“Plus my mom loves it when she has a driver and gets to hit the town like a starlet. She’ll show you how to have a good time on Rodeo Drive.”
Saylor frowned. “Your mom? The paisley wearing hippie who gave you the middle name Hendrix because of her love of Jimi Hendrix? That mom?”
“Okay, so that might’ve been an exaggeration. It might be more of a struggle than I let on. She actually hates the whole consumerism thing. So have fun with that.”
She laughed. “Totally fine. Since we have a few days, I thought I’d hit some fabric stores and maybe make my own dress for the service.”
“Only if you promise to go out and buy the best sewing machine money can buy. I don’t want you bleeding for your craft.” The memory of her sweating and literally bleeding over her wedding gown still bothered me.
“Fine.” She sighed like it was a huge ask, but then a grin stole across her face. “The best that money can buy?”
I shrugged. “We can turn one of the guest rooms into your office or sewing room or whatever it’s called. Workroom. That sounds like a thing. Let’s go with workroom.”
“You’re giving me a bedroom?”
“To work in,notto sleep.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Your bedroom is in here. You sleep next to me in this bed.”
She nodded slowly.
“Unpack whatever you have in the closet. This is your home. If you want to change shit—get new furniture, whatever—we’ll do it. I want this to feel like your home too.”
“So I can hang up some pictures? Maybe put some color into your beige?”
“Fuck yes. Whatever you want. I didn’t pick out most of this shit as it is. It came furnished, and I’ve never really spent enough time here to get around to changing anything.”
“Okay,” Saylor whispered, her eyes darting around the closet. The eager gleam in her eyes when she turned back to me made me smile.
Maybe I was getting the hang of this whole marriage thing.
My cockiness was belied a few minutes later after we climbed under the covers in the beige bed, and Saylor was so tense next to me that the whole bed practically vibrated.
And not because of one of her vibrating toys in that way that had been so much fucking fun.
I sighed and reached over, pulling her closer to me until she finally rested her head on my shoulder and her hands on my chest.
“This okay?” I asked softly.
She gave a deep shuddery sigh and relaxed against me like this was where she’d wanted to be the entire time. “Yeah. I’m good. ‘Night.”
“’Night, baby.” I pressed a kiss against her hair and relaxed into the bed.
So much of my life was in turmoil at the moment. But this, this right here, felt like everything.
And for the first time since I’d started seeing Saylor, I fell asleep with her in my arms without having sex.
Chapter 19
Saylor
The next morning while Mal was out with Ryker, Judy and I headed for the shops. She’d been excited at the mention of fabric stores and not the Rodeo Drive experience Mal had teased me with the night before.
I had a feeling I wasn’t the only seamstress in Mal’s life.
“So he made it up to you last night?”
I almost choked on my latte at Judy’s not so innocent question. “Yeah, I’m not discussing my sex life with your son with you.”
Judy rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean that, but it’s not like it’s a verboten topic. Everyone has sex. Talking about sex is healthy. But for the record, I wasn’t asking for details. I just noticed the cute smile you had and assumed it had something to do with your husband.”
