Page 28 of The Handyman
My heart thundered hard, and I held my breath.
He blinked hard and fast. “Uh— no? Why would I want to do that? I mean, if it’s for tax purposes, now would be the best time, but—”
“Not right now. Have you ever seen yourself getting married, though?”
Reece immediately shook his head. Bending down to grab his razor, he sniffed a hard breath before straightening to lean on the bathroom door frame. “There’s no reason to get married that separate court documents can’t supersede. Is this about the conversation in the car a few days ago?”
Nodding unabashed, I licked my lips heavily as expectation stained my tongue.
Through his thick shaving cream beard, his lips thinned when he sighed through flared nostrils. “I don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves, Riley.”
Anxiety burrowed deep in my gut now. “I’m just wondering about the future. Th—” Reece disappeared into the bathroom again, and I sat up to run my hands through my hair with a sigh. Pulling my knee up to rest my chin, a small, perpetual smile stretched my lips. “This is only the third time I slept over, but I think things are going great!”
“You’re never gonna get over my saying you’re better, are you, Riley?”
My heart fluttered as I shook my head even though Reece couldn’t see me.
His deep, sultry laugh floated out of the open bathroom threshold. “No— I can’t say I ever saw myself getting married, exactly, but when you say that, do you mean mid-forties, with a dog and a mortgage living in the state, or do you mean a wedding?”
“Both. But, let’s say wedding for arguments sake.” In the thoughtful silence that met my declaration, I just couldn’t stop being sohappy. I mean— what was sweeter than telling me no one was better for him than me? For days, I’d ridden that high of realizing that Reece seriously meant what he said. He truly believed that, or he wouldn’t have said it.
And yeah— Delilah had the whole exotic-face-green-eyes-and-frail-delicate-frame thing going on, but she was amajorcomplainer. She knew she was gorgeous, and her attitude flailed wildly between being very talkative and bubbly to sulky while grumbling under her breath as she sauntered away. I honestly didn’t know if she was just that upset about being put under protection, or because it wasn’t on her terms.
“Logically…”
Speaking up to cut through my thoughts, Reece drew my attention to the empty doorway, and I held my breath as my heart lurched into my throat.
“The next step would be to spend time together, fuck around a lot, maybe go on a vacation or two, and then talk about moving in together. I’m down for that. If you want a wedding, make a dream board or something subtle like that.”
“So, the idea of tying me up permanently hasnoappeal to you at all?”
He poked his head out of the bathroom again, his half-shaven face drawing in some emotion I couldn’t place.
Puffing out my lips, goosebumps washed my arms and down my bare back.
“Red tape is an unflattering color on you.” Once again, Reece disappeared to continue shaving.
My smile widened as warmth blossomed in my chest.
“Besides, it’d be the government tying us together, not me tying you up. Not to mention that if I was going to marry you, I’d wanna meet your parents first.”
“What? Why?” Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I stood up to stretch my arms over my head with a groan. Flexing my toes against the hardwood, tension slithered up my legs, and blood drummed in my ears. I reached down for his discorded shirt, pulling the fabric to my nose to inhale deeply before scrambling inside. Wandering to the door, I leaned on the frame.
Reece bent over the sink, carefully shaving his facial hair. He paused, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror to flash with irritation. “So I can tell your mom to her face that even though she’s an egregious bitch, you turned out confident and pretty alright for a blue-collar Connecticut girl.”
My brows rose in surprise at this answer.
Reece stuck his razor under the faucet to turn the knob sharply. “I know it’s a reactive thing, but I don’t think it’s unwarranted, either. What mother tells her daughter that being sexually assaulted is her own fault? That’s fucked up, firstly, and secondly… if that’s any indication of what other shit she says to you, I want nothing more than to use all the wonderful things about you to just tear her apart. I’mreallygood at that shit.”
“Yeah…” I wasn’t sure what to say to this. My heart sank back down into my chest, but— really, there wasn’t anything else to say. My mom made it clear what she thought of me, and that was okay. Things got better, and life moved on regardless. “Um, I’m gonna go make breakfast. Want anything specific?”
“Whatever you want is fine. Riley…” Stopping for the umpteenth time, Reece turned to me fully to scan my face through narrowed pupils. “If you’re afraid your mom is gonna ruin your life even worse somehow, you can tell me. Okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded, and he went back to shaving as I headed down the stairs.
Delilah was flopped on the sofa, struggling to sleep, and I briefly wondered if she knew it was a pull-out couch. She only talked when Reece wasn’t in the same room as her, and I got the sense that shereallyhated being told what to do. Craning my neck over the back of the sofa, I peeked at her face.
Her eyes rolled to meet mine.