Chapter 17
Knox
“I’m still not sure why we have to leave the house.” We still had food and he hadn’t tried to kill me yet, so he couldn’t be too frustrated with me. “Do we need to order groceries?”
Wait.
Hadn’t he done that yesterday?
“You left the house yesterday to get food and run errands.” Why did he want to leave the house then? Why did he want me to leave too?
Rohan folded his arms over his chest and glared at me. “That was three days ago.”
Really?
“It’s the blank walls of my office.” I shrugged. “It makes time pass weirdly.”
Hmm, maybe that was why I’d finished the book already?
“Then let’s fix it.” Rohan looked entirely too agreeable as he took my hand and started leading me toward his front door. “We’ll go find artwork for your office.”
Well, that was something that we needed to handle because I’d been working in a blank space for days and it was clearly affecting my sense of time.
Shit.
Glancing down at my clothes, it was my turn to glare at him as I looked up. “That’s why you had me put on clothes. You said it was for a scene. That’s just...that’s cheating.”
Rohan shrugged, not looking guilty at all. “I tried to get you to leave the house nicely and you bribed me with a blow job and another chapter.”
Damn it.
Wait.
That hadn’t been earlier in the day?
All right, maybe it was time to leave the house.
Sighing, I gave up and let him lead me through the house. “But when I get back home, I need to talk to Lori. She knows something’s up because I got too organized.”
I shouldn’t be punished for finishing up half-done projects, but it looked like the universe had a terrible sense of humor.
So did Rohan based on how he was coughing and trying to cover his snickers. “It’s not funny. She was accusing me of kidnapping someone to clean my office and the ideas just got more outlandish from there.”
Somehow, she was under the impression I’d never met with Rohan and I wasn’t sure what she was going to do when she found out the truth.
Oops.
“Well, as long as you figure out a way to make sure Lori doesn’t call the cops, I’ll figure out a nice surprise for you later.
” Rohan’s voice was too matter-of-fact to let me know if that was a promise for sex or dessert, and the way he stopped at the door and studied me didn’t help.
“Phone? Wallet just in case we get separated? Little notebook?”
Oh.
“No, I don’t even have one of the little IKEA pencils that I liberated ages ago.” Those had come in very handy.
Shaking his head, Rohan released my hand. “You have ten seconds or I will come to find you.”
Since that didn’t seem to be the start of a sexy scene, I nodded and ran to my office. “I’m hurrying but I don’t know where anything is.”
Had I even brought any of my leaving-home notebooks?
Thankfully, Rohan was very helpful and didn’t deliberately fuck with me just so he’d get to punish me. “Top drawer on the right.”
Yes. There they were.
“Thank you.” I made it back just as he got to ten. “You count entirely too fast.”
Raising one eyebrow, he looked offended. “I do not. I have perfect time.”
My wandering off in the middle of dinner to write down an idea didn’t offend him but questioning his counting did?
Some people were very interesting.
“Thank you for helping me find my notebook.” Kissing his cheek, I put the small pencil and notebook in my pocket and tried to look cute since it worked in books. “I’m ready to go.”
He scoffed, but aside from a slight eye roll, he didn’t call me out on changing the subject. “Wonderful.”
Looking cute had definitely helped.
But I knew I didn’t want to overplay my hand, so I tried to be careful as we headed to his truck. “What’s the plan?”
Was that vague enough to get information without having to tell him I hadn’t been paying enough attention?
No.
Because he laughed. “Oh, naughty boy.”
Damn it.
As he shook his head and opened the passenger door for me, I scrambled for something helpful. “I have another chapter of Teddy’s book.”
And I could be easily talked into anything from a blow job to a spanking.
Rohan just flashed me a wicked grin as he closed the door.
Did that mean he didn’t want a blow job or was it implied that he already expected one?
I still hadn’t figured it out or where we were going by the time he climbed in the driver’s seat, but I’d decided the where were we going topic was probably more important because neither of us should really be getting naked in public.
“So, if you’ve already realized I have no idea what we’re doing, how about I get points for being honest and you just tell me?” I thought the idea had merit, but Rohan was nearly laughing by the time we pulled out of the driveway.
“You are already a hermit who doesn’t think about leaving home, and I’m not going to let you turn into a troll.” Giving me a quick glance, he went back to shaking his head. “You don’t even shower unless I make you.”
That shouldn’t have been a surprise, so I didn’t bother responding to it.
“How about I take you out to lunch?” What time was it? Shit. “I mean, let’s get a snack somewhere and then we’ll...we’ll go on a walk. You said you liked that park.”
I was easily distracted but not a complete moron.
“There’s a shop not far from here that sells really good homemade ice cream.” Somehow it was already after lunch and I wasn’t hungry, so I knew that meant he’d fed me. “My treat.”
