Chapter 24
Covey
Blake: If you can stop by your house tonight, I left samples for you to look at. I need you to pick out everything as soon as possible.
Covey: Done. I’ll text you a list.
I switch over to my text thread with Cici and smile. We’ve been dating for almost a month now and every second with her is amazing. I don’t know how I got lucky enough for her to give me so many chances, but I'm not screwing this one up. I plan on making her my wife.
Covey: Any chance you can get out of work early? I have to pick out cabinets, counter tops, paint, and who knows what else.
Cici: I’m gathering my purse and jacket now. Meet you at home then we can go over together?
Covey: Sounds perfect. See you soon.
Soon after we started dating, Cici told Parker and Luke she’s not letting Scott, Powell, and Coleman dominate her life.
She loves her job, but she doesn’t want to give up a chance at having a family because of it.
They didn’t give her a hard time. They both smiled and said they were happy she figured it out this early.
Apparently, they had a hard time learning to balance work and personal life.
I love how she’s making our relationship a priority in her life. She wants to spend as much time with me as possible and I do too. Any time we’re both free, we spend it together.
I know a lot of professional athletes don’t want to feel like they need to be with their girlfriends every spare second. They view a girl like that as being clingy and too controlling. I don’t agree. Not when it comes to Cici.
The alert on the driveway goes off and a smile spreads across my face. I feel like I haven’t seen Cici in days instead of hours. I’ve missed her.
I swing the door open right as Cici reaches for the handle. I sweep her into my arms and press my lips to hers. She lets out a little squeal of surprise and I grin. She’s so adorable.
“I missed you,” I murmur against her lips.
“I missed you too.” She toys with the hair at the nape of my neck as she stares up at me.
“Are you ready to pick out everything?”
“I’d love nothing more.”
“Alright, let’s get over there, then I was thinking we could go out for dinner.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
“Good. Let’s go!” I sweep her into my arms and carry her out to my car as her laughter fills the air. I gently place her in the passenger’s seat and kiss her again. “I love you,” I say softly as I stare into her gorgeous eyes.
Cici watches me for a moment before a grin tips up the corner of her lips. She looks so happy. We’ve never exchanged those three little words, but I’ve felt it for a while.
“I love you too,” she whispers, leaning in for another kiss.
After kissing her for a few more minutes, I jog around to the driver’s seat and drive the short distance to my house.
As soon as we’re inside, I spot the samples and my eyes widen. There are so many things to pick out.
“Man, this is going to be overwhelming,” I groan, gripping the back of my neck as anxiety begins tightening my muscles.
“No, it will be fun.” Cici intertwines our fingers and stares up at me with a smile.
“I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve thought of renovating but my kitchen was new when I bought the house.
It just seemed like a waste to change it so soon after someone redid it, but I was never in love with the kitchen. ”
“Pick everything out. I don’t want to and I don’t find this fun. It makes me want to crawl out of my skin.”
“But then I'll want to move in here,” she groans. “Your house will be prettier than mine.” She sticks her bottom lip out in a pout and I can’t help but chuckle.
“Well, then when we get married, we can live here instead of your house.” I close the distance between us and grab her waist to pull her closer.
“When we get married, huh?” A smile tugs on the corner of her lips.
“If you think I'm ever letting you go, you’re crazy. Don’t you want to be my wife, baby?” I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and let my fingers trail down her neck.
“There’s nothing I want more. I think you’d make a pretty perfect husband and dad.”
“Dang, you even want babies with me?” I smirk.
“Lots of them.” She stands on her tippy toes and is about to kiss me when my front door opens and Cord steps inside.
“Are you kidding me?” He growls, folding his arms across his chest.
“Oh, hey, Cord. C’mon in. It’s so nice to see you.
How’s the family?” I roll my eyes. Even though we’ve lived next door to each other for a few years and he’s never knocked before coming into my house, this is different.
We’ve barely spoken since Cici and I started dating and from what I understand Cici’s been keeping her distance from him.
Macy’s been letting Cici come over to see Emmett when Cord’s not home. She knows how much Emmett means to my girl and I'm glad Macy’s Team Covey. She’s so happy we’re together and she’s trying to help bring Cord around to the idea.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Me or Cici?” I arch a brow.
“You. Apparently, my own twin won't talk to me until I fix things with you.” He glares at Cici and I want to smack him upside the head. He doesn’t get to be angry because Cici’s an adult and wants to make her own decisions. “Can we talk outside?”
“How about you start picking out samples while I talk to him?” I murmur.
“You don’t need to do this if you don’t want to,” she whispers so only I can hear her.
“Nah, it’s time. This thing needs to end between the two of you.”
Cord’s tried to talk to me a few times over the last week since he’s been back at work full time. Every time he tries, Owen calls me into the office or Levi wants to talk. I'm constantly pulled away by things outside of my control.
I have a feeling Owen’s doing all of this.
As much as he was against my relationship with Cici when he first found out, he’s now happy we’re together.
He regrets his little temper tantrum and we both know it.
I think he’s trying to make sure Cord realizes he can’t control Cici and wants him to see what a life without his twin would be like.
I press a quick kiss to Cici’s forehead before I lead Cord out to the patio. I take a seat on one of the lounges and stare out at the backyard. I'm not beginning this conversation. He’s the one that came stomping over here, I'm not making this easier on him.
“I'm sorry, man,” he says on a sigh, blowing out a long breath. “I freaked out when I found out you were dating and that was dumb. In my defense, I was sleep deprived and emotions were high… plus, I did tell you she was off limits.”
“I really like her, Cord,” I say softly, glancing over at him.
“I figured you did. I couldn’t see you breaking my trust over this unless you liked her a lot.” He shakes his head.
“I wasn’t trying to break your trust, but Cici and I hit it off as soon as we met. It’s been years and I have never met someone else as amazing as her.”
“Yeah, but like how much do you like her?” He tries to hide his smile, but it’s tugging on his lips.
“I’m pretty sure she’s the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“Dang, really? Does she feel the same way?”
“Well, she’s in there picking out everything for my renovations. She told me she’d be jealous of my new house then and I said we could just live here when we get married and she loved the idea.”
“I’d get to live next to Cici?” He arches a brow, glancing over at me.
“Only if you fix things with her. Otherwise, I'm sure she’ll want to stay at her place and renovate it instead.”
“No, I’ll fix it. I’ll beg and grovel if I need to.
I’ve been lost without her and Macy says I'm a whiny little brat.” He chuckles softly.
“She’s so tired of me right now. I know she’s been sneaking Cici over to the house when I'm out. Before I went back to work, I’d actually make up excuses to leave at night just so she’d call Cici and have her come over.
I wanted her to be able to see Emmett even if she was mad at me. ”
“You should tell her that.”
“Nah, it sounds so stupid.”
“It won't to her. She’ll probably cry. You mean the world to her, Cord. I know she’s missed you so incredibly much.
She’ll never admit it to you and she’ll deny it if I bring it up, but she’s cried almost every day you two haven’t been talking.
She tries to blame it on cutting onions or that she stubbed her toe or something dumb, but she was broken up over things being tense between you two. ”
“Man, I didn’t think this was bothering her so much.” He scrubs a rough hand down his face. “Are we good?”
“Yeah, we’re good. I'm sorry for dating your sister. In my defense, she asked me out.”
“Seriously?” His brows raise in surprise.
“Yeah, and I screwed up almost immediately. We were supposed to go out the night my house flooded…”