She glanced back at me. “Yes?”
“Just for the record. You’re not a mess at all. In fact, you look perfect to me.” She shook her head in disbelief.
Her cheeks tinted almost to the color of her red hair sparkling in the sunlight and a pleasing smile tilted her lips. But then a playful gleam entered her eyes and I knew I would like her response even before she said anything because Ruby had a fun side.
“I told you that you shouldn’t have stayed out here all night.” She giggled. “You’re delirious and sleep-deprived.”
A deep chuckle broke free, while my eyes followed her until she was all the way inside.
I wondered how long it would be until I saw her again.
ChapterSix
RUBY
It had been a quiet week.
The security system was amazing and having it in place made me feel so much better when I left Gramps and Jett at home. While working I could concentrate on my patients—something they truly deserved—without worrying all the time that something bad was going to happen at the house.
My pulse kicked up a notch and my stomach twisted as I suddenly recalled getting the call from Jett that night telling me there were men we didn’t know at our home.
While I knew the system wouldn’t keep someone out if they truly wanted in, it would alert me, the monitoring company, and also my family if someone tried gaining access to the house. There wasn’t an inch of the property that the security cameras didn’t cover. My hope was that it would deter anyone from even trying to invade our home. So it gave me some peace of mind.
I’d also only had one photo shoot during the week and nobody had approached me or snuck up behind me to creepily whisper in my ear so that was another plus.
There had, however, been a downfall to the week.
I hadn’t seen Lyric since the day they’d been at the house to do the installation and I found myself missing him. Was that even possible after only being around him for a few days?
I found in that short time that I enjoyed learning bits and pieces about him and his life. I also liked joking with him and how safe he made me feel. His sweet words that morning when I walked away from his truck didn’t hurt either. I wasn’t looking for a man or a relationship, but as I lay in bed at night thinking about him, I realized if anyone could change my mind it would be him.
Dating was never a top priority for me.
There had always been too much on my plate and all the guys I met didn’t interest me. Sure I’d casually gone out with a few, but it never seemed to last long and it had been a couple of years since that had even happened. Besides, good guys were hard to find, yet everything inside me screamed that Lyric was one of them.
Gramps had even warmed up to him as well as the other guys he’d met so far fromNo Surrender.And Jett was intrigued with Lyric. I’d caught him asking him music questions here and there throughout the day as they installed the cameras around the property.
A smile lit my face when I thought about it.
Lyric had been so chill about all of Jett’s questions. He and the guys had included him when they explained everything about how the system worked and made a point to say he was there to protect Gramps and me. The frown he carried on his face so often fell away and it was comical how after that he walked around with his chest puffed out.
On top of all that, Gramps got to talk guns with the guys. So he was in his element.
I guess that day brought my whole family something positive.
So while not seeing Lyric sucked, he had called to check in and I was surprised how many times he texted to do so also. The guy was busy like me with two jobs and he’d always seemed to find time throughout the day at some point to get a hold of me. He’d even offered to go to the modeling job with me again if I wanted him to, but it was at a time when he was on a shift at the police station.
My heart warmed at the offer though.
I wondered if my dry spell of not seeing the handsome man would finally come to an end after my workday ended. I had my first self-defense class and was looking forward to it. Lyric had told me about it and said it would be a way for me to not only learn ways to help protect myself, but it really helped with one's confidence. It was open to anyone but I believed some of the ladies I’d met at the hospital and saw when I barged in to get help on Valentine’s might be there. I had a feeling Lyric probably mentioned to them I was going and convinced some to attend too.
It was sweet he worried about me.
And if I was really lucky, maybe I’d run into Lyric even though I knew Kace was teaching the class. He had said he might see me around.
A girl could only hope, right?
* * *
