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“Were you planning to tell her that?”
A chair squeaked in the background. “We operate with a twenty-four hour delivery window, tomorrow morning is still within the window. Need anything else?”
Gavin turned to raise his brow at me, and I couldn’t do anything but shake my head, cursing the fine print on the contract I clearly hadn’t read closely enough.
“No, that’s all. Thank you.” Gavin’s polite response added a level of irrational anger to the frustration already spiking my blood pressure.
The guy grunted and hung up.
Reece clapped Gavin on the back and offered me a grin. “Problem solved. Since my muscles are no longer needed, I’mgoing to raid the fridge.” He jerked his chin at Cole. “You coming?”
Another one of those annoying messages passed between Cole and Gavin, then Cole shrugged. “Yeah, I could eat.”
Part of me wanted Cole to stay and act as a buffer, but the bigger part—the one licking her lips at the chance to lay into Gavin without witnesses—gave him a finger wave when his gaze shifted to me.
“You want something to eat, Eva?”
“I’m good, but can you take Henry inside please? She’s been cooped up all day.”
His brows shot up when I pointed to Henry’s little brown face peeking out next to me, but I didn’t give him a chance to say no. Henry chattered at me when I hauled her through the open window, and she swung her head to stare at Cole when I unceremoniously shoved her at his chest. As I’d known he would, Cole immediately grabbed my duck with both hands.
I wasn’t worried. Cole wouldn’t drop her, and Henry wouldn’t make a fuss. She loved being held. I’d run her a bath when I got inside.
“You can put her in my room. Just make sure she can’t get to any wires. We’re working on her impulse control, and her impulse seems to be to eat anything vaguely worm-shaped.”
Reece held up his phone to snap a pic. “This is going on my locker.”
Cole flipped him off around his handful of duck and started up the driveway. “Get the door, asshole.”
Gavin had stayed quiet through the whole exchange, but I hadn’t forgotten about him. He watched me with amused eyes, and the urge to vent all my frustrations from the last week became a physical ache. The pressure built in my chest, crawling up my throat, until I had to swallow a few times to talk.
For Henry’s sake, I tried to pretend he was anyone else besides Gavin. “Thank you for speaking to the moving company.”Even though I didn’t ask you to, and all you did was exactly what I’d just done.
I didn’t say the words, but when he narrowed his eyes, I was pretty sure he read them in my expression. Gavin held out my phone, and I plucked it from his hand.
He shook his head, wincing at the house. “There’s no furniture in your room right now.”
His tone wasn’t quite as acerbic as mine, but I heard the frustration. Welcome to the club, buddy. “It’s not the first time I’ve slept on the floor. I have a blanket in my car.”
Gavin’s brow furrowed. “Cole’s going to hate the idea.”
I shrugged as I grabbed my blanket and purse, then locked up. “Cole’s a big boy. He’ll get over it. Can you show me which room is mine? It’s been a long day, and I’m tired.”
The situation wasn’t ideal, but I could easily beg someone for a couch for one more night. I was tired of being transient though. A bare floor in my own room was better than someone else’s.
He glanced toward the door then sighed. “You can have my bed. For tonight only. This isn’t an invitation.”
I frowned, trying to spot the caveat. “Why?”
His hands dove deep into his pockets. “Because you may annoy me to no end, but my mom would murder me from beyond the grave if I let a poor, homeless, duck mom sleep on the floor in an empty room.”
The casual mention of his apparently dead mother shut me up real fast. My parents were alive and well, but I was intimately familiar with grief. I blamed the rush of sympathy for my quick capitulation. That and my sore back. I had practice tomorrow, and a good night’s sleep would be a blessing with Juliet trying to take over the squad.
“Fine. Show me toyourroom.”
“So gracious,” he muttered, but he’d already hefted his gear and started toward the house.
I let it go in favor of watching him saunter up the driveway. He had the loose-limbed walk of an athlete who knew his body—filled with confidence that sent a flutter through my lady parts. Broad shoulders tapered to a trim waist, and damn, his ass looked good in those sweats.
