now you come in and tell me that Ricky’s on his way here? And he knows I’m not at your place?”
“I didn’t mean to.” Her hands flew up in the air. “I posted a pic to my story when I got here that said, “My prima’s new spot,” forgetting that the dumbass follows my blogger account, too. Then he messaged me asking what the hell you were doing somewhere else besides my place, and I panicked.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, willing my lungs to start working properly because I was currently swallowing mouthfuls of air and on the verge of hyperventilating.
“Don’t worry, though. I didn’t tell him you were living with a man,” she said.
Saliva pooled in my mouth, followed by the urge to throw up because that sentence was the opposite of making me feel like I didn’t need to worry.
“I told him the team owned the apartment and put up their new staff here until they find a place.”
Some of the nausea subsided because that was actually pretty smart.
When I opened my eyes back up, Gracie was practically gnawing at her manicured nails, brows up in her hairline.
“Okay, now explain to me this whole thing about him coming here tonight ?” I asked in a measured tone.
The damn wince was back.
“He said he wanted to surprise you, but now that you’ve moved he needed to know where to go.” There was a pause, and I knew I would hate whatever came out of her mouth next. “And he’s planning on staying at your place, so we need to move all of your shit into Dalton’s room and around the apartment so your brother can stay in your room and believe you live here alone,” she said quickly, tacking on a smile like it would help keep me from strangling her.
I walked away from her so I wouldn’t be tempted, reaching for my phone between measured breaths. There was no time to freak out. I’d have to save that for tonight while I was lying on Dalton’s floor and fighting off the panic attack of my brother finding out I’d moved into a man’s home.
Fuck me.
“You owe me so big for this, Gracie,” I muttered. “Like, clean the tripe for menudo every time from now until forever big.”
She only nodded, already half to the guest bedroom. “Got it. I’ll start moving your things. You…handle Dalton.”
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I pressed the green call button. The team had left a few hours earlier for Nashville, which was just a short hop on the plane. My lungs burned as I held my breath, waiting for him to pick up the phone. Part of me hoped he wouldn’t, and I could leave him the craziest voicemail he’d ever gotten in his life, but at least I wouldn’t have to talk to him. Gracie said I should text him, but this felt like way too big of an ask for a text.
“Don’t pick up, don’t pick up, don’t?—”
“Ari?” Dalton’s voice sounded concerned on the other end of the line, and I wrangled in the tornado ricocheting off the walls of my chest. “Everything okay? Something in the apartment giving you trouble? I can call down and have the?—”
I cut off his adorable, worried rant. “No, no. Everything with the apartment is great. Perfect, really.” There would be a permanent divot in his kitchen floors from my pacing. “Thanks, by the way, for all the drinks in the fridge. You literally got every single one of my favorites. You didn’t need to do that.”
“Sunshine,” there was a smile in his voice, “you’re welcome, but I know that’s not what you called me for. So spit it out.”
I took a deep breath, and the words tumbled out like one long run-on sentence. “Gracie let it slip to my brother that I moved out. He was already on his way to visit, and now he wants to stay with me for the night.”
“Okay?” Dalton replied, clearly confused about where I was going with all of this. Which was a shame, because I’d been hoping he’d figure it out and not make me come out and say what I was about to.
“She told him your apartment was my apartment and that the team put me up here until I found a spot, and now I have to stay in your room tonight because he’s on his way over,” I rushed out before adding on, “but I won’t sleep in your bed or go through your stuff.”
“Ari.”
I ignored him. Now that the words were flowing, I couldn’t get them to stop. “I’m just going to sleep on your floor, and he will only be here for the night.”
“Ari…”
“I promise I’ll keep everything clean, and we wo?— ”
“Babe,” he interrupted, his voice soft but firm.
That got my mouth to snap shut. He’d probably said it for that very reason, but it didn’t stop my stomach from swooping and my lady bits from literally tingling.
“I already told you, the place is yours too. If your brother wants to come stay tonight, it’s fine with me.” The knot in my throat loosened. “But there’s one rule.” My back straightened at the authority in his voice, and I tried to ignore the way it turned me on. “You’re sleeping in my bed, Sunshine.”
I could picture him, that steady look in his eyes, the slight quirk of his brow daring me to argue. Which I always would, and now was no different.
“Dalton, I am not sleeping in your bed,” I said, making my way toward his bedroom door as if my feet had a mind of their own. My heart beat faster with each step. There was something exciting about the idea of seeing his space. I wondered if it was more personal than the rest of his place.
Would there be any little insights into who he was?
Pushing his door open, I waited for his answer. We both knew I’d sleep in his bed, that I was only pushing back because it was in my nature, and my heart seized at the realization that Dalton didn’t mind letting me push back.
He was patient with me. Accepted my independence, except if it meant me sleeping on a couch or the floor, apparently. I peered into the dark room, hit by his overwhelming scent.
“I’ve had my tongue in your pussy. ”
I choked on my spit. That was not what I’d expected him to say.
He kept on talking, unfazed that I was nearly dying on the other end of the call. “You think I’ll have a problem with you in my bed? You’re sleeping there, and I want a fucking picture as proof. Clothing is optional. You understand, Ariella?”
I loved how my name rolled off his tongue when he said it. He made the effort to pronounce it the way it was intended.
“And what if I don’t?” I teased, finally recovered, and absently biting my lip at the idea of walking into his space. I took a step and froze at Gracie’s incoherent yelling from across the apartment.
Shit.
“I’ve got to go find out what Gracie needs before she causes me to have a panic attack,” I said, turning on my heel to track her down.
Dalton let out a low chuckle.
“Fine. But don’t test me, Sunshine. I want that photo.”