“Pretty sure it just retired.” More like gave up on life, but I kept that thought to myself.
“How about my bean bag?” He’d said, pointing to that flea-ridden burlap nightmare across the room.
“Uhhh, I think I have all the furniture we need. If we find a place, we can come back for it.” I straight lied. I’d set it on fire first.
“You hate it, don’t you?” he deadpanned.
“Ahhh…” I stalled. Listen, I couldn’t think of one nice thing to say. “Someone probably died on it.”
“I wonder if that’s why it was free,” Rett murmured.
Sweet Jesus.
“So this is where you live, huh?” Rett said, pulling me back to the present. “I always wondered.”
He was standing across the room, staring out the wall of large, black-framed windows. The loft was industrial-style with exposed brick and large silver ductwork running across the ceiling.
I tried and failed miserably to ignore how small and out of place he looked standing there with his hands braced on theledge of the brick, which came up to his chest, as he leaned forward to look out at the other industrial-style buildings nearby.
I didn’t have a fancy view like Kieran. My loft was smaller and less decorated. I never felt the need to make a place homey. What was the point? All I did was sleep and eat here. I did have a nice TV, though, as every hockey fan should.
Made me wonder. “You like hockey?”
He turned from the window, sunlight backlighting him so he looked like just a silhouette.Even the shape of him is beautiful.
“I’m not really into sports,” he replied. The second the words left his lips, panic twisted his features. “I mean, I might. I’ve never had the chance to watch it. But if you like hockey, I’m sure I’ll like it too.”
Oh,there would be none of that.
Crossing the room, I lifted him off his feet. The way his arms and legs automatically wrapped around me settled something inside me that I’d thought would be unsettled forever.
“I think now’s a good time to let you in on the house rules.”
“You have house rules?”
After seeing his cute little ass in my loft? You bet your britches I had rules.
“Are these sacred too?” Rett asked, and it brought me back to the cuddling rules I’d given him.
Those were to charm him. These right here? They wereserious.
“Very.” I agreed.
He seemed a little cautious, but his hands tightened around me. I, too, understood the battle between the head and the heart.
“What are they?” he asked.
“Rule one…” I began. “I’ll be the bug guy.”
“The what?”
“You know, if you find a spider and scream, I’ll come kill it. Boyfriend shit.”
Pip gasped. “Why would you kill an innocent spider?”
“Because it scared you,” I said as though it were obvious.Because it was.
“You can’t kill things for scaring me. That’s stupid. Plus, I’m not scared of spiders. They contribute to the ecosystem by being part of the food web.”
