Chapter 5
“Where to?” Bradford asked. “Are you hungry?”
I wasn’t. I should have been starving, but our encounter with Mr. Easton had me feeling untethered.
“Can we just go back to one of our places and order in?”
“Don’t want to share me?” Bradford teased as he pulled me closer to him.
“Nope, not even a little bit. I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“I’ll meet you at your place. I want to be surrounded by you and all your stuff.”
I smiled, my nervous system calming the farther away Mr. Easton got.
I took long, deep breaths and let them out slowly as I followed Bradford’s Jeep to my house in my Mustang. When breathing didn’t work, I turned on my favorite ska playlist and sang at the top of my lungs until I parked right next to Bradford.
His golden hair caught the remaining rays of the setting sun. He was gorgeous and it pissed me off how much I’d let Mr. Easton ruin my mood when my amazing boyfriend was back from his long work trip.
“Mexican?” he asked, unlocking my door with his key.
“Perfect. I’m going to go get changed while you order.” I kissed him before going into my room and changing into a tiny tank top, no bra, and matching shorts.
Bradford looked up from the couch when he heard me walk in, his blue eyes dilating when he saw me.
“I missed you,” he whispered.
I climbed onto him, wanting to curl up inside of him. “So, tell me what’s going on with you and Mr. Easton? I thought it was a project for someone named Aurora?”
Just hearing his name caused me to jerk. “Aurora’s his niece, and he’s an asshole,” I stated, wondering if I was going to have to scream more songs to get back to the calm I was beginning to feel.
“Rach, you two were practically glaring at each other. Also, when does my perfect girlfriend ever find a fault in anyone?”
“We got off on the wrong foot,” I explained, clenching my fist and feeling the burn of the bruised muscles.
“I’m sure it’s salvageable. You’ll win him over by being you. He’s just intense.”
“I slugged him in the back of the head before we were introduced.”
Bradford almost dropped me on the floor when he moved to check if I was serious. “Did he do something to warrant it? Am I going to have to beat him up? Or at least try to, that man looks like he’s at the gym a lot.”
Giggling, I snuggled farther into him, mostly to make sure he wouldn’t push me on the floor. “No, it was unprovoked.”
I explained to him about the shoe mishap. Bradford was howling with laughter by the time our food was delivered.
“I’m going to burst.” I rubbed my belly, wishing I hadn’t finished off the last empanada … but that wasn’t entirely true, I could never regret an empanada.
“I can’t believe we finished all of it.” Bradford surveyed the empty cartons strewn over my coffee table. “Come here and digest with me.” He sprawled over the couch, making room for me with his arms open.
My world tilted back to its homeostatic state. Bradford wrapped his arms around me, while we watched one of our comfort shows.
“Where’s Jules tonight?” he asked, running his fingers through my hair.
“She’s off being a unicorn,” I answered on a yawn.
“A what?”
I snuggled farther into his warm chest and told him about Jules’ adventure in threesomes, my eyes growing heavy.
“That girl is going to fall so hard one of these days. Love is going to hit her harder than you hit Mr. Easton.”
I smacked his forearm. “I hope so. She deserves to be happy.”
“I love you, Rach.” He raised my left hand and kissed my ring finger.
“Love you, too.”
“Would you be mad if I ravished you in the morning? I’m exhausted and all I want to do is hold you and sleep.”
“Come on, Casanova, you can show me your moves tomorrow.”
We quickly disposed of our mess. Then Bradford stripped down and dove into the bed, clutching me tight before immediately going slack and falling into a deep sleep.