Chapter Twenty-Three
Daniel
“ C ome on, Rourke,” I whispered to the pint-sized pup. The little guy trailed by my feet, heading down the stairs as quietly as possible.
I slipped on my jacket, shoved my feet into my sneakers by the back door and walked outside with Rourke.
With Easter behind us, spring was in the air, and I was hoping we’d get our shoot done in a few days, allowing me to spend the following weekend with Wren and only Wren. This weekend she was on call and exhausted. I wasn’t mad. Quite the opposite—the chatting between two coasts, the visits, along with her work hours, were weighing on her, and I wanted to alleviate some of the stress.
“Good boy,” I told Rourke before padding to the kitchen to make coffee.
It was only five o’clock in the morning back home and eight in Boston, but I was up. Other than filming, I had the luxury of taking care of myself.
Not Wren. During our late dinner last night, she got called back in to see another basketball player. He’d tweaked something—I’d forgotten what—and of course Wren was wanted.
She wouldn’t, actually couldn’t say no. As the doctor on call for the practice tied to the team, this was her job. Her career she took so much pride in…
Rourke yapped at me, forcing me to pay attention. The dog was so cute, and I’d always been a big dog guy… Of course, now he gave me a little low hum while standing next to his food. I’d been to Boston enough to know how much he ate, so I doled it out and went back to coffee-making.
I was just pulling down two mugs when I heard, “Hey, I would have done that. Fed Rourke, made coffee,” Wren said, walking toward me.
“Sometimes you can let someone take care of you, Bird. I’m here and you’re tired. You should rest.”
“Shhh,” she said while nuzzling into my neck, her side flush against me.
I couldn’t help myself—my hand came up and swished under her short satin nightshirt.
“Is that what you wanted? Brownie points so you could cop a feel?”
I felt the laughter rumble in my chest. With a quick tap to her ass, I said, “Sit.”
She did so while I turned on the TV, setting it to the morning news and pouring her a cup of coffee how she liked it—
“And this weekend, Ryan Strauss is in town filming a movie. Spotted last night at an Italian restaurant, Strauss kept his baseball cap on while completely focused on his…date? His friend?”
“Oh boy,” Wren said to the news anchor.
“That’s what we all want to know,” the other anchor said to the one discussing Ryan.
“Genie is in for it. I told her…”
“She knows,” I said to Wren, running my hand down her back. “And she’s lucky she doesn’t do on-calls with you,” I added.
“I told her not to last night,” Wren admitted before taking a sip of her coffee. “She usually does come in for anything high-profile with me.”
“You really are an eagle,” I said, kissing her forehead.
“She deserves to be young and have fun. Plus, with the two of them gallivanting around, everyone leaves us alone.” With a soft peck to my cheek, she went back to her caffeine.
I thought about Wren leaving our dinner last night and apologizing to me, which wasn’t necessary. “You should have fun too. Which is why I’m demanding no filming next weekend. You took off and we’re having a staycation, where I do nothing but take care of you.”
Peering over her coffee mug, she looked at me. “Staycation sounds amazing, but no need to take care of me. You’re working hard this week too. We can take care of one another, yeah?”
“Last night, he reportedly tweaked his hip,” the sportscaster was saying, “and we are waiting for additional details. So far, Coach hasn’t said anything…”
“Damn, they need to know everything, those bloodsuckers.”
Shoving my hand in Wren’s curls, I tugged her close for a kiss. “That’s what I adore about you. One second, you’re so sweet, talking about us taking care of one another. And the next, you’re calling someone a bloodsucker.”
“Ugh, I know. My temper.”
“It’s okay. You’re a secret mother hen,” I joked. Running my hand up her thigh, I added, “A sexy one.”
“You’re swinging too much.” Wren laughed as she yelled over the net. “It’s not tennis,” she added.
“I’m doing the best I can.” I tapped a ball over the net in our game of pickleball.
“Not easy being the one who doesn’t know the most, huh?”
