Page 91 of A Love Like Candle Light

"Great." She lets go of my shirt to reach for my hands and takes them as leverage to get up from the rocking chair. Once she stands, she gets on her tiptoes to give me a quick kiss.

"You could have just called me, you know?" I grin against her lips, slipping my arms around her.

"Did you miss the part about the surprise?"

"Well, if you had called me, I could have told you about my spare key in the planter over there." I point at it. It's literally right next to the rocking chair she sat in.

She bites the inside of her cheek. "Well, I guess that could have been convenient."

"Come on, you’re cold. Let's get you inside." I usher her towards the door. Abby follows suit. I bet she already ran a few rounds around my house. Thankfully she didn't dig up any more bones.

"I'm fine." Kylie protests weakly, but I see the grin tugging at her lips.

"Sure." I roll my eyes and put my hands on her shoulders to gently push her inside.

"Are we cooking?" She walks straight to my kitchen. I'm still untying my shoes as I hear her open my fridge.

"What are we supposed to cook? Hey, you still have ice cream. Damn, it didn't even melt when the power went out. Oh my God, this is perfect." I lean against the doorframe and watch her weasel around my kitchen, but when she starts pulling random drawers and cupboards open, I have enough.

"Kylie." She whirls around. I take her hand and pull her against me. “Take a deep breath."

"I'm okay. I..."

"I know.” I run my fingers through her hair. “Humor me."

"Okay." She slides her arms around me and buries her face in my chest.

"Breathe, baby." I take a deep breath myself, waiting for her to imitate it. Then another one. Until she melts against me. "Do you feel better?"

"No. Yes. I think?" She glances up at me, her chin digging into my collar bone.

"Talk to me." Her eyes search my face. “What’s going through your head?”

"I'm annoyed," she mumbles, staring at my chest. "I'm having a good run here. I didn't need Zach to show up. Now my feelings are all jumbled."

I tense. What’s that supposed to mean?

"Erik.” She waits until I look at her. “Feelings of inadequacy, not affection. Trust me, he suffocated that well and thoroughly. But it's a little hard to build myself up when the reminder of why I tore myself down in the first place is standing right in front of me. So yeah. I don't know. It's been a confusing day. And I don't want you to be mad and..."

"Why would I be mad?" My eyebrows knit together and I tilt my head, lacing my fingers over the small of her back.

"Because I let my ex-husband stay at my place? I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-feet pole but if it were the other way around, I know I’d feel iffy about you not consulting me before offering your guest room to an ex and-”

“But you're not staying with him, you’re staying with me." I can't believe she thought I'd be angry at her for it. "Even if you stayed at your place, with him in the guest room, I wouldn’t be mad. Obviously, I wouldn't have been thrilled either, but I trust you. Take another deep breath, babe. Nobody's mad at you.”

She nods and we stay like this, my arms around her, and her palms on my chest, until she glances up at me.

“How about we get on my couch and I order delivery?"

"They have delivery here?" she squeaks and drums her fingers against my chest excitedly.

"Antonio from two towns over. Usually, he doesn’t quite deliver to Wayward Hollow, but I caught one of his employees stealing from the cash register, so he tends to make an exception for me."

"So you're a good boyfriend to have for your delivery contacts alone." She pats my chest with a genuine smile.

She’s ridiculous. God, I have such a crush on her.

“Hey, I have other great qualities, too."