“Sully, just giving you shit, man. And if you need any help, let me know.”
I glanced down as my phone vibrated and saw Max’s reply. “Good to hear, Jake. Feel like moving some boxes around ten a.m. tomorrow? And keep it quiet if Mags comes in tonight. I want to surprise her.”
“Good God, man. You are so whipped, and you’re not even together yet. These next few months should be fun.”
“You in or you out, Spencer?”
“Oh, I’m totally in. I wouldn’t miss this show for the world.”
I felt Jake slap my back before he headed back to talk to Daryl. I quickly sent Harp a text setting up a time to meet at Maggie’s tomorrow. One more day and she’d be living at my house for at least a few weeks, maybe the entire summer. If I was honest with myself, I both looked forward to it and dreaded the time. Seeing her every day and keeping my hands off her was going to be torture.
Glancing back at my phone, I saw a reply from Harp.
Max:I give you two, three days, then you two will be back in bed together.
Three days. I closed my eyes, a vision of Maggie naked in my bed appeared. Three days might be too long.
12
Moving In
Maggie
I dragged myself up the walkway to my place, drained from the last day of school. Hell, it had even been an early dismissal today, and I was still wiped. This wasn’t pregnancy, though, but the end-of-the-year shitstorm of exhaustion and emotion that hit me every time. After seven years in teaching, I’d come to expect it. My students and I became a family, and now I missed them already. It took me a few days of summer vacation to shed my melancholy mood as those kids had taken a piece of me with them when they left.
Stepping through my front door, I stopped and looked around in confusion. My house was empty. To be certain, the furniture was there, but I’d rented the place furnished. The mountain of boxes in my living room was gone. All personal effects had been removed. I’d say I was robbed, but the person who robbed me also stuck around to vacuum the carpets and wipe the kitchen down, which would be odd. Glancing at the kitchen, I saw a note on the counter along with a large drink and paper bag. Curious.
My mind still reeling, I reached the counter and grabbed the drink. Sadly, it wasn’t coffee because this little bean was not about that, so obviously my thief knew that bit of intel. Taking a sip, I recognized the citrus mint tea with honey from the Sanctuary. I sent up some gratitude to the heavens and peeked into the bag. Score! Two chocolate muffins that Allyson made that were to die for. I’d be glad to marry this thief and have his babies. Glancing down, I opened the paper folded in half and laughed. Seeing that my thief was Sully, the baby part was already done and marriage was not on the table.
M-
Moved your shit to my place. Left a key and a snack. See you after I get off work.
S-
I briefly considered being pissed that he had invaded my personal space and moved stuff I hadn’t even packed but quickly got over that. Unpacking would be enough work and would likely take me a week or more. I moved through the duplex and double-checked that he had gotten everything. Not only was everything moved, but the place was cleaner than when I moved in. My landlord had told me to leave the keys in the mailbox, so I grabbed Sully’s keys along with my treat and headed out the door. I locked up, then dropped the keys in the box and headed to my Jeep. As I pulled out, I noted there was no emotion welling up, making me sad to move on. I truly felt more saying goodbye to my students an hour ago than I had walking away from the place I’d lived for seven years. I hoped that meant I was making the right decision. Time would tell.
After driving straight to Sully’s place, I walked in to have Ranger greet me like a long-lost friend. I gave him a good rubdown, took him out to do his business, then headed for the stairs as he followed me. I had a bit of energy left in me after the day. Might as well find my leggings and T-shirts, get a few items put away, and grab a shower before having some dinner. I had a feeling I’d crash as soon as I did all that.
I was grateful Sully was working late at the brewery tonight. My body hummed with nerves at this entire roommate situation. The fact that he wasn’t here as I moved in helped a lot. Ranger, I could handle. A gorgeous guy that made my hormones sing? I wasn’t sure if I’d ever have enough willpower to resist him. How on earth did I think this was going to work? Maybe I’d just plan on staying out of his house if he was home. Ships passing in the night. That might work.
The lies we tell ourselves.
I glanced in the first room on the top of the stairs, but there were no boxes, so I moved on. The door to the other spare room was closed. Grabbing the knob, I swung it open and stopped so suddenly that Ranger ran into my legs from behind. This was certainly the room I was staying in, but there weren’t any boxes. What the literal hell?
Sully’s master bedroom downstairs was large, but this room was almost as big. It had a wall of windows that overlooked the back of the farm, fields stretching out to meet the horizon, dotted here and there with neighboring farms. There was a queen-sized bed to the left, with a beautiful old wedding-ring quilt that lay over a fluffy duvet. There was a riot of pillows on the bed.
On the dresser and bookshelves, I saw many of my frames arranged as well as books and mementos. I pulled open the closest dresser drawer and shook my head at my clothes that were carefully tucked away in the drawer. Moving across from the bed, I opened the closet and saw my clothes hanging up, shoes lined across the bottom. Emotions welled, and I choked back more than a few tears.
I turned back to the room and took in my throw on the armchair by the window, my current book sitting on the small table right by the side instead of the nightstand I’d left it on. Holy shit.
I headed to the bathroom and, at this point, was no longer surprised to see my makeup and lotions neatly arranged in the medicine cabinet and on the vanity. I was taken aback to see another note on the marble counter. Picking it up, I saw Sully’s writing once again. I shook my head as I read.
M-
Emma, Max, Jake, and I got your stuff unpacked. No worries, Emma took care of anything we thought you wouldn’t want us to see.
Well, trust my friend to make sure the guys didn’t lay their eyes on my vibrator. At least there was that.
