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 didmy 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 werekid at Christmasexcited 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.
