I chuckled and turned my attention back to Jae.
“I thought you were going to be at the gym all day?”
“Yeah, I was, but I forgot some paperwork at home that the project manager needed. And I figured I’d eat something while I was here.”
I nodded, and Shiloh stepped to my side. I tugged her in front of me, my arms wrapping around her middle as I leaned my chin on her head.
“Well, since you’re here, Jae, um, my friends invited both of you to hang out with all of us.”
Jae smiled brightly. “Hell yeah. When?”
“Does next Friday work for you guys?”
Shiloh squeezed my hands around her, and I squeezed her back.
“Works for me,” I said, watching Jae.
“Yeah. What are we going to do?”
“Bowling.”
“Sweet, I haven’t been bowling in like a decade,” I said.
Jae nodded in agreement. “What are you guys doing today?”
I shrugged and tilted my head to see Shiloh’s face. “Whatarewe doing today?”
She looked up at me with a blank expression. “I dunno. Do you need to do anything?”
“He’s supposed to start working on the flooring in the bedrooms,” Jae said, pulling out the fixings for a peanut butter sandwich. “We want to get it done before our family gets here.”
“You want me to help?” she asked.
“Nah. You don’t need to do that. I figured you’d want to relax today.”
“I want to do something you enjoy doing. And I feel like I should help considering the mess I left on your bedroom carpet.”
“Baby, that was just an accident,” I said, squeezing her forearm. “You don’t need to worry about that.”
“I know,” she said earnestly. “I want to. Please?”
“What happened to the carpe—” Jae cut himself off with a grimace, throwing up a hand. “Forget it, I don’t want to know what you were doing in the bedroom to ruin the carpet.”
I chuckled and ducked my head into Shiloh’s neck. “You sure?” I whispered against the shell of her ear.
She nodded and I left a kiss on her pulse point before drawing back. “Alright, well let’s get the music back on. We’re gonna tear some shit up.”
Shiloh snorted, rolling her eyes at me as I walked backward towards the stairs.
“Go put on some of my gym shorts and bring your cute butt to the garage.”
I smiled, leaping down the stairs. I didn’t care what we did, as long as we were together. But the fact that she wanted to do this with me because she knew I enjoyed it made my stomach fill with butterflies
Twenty-Three
July 16, Thursday
Emory
