I willed my sister to look at me, but she was completely focused on Alex.
“And Vaughn was right,” she continued. “I shouldn’t have judged you before getting to know you. I know my brother cares for you. I get protective of him, since he’s my brother, but I should have trusted him.” I could tell she hadn’t quite let go of everything, but her apology was sincere. At least she was willing to give him a chance.
Alex still had one arm around me, and he very subtly tucked me closer. “Thank you,” he said simply. “I appreciate that.”
“Would you mind if we, I don’t know, started over?” she asked. “Can I make you guys dinner one of these days? Or breakfast, maybe? I know Vaughn isn’t a morning person, but I love cooking in the morning.”
Alex relaxed. “Um, sure. Yeah.”
“Okay. Good.” She pointed over her shoulder. “But right now, I think I’ll go. Vaughn, call me?”
“I will.”
She took one last look between us before turning to leave.
I hugged Alex one more time, whispering, “Please come back with me?”
He kissed my forehead but didn’t answer.
“I know Roxy would feel better if you’re there.”
He pulled back, giving me a shy smile. “Just Roxy?”
“Okay. No, not just Roxy. I’d feel better if you were next to me tonight. We don’t even need to do anything. I just… I don’t want you to be alone. Please?”
Alex dipped his forehead to mine. “I really don’t want to be alone anymore either.”
I’d only meant tonight, but the fact that Alex had formed his statement in the long term made me smile. “Good. Come on. I think we can find another movie on SyFy to watch.”
18
We’d woken in the middle of the night to another storm passing through. Rain crashed against the window, and the winds howled outside, making both of the dogs nervous. Roxy had convinced Alex she needed to be up on the bed with us, which meant Noel followed.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Alex muttered sleepily to the pug as she tried to curl up into a ball between our pillows. He quickly moved her to the other side of his head before rolling onto his side and pulling me in closer. I would’ve laughed at Roxy’s annoyed huff if Alex hadn’t leaned in to steal a sleepy kiss at that exact moment. We lay in bed for a few hours as the storm raged on, tangled in each other’s limbs, and only using our lips for kissing or nibbling. As we let ourselves get lost in the pleasure of one another, our moans became a chorus that matched the steady rhythm of water on the roof, and it was a song I never wanted to stop.
For once, Roxy chose to ignore us, burrowing herself deep under the covers to hide, and I fell asleep against Alex’s chest, completely sated and wearing yet another smile on my face. I was really starting to love these sweet moments with Alex more than I’d ever thought possible.
When I opened my eyes again, streams of light were coming in through the slits in the curtains and Alex’s soft lips were pressed against my forehead.
“Morning,” he whispered. “We should probably get up.”
I groaned. “Do we have to?”
He chuckled and nudged me to roll off him. We showered separately but ate together before heading out the door. I knew it was going to be a long day when two cars were already in the parking lot before I even stepped out of my house. Both were clients who had brought injured cats in to be treated after they’d been spooked by the storm and tried to seek shelter in unusual places. Thankfully, the cuts were minor and hadn’t needed more than a topical cream to help. But later that morning, a dog was brought in who had gotten his foot trapped in a bundle of barbed wire hidden by a puddle. The poor border collie needed emergency surgery to repair damage to his tendon.
And that was just the beginning. All week, I had an unusual number of emergency visits, both in and out of the clinic, and that was in addition to my normal routine check-ups. Melanie had tried to get me to reschedule a few of them, but I’d refused, knowing how easily rearranging the schedule caused problems later on. It was better to have one stressful week than to stretch it out over three or four.
Alex had taken it upon himself to make sure that I didn’t overwork myself or forget to eat, and he’d stepped in to help around the clinic whenever he could. But the thing that really surprised me was how he’d tried to make things easier outside of the clinic too. Every night when I came into the house, I was met with two happy dogs, a mostly clean house, and the delicious aroma of something cooking on the stove. Tonight was no different. As soon as I rounded the corner from the mudroom, I spotted Alex pulling something from the oven. Roxy was sitting on the couch, chewing on one end of Noel’s rope toys, while Noel lay on her back, playfully tugging the other end. Roxy let out a happy bark as soon as she saw me, and Noel immediately came over to greet me, both of their tails wagging happily.
“Hey, girls,” I said.
Alex was watching me with a sexy grin as I made my way over to greet him and leaned in to plant a kiss on my lips.
“You should be careful,” I teased. “I’m starting to get used to coming home to you three and having dinner ready every night.”
Alex reached for a pan on the stove and carefully poured some sort of sauce over the seasoned pork chops he’d just placed on the plates.
“That smells amazing,” I said, dipping my finger into the sauce for a quick taste. The rich, savory flavor made my eyes bug out. “Oh my god, Alex. That’s delicious!”