It was Saturday afternoon in our staycation weekend, and after a lesson at The Country Club the day before, we’d decided to do something light today.
“Your stroke is coming along just fine.”
I hit the ball into the net and gave up, crossing the court to kiss Wren. We were at an indoor pickleball place she occasionally went to with her work team. My lips met hers and all the competitive banter fell away.
“Does this mean you are giving up?” Wren teased me, running a hand through my hair.
“It does. Plus, I’m hungry.”
“Well, we don’t want you to get hangry…” she taunted.
“Or Rourke to get mad. We’ve been out all morning.”
Tapping her paddle to my ass, she asked, “Are you falling for me or my dog?”
“Both?”
I was. It had been an easy week cohabitating. Wren worked so hard, and I was shuttled back and forth to The Country Club to film while rubbing elbows with celebrities.
“Let’s go eat.” She took my hand, ignoring my answer.
We started walking off the court and toward the lobby. “I’m serious, Bird.”
She elbowed me in the ribs. “That nickname. It makes me sound like I’m a weird, peculiar bird.”
“Okay, Birdie, I won’t shorten it. But I’m serious when I say both. I’m falling for you and your dog, and I like being here with you. And while I’m at it, I want to be with you more.”
“I’m glad,” she said, clicking the locks on her car.
I snatched the door open for her and she slid into the driver’s seat. “You’re glad, that’s it? If I say I like you driving me too, will that win me some points?” I added when I got into the passenger side.
Wren ignored my chatter, focusing on lunch and getting back to Rourke. “Should we pick up lunch? Make something? Call for delivery?”
“We can call for something. I can even send someone from the production staff—”
“No, that’s crazy talk. We’ll order.” She pulled the car out of the spot and started to drive.
“Birdie, I want to spend a lot of time here.”
She sent a quick look at me before casting her gaze back on the road. “Well, I live here. This is where I’m licensed and work, so I have to be here.”
“That’s what I mean. I know all that, and I have flexibility. Especially when this movie is over…” She licked her lips and swallowed. I was watching every one of her moves for a sign she understood what I meant.
“I’m glad you do. That way, you can visit.”
“I don’t want to just visit.”
We came to a red light, and she turned to me and said, “Good thing I’m behind the wheel or I don’t know what… You said you like it here. It’s hard for me to keep traveling back and forth to see one another and operate on people. Football season is absolute bonkers for me.” She blew out a long breath and the light turned green.
“I’m going to say this, but I don’t want you to wreck, okay?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have started this conversation in the car.”
“Yes, perhaps you’re right. But I’ve never been the smartest. What I’m saying is I want to relocate here.”
She let out a huge laugh. “From California?”
“Yes. From California. To here. But I don’t want to be presumptuous.”
“Daniel,” she whispered, pulling over on a residential street.
“We’ve waited a long time. At least, I have.”
She pivoted to the side so she could look at me as my gaze sought hers. “I never expected this. I thought we were having fun. A fling.”
My palm rose to her cheek. “We are having…fun…but not a fling. I’d like to move here. I don’t have to live with you…”
“What about the Riviera? Your backyard? All your friends?”
“Slow down. First off, Rourke is waiting, so I’ll make this quick. The Riviera will always be there. The Country Club is welcoming me to be a pro emeritus. My backyard will still be mine. I don’t have to sell my house. In fact, we can go anytime we want. And my friends are all incredibly rich, so they can come and see me anytime. Or meet anywhere we goddamn want… Maybe let’s finish this back at home? Do you want me to drive?”
She nodded, slipping out of the driver’s seat and rounding the front of the car. I’d never seen Wren this quiet.
Once we were back in the car, all she said was, “Wow.”
“Is that a good wow or a bad wow?” I couldn’t help myself.
“It was ‘looks like Rourke may have a new dog walker’ wow.”
And as simple as that, Wren and I were back to teasing. I didn’t know what I did to deserve this easy relationship, but it was the fucking bomb, as the young guys said.