The best course of action would be to take that option away from him and decide what I wanted to do and make a move before he could intervene. I sighed again. I hated being made to do something before I was ready, but I wasn’t about to put up with Warrant for long either.
I had some thinking to do, but deep down, I already knew what my decision was. I’d made it years ago, the very first time I’d spotted Rae outside that grocery store. I’d just been kidding myself this whole time. Thinking it was my decision whether to make her mine. It wasn’t really. The three years of dreams about her proved that.
The fact that I could be a stubborn bastard was the only reason I’d made it this long and was still single. I had a feelingthat was about to change. If I started pursuing Rae, that was it. She struck me as the forever kind of woman. Those kind who managed to get their hooks into you and have you down on one knee before you even fucking knew what happened.
That was why I’d kept my distance. I was going to end up with an old lady if I moved forward with these thoughts. And strangely that didn’t sound as bad now as it had in the past. Maybe that was exactly what I needed. Maybeshewas what I needed.
CHAPTER 7
Raeleen
“What is that?” Harlow asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked over at my pet.
It was a week after the bar incident and I’d invited my friends over. I mostly just wanted to hang out with them, but I was also trying to figure out if I should try to speak with Pyre about what’d happened. I was very good about sticking my head in the sand when needed. And I wasn’t sure what to do about him. I mean, a whole week and no contact? If he’d really tried to kiss me, like Ainsley thought, wouldn’t he have tried to get a hold of me? I’d been about to just give up on it all together, but that insistent part of me wanted to know for sure.
“It’s a sweater I made for Penny,” I told her.
“Oh my God it looks so cute on her!” Maya said, picking Penny up and cuddling her close.
Melody made a face. “Don’t kiss her!”
“Why?” Maya asked, after her lips had left Penny’s head. “She’s sweet.”
“She’s an opossum," Melody countered.
“A sweet opossum,” Mona said with a shrug, scratching Penny’s head as Maya held her.
Penny endured Maya’s cuddles with righteous indignation as she sat on the couch with her.
“Where did you even get her?” Kaisa asked. “Not many opossums around here.”
“I found her while I was on vacation in New Mexico,” I told them. “She’d been separated from her mom and looked too young to survive on her own.”
“So you kept her?” Ainsley asked with a grin.
“Yeah. I brought her home and nursed her back to health.”
“Of course you did,” Harlow said with a soft smile. “You have such a big heart, Rae.”
“Why the sweater, though?” Kaisa asked.
“Like you said, there aren’t many opossums in Wyoming,” I explained. “It gets too cold for them here. So I’ve made her some sweaters to wear to keep her warm.”
“That one is pink,” Melody pointed out.
“Well, she’s a girl.”
“Youdon’t even wear pink,” Melody continued.
“Yes, I do,” I said, “just not very often.” I didn’t mention that the panties I had on at the moment were pink. And they had Sunday scrawled across the butt in fancy lettering. They were a gag gift from my mother last Christmas.
“When is Lyric coming home?” Mona asked, settling on the couch next to Maya and Penny.
Kaisa shrugged. “Soon, hopefully. She’s in Chicago helping out her sister.”
“It’s been a couple months,” Harlow said with a frown. “Hopefully everything’s okay?”
“Well, Lyric is losing her mind chasing around Harmony’s four kids.” Everyone except Ains laughed at that.
