Chapter 13
Richard grunted as he tightened the final bolt on the bed frame. “Done.”
“Wow,” Emmitt said. “It took you and Memphis a whopping forty-five minutes longer to assemble Ava’s furniture set than it took me and Trenton to finish Andie’s.”
“That’s because you had Trenton on your team,” Memphis accused as he tossed tools back into the toolbox. Scraps of cardboard and packing material littered the room that Ava would move into that very night.
Emmitt jiggled the ice in his iced tea. “It’s because webothknow our way around a toolbox. You two didn’t stand a chance.”
Richard snatched the large box beside him, the only one still intact, and began tossing the scraps inside.
“I never said I was good at assembling furniture,” he mumbled. “Not one of us has had to do stuff like that a day in our lives, so don’t act like you don’t suck at it too.”
“Idon’tsuck at it,” Emmitt said. “Not anymore.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Richard couldn’t deny that Emmitt was starting to know his way around a toolbox lately, stepping in as demand for a handyman increased.
“You’reagreeabletoday,” Emmitt said, suspicion clinging to his tone.
“Seriously,” Memphis said while he helped gather the scraps and toss them into the box. “I was actually noticing the same thing. What’s up?”
A vision of Ava came to mind. It had been exactly one week since their Pop Rocks candy kiss. Since that time, Richard and Ava had spent hours in conversation creating dozens of inside jokes. They’d finished at least half of their tax work while multiplying their data bank on one another’s likes and dislikes. They’d managed to sneak just three more kisses including the one in the woods during their baseball game, an incident that set his belly ablaze in recollection alone.
“Yeah, even Lucy likes you today,” Emmitt added before draining his iced tea and swirling his glass. “What’s up?”
And so she did. Betty’s fur baby, looking like a cross between a sheep and a dog, had moved from her spot in the corner to lay beside him.
Richard ignored the guilty heat in his chest and rubbed Lucy behind her soft, floppy ears. He turned his focus on the toolbox and dropped the lid shut before fastening the latch up front. “Nothing’s up.”
“Ooh…” Emmitt cooed. “Are you chatting with some chick online?”
“Internet dating behind our backs?” Memphis guessed.
“It’s because the Yankees won,” Trenton said as he bellowed into the room. He shot a look at Richard. “Right?”
Richard pointed a finger at him. “You got it.”
Trenton grinned. “Andie texted me just now. She said they’re just about here.”
“Let’s see how you guys did in Andie’s room,” Memphis said, following Emmitt and Trenton into the other room.
Ava was on her way back. Richard gave into a grin. After spending nearly the entire day apart, he was really missing Ava. While Richard and the guys were busy assembling the furniture they’d picked out that morning—bed frames, dressers, and side tables too—Ava, Andie, and Betty went shopping for things like beddings, towels, throw pillows, and heaven only knew what else.
He couldn’t help but take satisfaction in the fact that Ava would have something of her own. Sure, the bedroom set would be in Betty’s house for now, but it was a good start. He also liked the idea of Ava getting to know his sister better, and Betty too, for that matter. He had a feeling they’d become very good friends in the years ahead.
If she stuck around.
The inner thought was one that had crept up on Richard over the last few days. It wasn’t a thought he indulged or anything. Quite the opposite, actually. Besides, he didn’t imagine that Ava would run off to any place in particular or for any particular reason.
The fear, as irrational as it might be, came on because Ava was a rare find and Richard knew it. Unicorn rare. Like, one in a million, never-going-to-find-someone-like-her-again rare. Ava, unlike many women out there, wasnotattracted to the overt type of flirting Maverick and Emmitt relied on. And she didn’t have that bad boy obsession, like some of the gals he’d encountered back in his school years.
Lucy closed the small gap he’d created between them, nudging her face against his leg. She plunked onto her back then, her glossy eyes peering up at him while her tail wagged.
Richard gave in and rubbed a hand over her soft belly, noting the way she gave in so fully to the moment. Her tongue rolled out the side of her open mouth, her paws flopped freely beneath his touch, and her eyes drifted shut. He paused briefly and grinned when she twisted her head, nudged his palm with her wet nose, and waited expectantly.
He rubbed the furry animal once again, enjoying the way she sank back into instant bliss. Richard related. It was few and far between that he let himself go, but his time spent with Ava was that exact thing.
The passion between them—that was something else. But there was so much more. Richard could be himself around her. The intellect in her was drawn to the intellect in him, meaning she didn’t view him as a geek like some women in his past accused. And speaking of his past, Richard could actually be candid about his. She already knew about his grandfather’s mafia ties, the tragic helicopter accident that killed his parents, and the fact that he and his siblings really come from Jersey, not LA. He wouldn’t have to hide things or stumble over stories and words to protect the family’s secrets.
