Chapter 21
So. Fucking. Adorable, Garrett thought as he sat there, watching as the adorable woman who broke into his house an hour ago tried to lure Blanket off the bed with what appeared to be a hot dog.
He watched as Kristen, who’d been forced to regroup in the hallway twenty minutes ago after an attempt to lure Blanket off the bed with a cheese stick failed, was forced to drop to the ground, mutter to herself and-
God, she really couldn’t be any more fucking adorable, Garrett thought as he watched her small hand suddenly appear, holding the hot dog, gave it a wiggle to draw Blanket’s attention only to drop her hand out of sight a moment later.
That was followed by grumbling, the sudden reappearance of the cheese stick, and incoherent muttering as he heard the unmistakable sounds of her crawling back towards the hallway.
Curious to see what she was going to do next, Garrett reached over and scratched Blanket behind his ear while he waited.
Thankfully, she didn’t keep him waiting long before she came back, presented Blanket with the hot dog and cheese stick, made them do a weird little dance along the edge of his bed, and when Blanket didn’t take the bait, muttered to herself as her hand dropped out of sight again.
A moment later, her head slowly appeared just enough so that she could level a glare on the golden retriever lightly snoring by his side.
He watched as that glare slowly, really fucking slowly, shifted to him.
Seconds later, Kristen narrowed her eyes on him before she slowly dropped out of sight again and the muttering began.
Deciding to give her a moment to regroup, Garrett got up and made his way around the bed only to pause long enough so that Kristen could crawl army style towards the hallway, muttering every inch of the way.
It was nice to know that she was still the best part of his day, Garrett thought with a satisfied sigh as he found himself thinking about the adorable woman currently trying to steal her dog back.
For a moment, he debated telling her that someone had trained the dog in German, but…
He wanted to see how far she would go before she gave up, grabbed whatever was within reach and beat the shit out of him with it. Either way, he wasn’t willing to do anything that would put an end to their night. He-
“Dog thieving son of a bitch!”
-couldn’t help but smile when he heard the angrily muttered words followed by a pained grunt, a muttered, “Damn it!” and what sounded suspiciously like Kristen making another hasty retreat behind him.
Curious to see what she was up to, he grabbed a pair of jeans and stepped back in time to watch Kristen grab a small jar of peanut butter out of her bag.
He shoved his shorts down and pulled on his jeans while Kristen, who looked really fucking determined, dipped the hot dog in peanut butter only to do the same with the cheese stick after a slight hesitation.
He pulled on his shirt while he watched as she struggled to put the lid back on the jar of peanut butter with one hand, shoved it back in her backpack, took a deep breath, held it, and then, released a shaky breath followed by nodding to herself for some reason as she turned around and made her way back into his room.
She really was too fucking adorable for words, Garrett thought, standing there as he watched her crawl army style across his bedroom floor again.
He watched as she made her way around his bed, heard the shuddering sigh seconds before the hot dog and cheese stick made another appearance only to have the large golden retriever ignore her. Deciding to take pity on her, Garrett drawled, “Blanket, nimm.”
Tail wagging, Blanket obediently rolled onto his stomach and happily accepted the treat. That was followed by Kristen, who looked adorably pissed, slowly raising her head so that she could glare at him.
“You know that you’re too fucking adorable to pull that off, right?” Garrett asked as he pulled on his socks and shoes.
“Start talking,” Kristen said as she slapped her hands on top of his bed and slowly stood up.
“What will you give me if I do?” Garrett asked, glancing at her as he finished tying his shoes.
“A five-second head start,” Kristen said, making him chuckle as he grabbed his wallet off his bureau and moved to grab his phone only to remember that it was still at the bottom of a lake.
“I’m afraid that’s not going to work for me,” Garrett said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of his head as he slid his wallet into his back pocket.
“What if I promise to look away when you start crying?” she offered, making his lips twitch.
“That’s very considerate of you,” Garrett said, debating how he wanted to do this.
Use one of his hours or hope that she was pissed off enough to follow him.
After taking in the adorable glare that she was sending him, he decided to take his chances and headed for the door. As he made his way to the back stairs, he heard her muttered curse followed by the sounds of her scrambling to get to her feet and-
“This isn’t over!”
-had his lips twitching as he made his way downstairs.
By the time he grabbed his coat and was making his way out the door, Kristen was there, following him with the cutest fucking grumbles that he’d ever heard.
She kept grumbling as he made his way to his truck and climbed in.
Before he had a chance to start his truck, she was there, climbing inside, muttering incoherently to herself as she buckled in, keeping that murderous glare that he adored aimed at him until she was buckled in.
Then, she folded her arms over her chest, released a long-suffering sigh and pointedly looked away, letting him know that she was no longer speaking with him.
She didn’t say a word during the entire ten-minute drive, when he pulled into the parking lot of the twenty-four-hour diner he found shortly after he moved here, when he climbed out of the truck, or when he headed inside.
She simply followed him to his favorite booth and sat down across from him, released a shuddering sigh and leveled a look on him that told him just how close she was to beating the shit out of him.
That was confirmed seconds later when her gaze flickered between him and the menus and her fingers literally twitched with the need to grab them and-
“Why are you pretending that the last six years never happened?” Kristen asked, making everything inside of him go still as she met his gaze.
“Is that what I’m doing?” he drawled, watching her curiously.
“What else would you call it?” she asked, keeping her gaze locked with his for another moment before she took in the diner.
“Making up for lost time,” Garrett said, leaning back as he watched her run her eyes over the rest of their booth, taking in the red tables and matching benches, the white and black tiled floor along with the matching walls, the red countertops and barstools, before taking in the ice cream menu above the milkshake machines.
“By forcing me to spend time with you?” Kristen asked when she met his gaze again.
“Would you spend time with me if I didn’t?” Garrett asked, watching her closely.
“Not a chance in hell,” she said, shrugging it off as she shifted her attention to the menu in front of her.
“Which is why you left me with no choice but to make this deal,” he pointed out.
“Do you really think this is going to work?” Kristen asked, not bothering to look up as she took in the milkshake menu.
“Yes,” Garrett said with absolutely no hesitation because losing her again wasn’t an option.
“Why is that?” Kristen asked, turning the page.
“Because you missed me,” he said as she took her time looking over the burger menu.
“What exactly are you basing that asinine assumption on?” she asked, closing the lunch menu and tossed it aside and focused on the all-day breakfast menu.
“Your books,” Garrett said, watching as she slowly looked up from her menu.
“What about them?” Kristen asked, leaning back in her seat as she considered him.
“You didn’t kill Tristan off,” he said, watching as her curious expression turned confused.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You kept writing about him,” Garrett said, still wondering about that.
“And?” Kristen asked, absently toying with the edge of the breakfast menu.
“Since he’s based on me, I think it would be safe to say that the smart thing would have been to kill him off a long time ago,” he said, shrugging it off as he watched her.
“He’s one of the main characters,” Kristen reminded him.
“And you could have easily replaced him after the first book,” Garrett pointed out.
“I could have,” she murmured in agreement.
“But you didn’t,” he said, watching while she absently nodded as she returned her attention to the menu.
“And you think that means that I missed you?” Kristen asked, turning the page.
“I think it means that I have a chance.”
“A chance for what?” Kristen asked, only to go still at his next words.
“That’s what I’m going to find out.”