Because he’d made sure I had my phone and wallet and my notebook...yep, it should be my treat since he took such good care of me.
I really needed to live more in reality when I was finishing up a project.
Wait.
He’d made us soup for lunch...at least, I was pretty sure we’d eaten soup at lunch.
“What are you thinking?” Rohan lost his frustrated look and started to chuckle. “Your face.”
Sighing, I slouched back in the seat. “I was feeling bad I didn’t realize it was past lunch. Then I couldn’t remember what we’d eaten for lunch. Then I thought I remembered we had soup but I wasn’t confident enough to actually say it out loud.”
Closing my eyes so I didn’t have to see him frown—because he definitely should be feeling something frowny—I did my best not to sigh again even though it was hard.
“I’m a terrible...whatever we are and I never remember important stuff like meals.
But you take such good care of me that I got all those half-done projects finished and I even found the bonus chapters again.
Hell, I started planning out the Christmas story I keep forgetting to tell Lori that I agreed to do. ”
I was a terrible whatever-we-were.
Rohan was quiet for a few seconds before he laughed again.
“You are a wonderfully naughty and easily distracted author, but I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to be your whatever-we-are. You’ve also been incredibly behind over the last few months for a variety of reasons and you’re finally getting caught up. ”
Really?
Peeking my eyes open, I was relieved to see he was actually smiling as he drove to our destination...wherever that was. “You’re not mad?”
He should be.
I was smart enough to know that.
Reaching out, he rested one hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “No, but I am going to put my foot down and go over a reasonable schedule with you. You’re getting enough sleep again, but you have a tendency to give yourself entirely too much to do. So I’m concerned about you, not mad.”
Was I the one who was supposed to explain why he was supposed to be mad?
He clearly didn’t get it.
“You also do a lot of little things for me that I don’t think you realize.” He ran his hand over my head, petting me softly before moving it back to the wheel. “You spend a huge part of the day coming to find me and either cuddling or asking me for help on how to kill someone or fuck them.”
Well, he was good at both of those things.
“And you’re always excited when I make you real food or keep you on track.” He reached out and gave my shoulder another squeeze. “You were kid at Christmas excited when I went to the grocery store and you got lube and the right kind of Coke.”
Because that was amazing.
“You’re so good at that and I get to tip you in fun ways.” Playing grocery delivery with Rohan had been fun.
His wicked chuckle said he’d liked it too. “And let’s not forget that you give me chapters and blow jobs as distractions. So I’m not complaining as long as we get out of the house together at least once every four days. I think that’s reasonable and something we can work into your schedule.”
That probably wasn’t unreasonable.
“I like doing things with you and I like dessert. We can come up with a list of places that even my distracted brain wants to go to.” Like getting ice cream or something like that.
Barely holding back laughter, Rohan nodded as he pulled into the ice cream store parking lot. “I think that’s a very good idea and one that’ll help you associate leaving the house with nice rewards.”
I was going to help him Pavlov’s Dog me.
Oh well.
“Yes. I like positive associations too.” That was going to be a fun list...maybe that Pavlov guy had something going.
Chuckling, Rohan shook his head as he parked the truck. “You’re a mess.”
But he seemed to enjoy that, so I didn’t apologize.
“You’re very good at taking care of messes.
” Deciding to cute my way out of the ridiculousness I’d gotten myself into, I unbuckled and leaned across the cab to give him a quick kiss.
He was my whatever-we-were after all, so kiss manipulation seemed like something I should be able to get away with.
“And I think it gives you something to do. You’d be bored without me. ”
Barking out a laugh, he wrapped one arm around me and kept me from going back to my seat. “What was I thinking? You’re right. And I’m going to make sure you spend all afternoon keeping me busy.”
Oh dear.
I thought I might’ve gotten a bit overconfident.
Um.
Think.
Think.
“After we get home and you read Teddy’s chapter, right?” And I was pretty sure I hadn’t given him a few of the bonus chapters yet. “And I need to make sure I gave you that short about Paul and Ryan with the murder.”
Yes, that would keep him occupied.
Rohan’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “New stuff? A completely new short?”
I wanted to complain that he should trust me more, but I knew that would just be stupid. “Yes.”
I knew that because I’d just finished the ending. Somehow I’d stopped writing it before I’d figured out who the bad guy was.
“Oh, that was why I left the table at lunch. I figured out the ending.” That was why I’d gotten so distracted. “So it was for a good cause. You have new stuff to read.”
I wasn’t a complete asshole.
Yay.
I definitely deserved a treat...and a reward when we got home too.
Hmm, had he said how long we had to be out of the house before he’d be happy?
I definitely needed to take more notes on the care and feeding of my whatever-we-were.