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Tonight was going to be a talk of a different kind, though. A conversation he’d been fantasizing about having since he first left her in bed Sunday morning.
And possibly for the first time in days, he grinned.
* * *
The rain was still coming down against the window later that night, but it was almost cathartic to her as she lay in Reynolds’s arms, feeling his heart beat against her.
How was it possible she’d been so angry with him one second only to find herself kissing him and holding him and letting him make love to her a second later?
She knew the answer. Knew that somewhere in the past few weeks, she’d started to fall for the guy, harder than she’d ever fallen for anyone. And that no matter how angry he made her, how many doors he might make her want to slam, in the end, she still couldn’t deny what she really felt for him.
Love.
She smiled and curled in closer to him, much like Mouse liked to curl into her. Speaking of Mouse, other than a few mewling sounds when they shut the bedroom door earlier, he’d gone off and entertained himself, tearing around the other room, probably chasing something she’d rather not know about.
“You doing okay?” he asked, kissing the top of her head. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Hurt? She shook her head and smiled shyly at him. “Not at all. It was wonderful.”
“Waverley, I need to apologize again. I shouldn’t have pushed you away, and I’m sorry I hurt you. But I meant what I said. I’m going to work on communicating better. But you gotta know I’m not exactly a touchy-feely, spill-my-guts kind of guy.”
That she most certainly knew. “I just ask that you try.”
He ran his fingers up her arm again, making it hard for her to concentrate. “And if you still want me to come to your father’s party next Saturday, I’ll go.”
She sat up and looked at him, feeling warm and fuzzy. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Yeah,” he said, his mouth curving into a delicious smile. “Can’t let you face the wolves alone.”
She smiled and settled back into the crook of his arm. “Not to scare you too much, but if you thought my father was tough on you before, wait until you face him now that he knows you were lying to him. He’s going to be merciless.”
“I think I can handle him.”
It was cute that he thought so. And who knew? Maybe he could.
It still left one thing. A big thing. “What will we tell him? About…us.”
“I’m going to tell him that I think the world of his daughter and that although we may have been playing at dating before…we’re not playing now. Which is why you should let me take you to dinner. This Friday. Like a proper date.”
She found it hard to form words or think a coherent thought as she processed what he was saying. “Y-you want to date me? For real?”
“For real,” he said softly as he tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “If you want to.”
“If I want to?” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him before kissing him long and hard.
“Before we get too distracted,” he murmured after a few minutes. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t eaten except for a burrito in my car at noon. I need sustenance.”
She stretched back in the bed. “There’s a lasagna in the fridge.”
His eyes lit up. “Lasagna? Now you’re speaking my language.” He rolled over to the side of the bed and grabbed his boxer briefs and pulled them on, coming to his feet.
She stared up at him, swallowing through a lump that this magnificent man had wanted her. Still wanted her.
He took a step and let out a sudden loud shriek then jumped back and stood on the bed.
Waverley looked around the floor, trying to figure out what had happened. Then she saw them. About half a dozen cockroaches scuttling across the floor where he’d just been stepping. She barely managed to cut off a giggle.
“You cannot possibly live like this, Waverley.”
