His expression was one of total sincerity. “I want to look for all the toothbrushes with you.”
That declaration made her warm all over. And for a moment, she forgot how crappy she felt otherwise.
Then her cell rang from her nightstand. He’d placed it on top of her laptop at some point.
She raised her eyes to meet his.
“I brought it up last night after you’d slept for a solid seven hours.”
That was…sweet.
She glanced at the screen of her cell.
“Kaiya?” Rachel said.
“Rachel,” Kaiya said, excited like always. “Molly said you’re back in town.”
“I am. Hey, sorry I haven’t gotten back to you. Things went a little sideways this summer.”
Travis stood, his gaze holding hers as he moved behind her and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. Then he moved to pull on his shirt.
“I wasn’t calling about that,” Kaiya said, even as Rachel’s gaze tracked Travis’s movements. “Molly said you do the personal assistant thing, and I’m drowning over here. I was hoping we might be able to talk? I just hit international sales director level. Now there are all these meetings I’m trying to keep track of, and orders to put through, and I could just really use some help.”
Oh, well… Rachel helped. That’s what Rachel did. She rolled her tongue over her bottom lip, widening her eyes in Travis’s direction. This was good. Great, even. Fantastic.
“I’d love to talk to you about what I do,” Rachel said, hoping to keep an air of professionalism even as her heart beat faster. She grabbed a pen and made a new list so the sieve of her mind wouldn’t forget this later. “I’m getting over this stomach bug thing, but can we get together later this week?”
“Yes.” Kaiya’s voice filled with her smile. “Absolutely. That would be amazing. Also…”
“What’s up?”
“This is weird…” Kaiya let out a sigh. “I told myself I wouldn’t make this weird.”
“It’s okay, you can tell me whatever you need.”
“I know some of your other clients had been difficult in the past.” The smile in Kaiya’s voice dimmed, just a little. Barely noticeable, really. But Rachel did notice.
“I just wanted to assure you that I’m not a dick with work stuff,” Kaiya finished.
Rachel grinned. She glanced at Travis and smiled bigger because he was standing there in her bedroom. He looked as happy as she felt inside. “I appreciate that.”
She wrapped up the call with a promise to meet later,and then she met Travis’s gaze once more.
“That sounded promising,” he said, not moving, just standing there like he belonged.
Which, for the record, he did.
“Maybe things will work out, after all,” Rachel mused.
“For now Mama’s also being extra nice,” he said. “She was worried about you yesterday and made it a point not to leave until your fever broke. I think she’s coming around to you and me being an us.”
Rachel turned back. “Seriously?”
“She spent a lot of time yesterday cleaning up downstairs. Man, your boys were like an unsupervised tornado while you were out.”
Gah. This was exactly why she couldn’t get sick. Ever. Ever again.
Speaking of… “Where are the kids?”
