Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 199(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 199(@250wpm)___ 166(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” I said as I climbed out of the car and watched King drive off.
It’s not your problem.
It’s not your problem.
Even as the warning played on a loop inside of my head as I made my way to my hotel room, I laughed because nothing could be further from the truth.
Whatever was happening with Christopher was most definitely my problem.
I just didn’t know why.
CHAPTER FOUR
CHRISTOPHER
I saw him coming long before he knocked on the door thanks to the cameras I’d installed strategically outside the house.
So I could have ignored him. I could have put my headphones back on my head and continued on with the claim I’d been working on. I could have done anything at all besides answer the door when there was a sharp knock on it. Even knowing what Rush was carrying didn’t make a difference. So then why were my fingers closing around the doorknob? Why was that little spark of energy in my stomach turning into the dreaded butterflies?
My curiosity outweighed my common sense, and before I knew it, there was nothing standing between me and Rush except for what looked like a table similar to the one Rush had broken.
“I’ve already tested this one, and I’m glad to say it’s Rush-proof,” Rush said before I could even open my mouth.
“It’s beautiful,” I admitted as my eyes took in the rich, deep tone of the wood. It was definitely real wood and not the fake stuff my table had been made up of. And the design of the table screamed antique.
Antiques meant money.
“You didn’t have to,” I said with a sigh. “Thank you, Rush, but I can’t accept it. It must have cost you—”
“It didn’t,” Rush cut in. “I, um…”
The uncertainty in his voice had me lifting my eyes. A wave of vulnerability and hurt washed over his expression before he dropped his eyes to the table so I couldn’t see them anymore.
“It belonged to my parents,” he said softly. “I think they would have liked for you to have it.”
His comment didn’t make much sense, but the hurt in his voice did.
“Come in,” I said quickly as I pulled the door open farther. I made sure to pick up Pip so he wouldn’t cause another accident. I watched in silence as Rush carried the weighty side table inside and placed it in the spot the other one had been in. I caught my breath at how perfect the piece of furniture looked.
“Rush,” I said with a shake of my head. “At least let me pay you—”
“Christopher, I’ve got three storage units full of my parents’ belongings. Everyone kept telling me to sell it all off in an estate sale before I left Colorado, but I couldn’t do that.”
The raw pain in Rush’s voice as he spoke had me moving closer to him. I wanted to offer some kind of comfort for the loss he was so clearly still dealing with, but I didn’t know how.
“You weren’t ready to let them go,” I suggested.
Rush nodded. “I’ve got the stuff from my own apartment in another unit, so when I get my own place, I’ll do some mixing and matching and sell or donate what’s left. I like knowing that a piece of my parents is here with you, even if it’s just so you can tell someone the story about the clumsy idiot who broke your original table.”
I found myself smiling. And then I did something I hadn’t been planning. I cuddled Pip with one arm and stepped into Rush and wrapped the other around him. I couldn’t say who was more surprised at the move, him or me, but before I could try and undo it, Rush’s head was dropping to my shoulder and his arm was going around my waist.
Alarm bells should have been going crazy in my head, but there was nothing but silence. There was no obsessive, insistent voice reminding me that the man could be reading too much into the gesture, and there wasn’t the perpetual sense of loss I felt when one of my family members managed to get their arms around me for a hug.
It wasn’t until Rush lifted his head and a few pregnant, silent beats followed that it became like someone had flipped a switch and all the easiness was sucked out of the room, only to be replaced by this heavy tension that had nothing to do with discomfort or awkwardness.
I willed myself not to look at his mouth, but that was exactly what I did. My body went haywire the second I took in Rush’s full lips, and it wasn’t until Pip let out a little squeak that I realized how much my body had locked up tight in anticipation of what was to come. To cover my behavior, I shoved Pip at Rush, giving him no choice but to take the kitten, and hurried to the kitchen. “I’m just going to get something to dust it off a bit.”