Page 125 of Rastor

"Hey," I called after him. "Have 'em drop a car in visitor's parking, will ya? Something low-key."

Nodding, Bishop walked silently out, leaving Chloe staring after him. "He's kind of scary," she said.

"Baby, you don't know the half of it."

"Speaking of which." She turned to face me. "Since you're incapacitated…"

"Incapacitated? That's what you think, huh?" Was that a challenge? If so, I knew exactly how to prove her wrong. But first, I needed to get the hell out of here.

Chapter 63

A couple of hours later, we were back at my place. On our way back from the hospital, we'd swung by Chloe's to pick up Chucky, along with some of Chloe's overnight stuff.

I still couldn’t believe my luck. She was back, and she was going tostayback, because I was done screwing up.

Before leaving the hospital, I'd told her almost everything – starting with the real reason that I'd gotten my ass beat that one night, and ending with a pretty strong hint that I was looking to make our relationship a forever thing.

The best thing was, something about the look in her eyes told me that when I popped the question, she'd be saying yes.

Talking with her, I'd also gotten something that I hadn't been looking for – an apology for being so secretive about the house-sitting gig. But looking back, it all made sense. She'd had an agreement with the owners, and she'd been determined to keep it.

In my book, that was a plus, not a minus. Over the last few years, privacy had been a hard thing for me to come by. And to have a girl who knew how to keep a secret, well, that was a big deal for me.

Now, we were both in the master bathroom, washing up after the whole hospital thing. I glanced over at Chloe, who was brushing her teeth in the nearby sink. As for me, I'd already brushed mine – twice – the moment we'd gotten home five minutes earlier.

Home. With Chloe. I felt myself smile. When she was here, that's exactly what it felt like, a real home. And the way it sounded, the feeling was mutual. She belonged here, and from what I could tell, she finally got that.

Chloe finished up and set her toothbrush in the spot where she used to keep it, before the whole basement thing and all the other stupid stuff that had torn us apart.

If I had my way, her toothbrush would never be leaving. And neither would she. Or her dog. Or anything else that was important to her.

Chloe turned to me and smiled. "I still can't believe you left the hospital like that."

"Why not?"

"Because you weren't supposed to."

"Oh yeah?" I wasn't worried. I was fine. And as far as the administrative stuff, I'd have someone take care of that tomorrow. But tonight, I had other things in mind.

Slowly, I moved toward Chloe and said, "Maybe I like doing stuff I'm not supposed to."

Back at her place, she'd practically dragged me out the front door, joking that she – and not the house – was on fire. But so far, she'd been taking things slow, and I wondered if the events of the day had finally caught up with her.

She was still wearing that green dress, and as nice as it was, I wanted to see her out of it. As for me, I was back to wearing the same clothes that I'd been wearing at her dad's place. They felt dirty, and so did I.

I glanced toward the shower. It was a nice one, with fancy tile on the bottom and glass on three sides. Chloe would look good in that shower. In fact, I'd seen her there before, all soaped up and sexy. It had been way too long since I'd seen her that way.

"You wanna shower?" I asked.

"Uh, sure." She hesitated. "Do you wanna go first, or….?"

"Yeah." I laughed. "And I want you to come with me."

She bit her lip. "Can I confess something?"

I moved closer. "Anything."

"I'm feeling kind of guilty."