Chapter 16
Sixteen
Guys like girls who take charge. Ask them out. Plan a date. Overthrow the government. Take some hostages. Burn down his ex’s house. Maybe buy him a puppy.
—Cody to Mable
Mable
I was literally in heaven.
It was no longer snowing outside. The wind wasn’t howling. And for once I could see the sun.
But the snow was thick, it was still cold as fuck, and I was curled up on the couch with Romeo with a fire burning in the fireplace, watching one of my favorite movies in the world.
“What makes you like this one so much?” Romeo asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I had a huge crush on Nicolas Cage.
I was left to my own devices a lot, and the library had a ton of movies you could rent.
All of the newer, good ones were always gone.
But the older ones were always available.
I think I love The Rock more, but my second favorite movie has to be The Shawshank Redemption. ”
He jerked. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that man deserved to be in prison, and I think it makes me happy that he was able to escape and live.”
Something odd came over his features for a long second before he cleared them and said, “This is my favorite part.”
I knew why.
Yet I listened to John Mason say: “Your best? Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.”
God, I loved The Rock.
“I think that’s what is wrong with the world nowadays. Everyone is so worried about offending someone that you never truly get the real person. You get this half a man that tells you what he thinks you want to hear. There’re no real relationships anymore.”
“You would rather a man say what he’s truly thinking and not tell you what you want to hear?” he wondered.
I twisted slightly so that I was facing him.
We were both sharing the couch, but his long legs ate up quite a bit more of it than I did.
He was leaning against one arm, and I was leaning against the other.
His long legs were stretched out on the outside, one leg on the coffee table and the other on the couch. One white-socked foot rested by my hip, while the other took up a part of the TV screen in front of me.
I, on the other hand, was smushed into the couch cushions, cocooned between the overstuffed fabric and his body.
We were both sharing the same blanket, and his body heat was keeping me warm and toasty.
My belly hadn’t stopped fluttering with butterflies since he’d sat down.
It’d only gotten worse the more comfortable he got. The more he loosened up, the more he let himself touch me.
Innocent touching, yes. But touching nonetheless.
I was a hot mess, and Romeo had no freakin’ idea.
Unfortunately, the touching was about to come to an end, because I had to pee. I’d been holding it for over thirty minutes now, but if I didn’t go, I’d be chancing fate.
“Press pause,” I ordered as I dug myself out of my cocoon of blankets. “I have to use the bathroom.”
Before he could move, I crawled over his long legs—my, did he have some great muscle tone—and stood up.
As I did, my shirt rode high, revealing my belly.
My belly and my tattoo.
I tugged it down quickly and hurried to the bathroom, doing my business and washing my hands before coming back.
“Are you hungry yet?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be hungry again,” he said from his sprawl on the couch.
I moved around the side of the couch and fell back into the nest of blankets.
Only once I was sufficiently back where I wanted to be did I look at him.
He was smiling. “Comfortable?”
“More than,” I murmured. “You can press play now.”
He did, but only after he stared at me for a few more long seconds.
The stare was enough to make me shiver.
Luckily, he turned away right when that shiver tore down my spine.
I was asleep when the sound of a snowplow started to come closer and closer.
At first, I didn’t open my eyes.
I was too dang warm and comfortable to move.
The low afternoon sun was persistent, though.
I reluctantly peeled open my eyes, and the first thing I saw was a wide chest.
I blinked in confusion until I leaned my head back and saw that I’d somehow turned and taken to using Romeo’s chest as a pillow.
He noticed my movement and looked down. “Your friend’s dad is here with the plow. Apparently almost all of the roads in the area have been cleared.”
Instant sadness hit me at that news.
I wanted to stay here forever.
I liked it here.
Brawny liked it here.
But that wasn’t ever something that would happen for me.
Romeo was too hot.
I was too not.
I pushed up, raising my arms up high over my head to stretch out.
“What time is it?”
“Just after five,” he answered just before my phone rang.
Romeo reached for it, disentangling our limbs, and handed it to me.
I answered it, seeing Vito’s name on the screen.
“Hey, Vito,” I called.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said. “Want a ride home?”
My shoulders slumped.
No, I most certainly did not want a ride home.
