“You’re my girl. Only mine,” he warned.
She understood and relaxed, letting him take her in his arms. “So, you want to be my boyfriend.”
“Yep.”
“So, I’m your girlfriend.”
“Uh-huh.”
“But we don’t live together, right?” she needed some clarification on that.
He opened his mouth and closed it, and she wondered what he’d intended to say before he’d changed his mind. “What doyouthink about the living arrangements?”
“I think it’s too soon,” she said, though she fantasized saying,Yes, let’s do it. I love you. Let’s start making babies and live happily ever after.To which Smith would run for the hills.
“Right.”
They stared at each other.
Smith glanced at his alarm clock. “It’s still early. Do you have time for another round?”
She smiled, feeling so in sync with this man. Erin whipped off her shirt. “Great minds think alike.”
“Yes, Cupcake.” His hands followed the trail his eyes had made. “They do.”
Chapter Fourteen
Later in the morning, Erin stood with Tilly in Brad Battle’s unit, having accompanied the insistent older woman to avoid being nagged for another hour about the hot plumbers coming to fix her pipes.
Tilly laughed hard at her own jokes, but having been the recipient of Smith’s ability with his larger-than-normal pipe, Erin laughed with her.
She’d been on cloud nine all morning. Erin had a boyfriend. Smith Ramsey was officially hers.
She hadn’t yet told Tilly because she wanted to announce her new status the right way and prepare herself to answer a million prying questions.
For now, the sexy plumbers of McSons Plumbing occupied Tilly, so Erin kept her great news to herself.
She frowned. She had no one but Smith and Tilly to tell, anyway. And Reid and Naomi, she added, wondering how they might feel about her dating Reid’s brother. Would Smith tell anyone? Did she care if he didn’t? She didn’t rightly know how to process her affection. She loved him. She knew it was crazy. And part of her didn’t care.
But the other part did.
“Oh, they’re almost here.” Tilly sounded giddy as she stared at her phone and texted back.
A glance around the apartment showed a neat bachelor’s pad. Brad had good taste. Nice, dark furniture against cream colored walls and upscaled appliances and countertops. He had a lot of photos of what looked like family, firefighters, and fellow Marines. Geez, there sure seemed to be a lot of them around here. She wondered if Smith had known Brad before, when he’d served in the Marine Corps, and figured to ask him later.
Some portraits of landscapes decorated the walls. Using Tilly’s nosiness as an excuse, Erin had looked with her, seeing a neat space full of personal items that showed an organized mind. Brad had set up his second bedroom as an office, and he had a desk and computer and everything in its place.
This apartment must have cost more than hers, for sure. Maybe more than Smith’s too, because it looked like Brad had two bedrooms, and the unit felt more upscale.
Tilly noticed her looking around. “Nice, eh? I updated most of the spaces on the B floor two years ago. I charge more for ‘em, but the tenants are great and always pay on time. And speaking of which, rent is due on the first.”
“I know. I can pay you.”
“Six hundred, flat.”
“What? That’s—”
“The deal. Take it or leave it,” Tilly growled.
