“It’s nice doing business with you,” he whispered.
CHAPTER 29
RACHEL
The first thing Rachel noticed was that her body felt like it’d been through a war, childbirth, and a plane crash simultaneously. Still, remarkably, this was an improvement from the day before.
The second thing Rachel noticed was there was a man in her bed.
Travis.
His eyes were closed, his breaths even. He seemed… peaceful.
She smiled.
He hadn’t gotten under the blankets with her. No, he was sleeping on top of the comforter, fully clothed, breathing softly.
The third thing Rachel noticed was that she liked waking up next to him.
They’d had sex, cuddled after, but she’d never seen him sleep. Not deeply. Not like this.
There was the time when he was recovering on the sofa up at the Lakes. But that hardly counted, given his broken sleep, her boys and Gavin slept in the same room, and she cared for them all.
She reached for the thermometer and took her temperature.
Normal. Totally normal.
As though the past day hadn’t even happened.
“How are you feeling, sunshine?” Travis asked, his voice rough from sleep.
She turned to him. “Like I need to invest in a bell.”
He smiled. “Mama found the container of cinnamon tarts and has convinced herself that she’s responsible for poisoning all of us.”
“But I didn’t eat one.” Rachel moved to sit up, and the room didn’t even spin. “Not after watching all of you deal with the aftermath. I put them in the fridge, but I didn’t eat any.”
Travis leaned on an elbow, reaching out with his other hand to push her hair behind her ear. “Let’s not tell Mama that part, yeah?”
Rachel laughed. “You’re being bad.”
“You have no idea how bad I can be.”
She wavered a little as she stood to make her way to a shower and then some dry toast. “I think I have a pretty good idea.” She rolled her tongue over her bottom lip before saying, “When I don’t feel like I just rose from the dead, do you…uh…want to look for a toothbrush with me?”
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.