I wanted to stay exactly where I was, with who I was with, and live happily ever after in this little cabin in the woods.
Except, Romeo had made absolutely no move to indicate that he wanted me to stay.
In fact, he’d been the perfect gentleman. I had no inkling whatsoever that he felt anything for me besides friendship.
“Oh, yeah. I guess I could ride with you back home.” The words felt bitter on my tongue. “Can you give me five minutes?”
“Sure thing, doll face,” he said, then continued to clear the snow around Romeo’s driveway.
“Leaving?” he asked.
Was that a hint of sadness in his voice? Or did I just want it to be there?
“Yeah, he’s going to give me a ride back home,” I murmured. “Not that I have a truck or anything to get me to work tomorrow.”
“I’ll give you a ride,” he offered. “We get there around the same time.”
I smiled. “That’s okay. I think I can borrow something from Cody. She has an old Jeep that she usually only uses during the summer. But it’s perfectly sound.”
Kind of.
It had a terrible heater, had only a ragtop, and you froze when you drove it during the winter. Hence Cody getting a new car that wasn’t a decade old.
“I’ll give you a ride,” he said instead of giving me that out. “You can use her Jeep if you need to, but we’re both going to the same place. We’re both leaving and arriving at the same time. And I literally have to drive past your road to get to the yard.”
I bit my lip for a long second before replying, “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” he said as he got up and stretched. “Your clothes are in the dryer still, I think. And I don’t really know what Cody was thinking when she packed your bag, but it’s all freakin’ summer clothes.”
That was Cody. Thoughtful, but not practical.
I headed to his laundry room and said, “Let me just change in here so you can have all your clothes back.”
“Keep them,” he suggested. “They’re warmer than yours.”
I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t think…”
“Take them.”
So I took them.
I headed to the door and slipped my feet into the one article of clothing he’d allowed me to wear that was mine—my boots.
“Come on, Brawny,” I called out.
He looked up from the couch but didn’t move.
I sighed. “Maybe we could share custody of him. He seems happy here.”
He was already shaking his head. “I’m not keeping your dog.”
“I think he’s a little bit of both of ours,” I admitted. “You actually had him for two months longer than I did.”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t know…”
“He can stay,” I said. “It’s not like I don’t know where to find him. And bring him to work with you tomorrow. We can let him into my house when you get there to pick me up.”
He still looked torn.
I walked out of the house and down the stairs, forcing myself to not look back.
I did, however, call out, “Thanks for everything, Romeo.”
“You’re welcome,” he called from behind me.
I didn’t look at Romeo until I was safely ensconced in Vito’s truck.
“What’s going on with that face?” he asked. “Where’s Brawny?”
“Romeo and I decided that we’re sharing custody of him.
It’s not fair to Brawny. He loves us both.
” I paused. “And I’m sad because you picked me up and I’d planned out the rest of my life with that man.
I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. I was going to mother his eight children.
He was going to go to work and come home to a home-cooked meal every day and a clean house.
I was going to raise chickens and garden.
We would live off the land. I would never have to leave again. ”
Vito chuckled. “Does he know that?”
“No,” I grumbled. “It was a good life, too. And you ruined it by picking me up.”
Vito laughed so hard that he drove off the road slightly.
He corrected, but not before he scared the daylights out of me a little bit.
“Watch the road, old man,” I grumbled. “Cody will kick your ass if you hurt me.”
“Then when Cody is done, my wife will repeat the process.” He sobered then. “If you like him, why don’t you tell him?”
I buried my face into the sweatshirt and smelled Romeo. “Because I’m fairly sure that he doesn’t like me like that. He’s only ever given me the ‘just friends’ vibe.”
“Uh-huh.” He snorted. “Men that want to be just friends don’t look at a woman leaving their house the way he did.”
Surprise lit my features. “What are you talking about?”
“He just looked like you ripped out his heart,” he informed me with a grin.
I didn’t let myself get excited at his words.
Instead, I dismissed them.
Because if he was wrong, and I tried, I would literally humiliate myself and lose a potential really good friend in the process.
That sounded awful.
I may not have known the man long, but he’d wormed his way into my heart all the same.