Page 33 of New Rules
He stood from his chair and glanced down at me. “I’m gonna head out, but I’ll see you tonight.”
He leaned down, placed a soft kiss on my cheek, and made his way back inside. I tried to follow him, but my legs had turned to jelly momentarily.
Every time he touched me, I felt a jolt of desire and need rush through me.
I shook my head, trying to get some brain cells to work again before following him back into my place.
He was putting his plate and mug in my sink and grabbing his phone and wallet from the counter before he turned back to me.
“It appears my keys have been cat-napped again,” he said with a small smirk.
“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes and made my way to the living room floor. Lowering myself down onto my hands and knees, I reached my arm under the couch to Jasper’s favorite spot—the one he was currently guarding by sitting directly above it on the edge of the cushion.
He hissed at me as I retrieved Ray’s keys—clearly unhappy I’d taken his new shiny item twice now.
“Glad to see my keys are a favorite of Jasper’s. How’s his collection looking these days?” he asked as I crawled backward away from the couch and the small dictator sitting on top who looked ready to fight me.
I turned toward him and looked up. “It’s huge.”
He grinned provocatively at me. “That’s what she said.”
I rolled my eyes, leaning back on my legs with my torso upright. “I meant it’s bigger than I expected.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I’d made it worse. I closed my eyes to the sound of his chuckles.
“Why, thank you,” he said as I stood back up.
“Don’t you start,” I scolded, pointing my finger at him, and then rolled my eyes skyward. “Why is it that men so consistently regress into oversized juveniles behaviorally?”
“Now, Tammy, you don’t need to go using big, fancy words on me. I’ve already told you I’m pretty much a sure thing.”
He walked closer to me, grabbed his keys, and gave me a small peck on the lips. “Thank you.”
When it came to Ray, he was very clear about his desire and interest. It was unmistakable, and he made his intent known.
The only reason we hadn’t jumped back into bed together was because of me. But my convictions were eroding by the minute.
He was leaving tomorrow—a mere twenty-four hours from now—and I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to make it.
It was busy tonight,and I had a great view. And by “view,” I meant the sexy man staring at me like his life depended on it and making my insides shiver at the potential that man held.
I also knew I wasn’t myself tonight. Ever since Ray had left my place this morning, I’d thought nonstop about the fact that he was leaving tomorrow. It bothered me on some level that he was departing—what felt like too soon—and it stressed me out more that I was even bothered in the first place.
“You’re not as sassy tonight,” Ray noted, not in a critical way, but in an assessing way. “You’re more subdued.”
He’d arrived at the bar about fifteen minutes ago, taken his seat, and placed his order as I moved around behind the insanely busy bar. He’d given me a kiss on the cheek when I’d leaned over to remove the box of silverware I had used to block his seat.
It was the same small gesture he’d made this morning, but it had still made my pulse quicken with excitement.
“I’m just tired, probably,” I said, waving my hand flippantly in front of me.
“Wow… Even your witty comebacks are gone,” he analyzed.
Was he correct? Yes.
But I couldn’t let him know that, or he would dive even deeper into my thoughts to figure out why. I straightened my back and gave him the first quick-witted thing that came to mind.
“Yeah, well apparently I wasted all my good lines earlier when I was on my hands and knees in front of you.”
Oh my God.
