“Baby, I can take my own shoes off.” I laugh watching her try to untie my double knots.
She waves me off. “No, no. I got it. Or I will eventually.”
“Come here.” I command, forcing her up and into my lap. She kneels on either side of my legs and wraps her arms around my neck. “Thank you.”
Her brows furrow. “For what?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s just nice to have someone take care of me. I only had to get three stitches. I can’t imagine if it were something worse.”
Her eyes slit. “Don’t talk like that.”
My lips meet hers and on their own accord my hands slide up under her shirt. She moans and then detaches herself from me.
“No, Casen.” Her ass lands on the cushion beside me. “You know I’m not buying that whole ‘I fell off my bed’ bullshit you gave the doctor. Do you want to tell me what really happened?”
“I made Lieutenant.” I grin at her, giving myself the first chance to be proud of my accomplishment.
“Ahhh.” She taps her chin. “And you decided the best way to celebrate was for you to bang your head on a wall?”
“No.”
“Jump off the fire truck?”
I laugh. “No.”
“While I am so beyond proud of you and will give you a lap dance later to celebrate, I’d like to know how that has anything to do with the gash on your forehead.”
Breathing out a harsh breath, I turn my body toward her. “Well, right before I found out I passed, Reece got an email saying he didn’t.”
She hesitates. “Oh no!”
I frown. “Yeah and to twist the knife in deeper, they had a spot for me in our station.”
She slaps me on the shoulder. “That’s amazing!”
“It is, but Reece...” My head throbs so I rub my bandage. “He didn’t take it so well. Threw a fucking hissy fit about how I get everything handed to me and he gets nothing. I don’t know what his fucking problem is but I know we can’t repair this. He threw a chair then tackled me to the ground. I hit my head on the leg of the desk.”
Her gasp fills the room. “He attacked you? Oh my God, Casen! What the fuck?”
“That’s what I said. I don’t get it. He has had this pole way up his ass lately, and his mood is only getting worse. I don’t even know what will set him off anymore. We grew up wanting to do this together but I would hope that if the roles were reversed I would be happy for him and then go grumble over a beer or six.”
Embyr is quiet and I leave her to digest it all. I know she and Reece aren’t getting along and this won’t help.
“Well,” she pats the cushion and stands up, “I’m going to get you a beer and then we’ll eat!”
I’m worried about her tone. It almost sounds Stepford wife-ish. “Are you okay?”
Her body twists back to mine. “I’m great. I’m just trying to get this night moved along so I can give you that lap dance I promised.” And with a wink, she walks into the kitchen.
***
It’s well past nine o’clock at night before dinner is finished, dessert has been consumed, and everything is cleaned up. Embyr hasn’t let me do a damn thing and I watch as she flutters around my house. She knows where everything is and I can envision her living here and us building a life together. I wasn’t joking when I told her I could see myself marrying her. If we can get through all the shit we have so far, I have no hesitation that we can’t make it through the rest of our life with one another…starting with us moving in together. So, I blurt out. “You should move in with me.” Or tell.
Turning around to face me from the counter, she pops her hip out. “Why’s that?” A smile plays on her lips.
I get up from the couch and walk over to her, circling my hands around her. “I like having you here.”
Arching up on her tiptoes she kisses me. “I do too, but I just bought my condo and I’d like to maybe not rush into anything just yet. We have time.”
