Page 22 of Colliding with Ten

“Did you take the anti-inflammatory?”

“I just woke up.”

“Ok, make sure you eat first.”

I was about to complain about him hovering when someone knocked on the door.

I frowned at AJ. “Are you expecting someone?”

“No,” he said. “You are.”

I wasn’t expecting anyone but was curious. I started hobbling toward the door.

AJ cut me off. “No. What are you doing?”

“Answering the door.”

AJ turned me toward the couch. “Go sit down. I’ll answer the door.”

The knock came again, and AJ moved to answer it. “The doorman called and said there was a delivery to bring upstairs.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Micah sat up with interest. AJ opened the door. I couldn’t see the hallway, only heard male voices and AJ’s clipped responses.

“Yes. She’s here.”

The suspense was killing me. I stretched my neck, trying to get a better view of what was happening beyond the door.

“No, I’ll sign.” He signed. “How many?” AJ’s voice sounded stressed and annoyed. What was getting him so worked up? Micah’s grin widened, and my stomach dipped. I had a bad feeling.

AJ looked back at me.

“What?” I asked.

His expression was unreadable. Then he stepped aside. The deliveryman walked in carrying a massive arrangement of white roses, spilling from a tall glass vase in lush layers. I gasped. It was the largest arrangement I had ever seen, the size you’d see in a hotel lobby, not an apartment.

Micah whistled. “Well, damn.”

AJ’s jaw tensed as he shook his head. The delivery man set the arrangement on the entryway table. I thought that was it, until another man came in behind him with a similar arrangement, but a bit smaller.

“Oh,” I said.

Micah started laughing, and AJ gave him a look.

Micah held up both hands. “I’m sorry, man, this is funny.”

A third deliveryman entered with a long white box tied with a red ribbon. Then a fourth vase. Then another. And another. The apartment began to fill with white roses—on the console table, beside the kitchen island, near the windows, and on the floor because there was nowhere else to put them. The delivery men set them on every flat surface they could find. Every time I thought it was over, another arrangement appeared.

AJ stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, growing irritated. I pressed my lips together, stifling a laugh. This was overwhelming and concerning, but AJ’s face made it hard to act like a mature adult. He looked offended by every petal.

“You can be amused all you want. You’re keeping most of these in your room.”

Micah fell back against the couch, laughing harder. “Her room? Bro, she’d have to sleep upright in the closet.”

AJ looked around, realizing the scale of the problem. Roses were everywhere, turning his large, masculine pro-football apartment into a romantic proposal scene from a billionaire romance novel.