“You clearly like to read, so I took a chance,” I said.
“It’s one of my favorites,” Christopher acknowledged.
I told myself to keep my mouth shut because we seemed to be in a good place. But the need to know was too great. “And the ones in the kitchen?” I asked.
Christopher stopped petting the cat and started to look in that direction before stopping abruptly and reaching for the weird tackle box thing.
“Fairy tales. Nothing more,” he muttered coldly.
He flipped open the box, which revealed a whole host of medical supplies.
“What’s wrong with fairy tales?” I asked carefully.
“Nothing,” Christopher responded as he began rifling through the box. “Unless you’re too foolish to realize they’re all lies. And by the time you do…”
When he didn’t continue, I said, “And by the time you do?”
Christopher stilled for several long beats. If I hadn’t been watching him carefully, I would have missed the slight tremor in his hand as his fingers hovered over something in the box.
“Then it’s already too late.”
CHAPTER TWO
CHRISTOPHER
I wanted to smack myself as soon as the words were out. I hadn’t meant to say any of that. I hadn’t meant to say anything at all, but something about the man before me was making it nearly impossible to hold my tongue.
Just patch him up and get him out.
The internal voice was mine, but the words weren’t.
Not really.
It wasn’t something I could easily explain, even to myself. It was like my mind was warring with itself. New Christopher versus old. Cynical, bitter Christopher versus shy, quiet Christopher.
The battle usually only raged when I was around my family, but for some reason, the dual sides decided Rush fell into that category of wishing I could go back to the past.
To before I’d let my life become the mess that it was.
I sighed and forced myself to focus on the task at hand. But even as I began automatically pulling the supplies I’d need out of the box, I couldn’t help but shoot glances at Rush.
He looked much like he had four years earlier with the only noticeable difference being that there was now a hint of silver in both his hair and the scruff that did nothing to diminish the fullness of his lips.
There was also one other difference between now and the last time we’d met.
I wanted him.
Badly.
Considering the circumstances of how we’d met four years ago, being attracted to the man hadn’t even been on my radar at the time.
But now?
I wanted to kill my uncle. Not only had he brought the gorgeous Rush into my house, but he’d left me alone with him.
And I’d let King do it.
I knew for a fact that my best friend knew how to turn the water beneath a sink off. And the whole thing about Rush missing out on their dinner plans had been ridiculous.
So why hadn’t I called King out on all of it? Why had I let him leave a man I barely knew alone with me?
I knew the answer before I even finished the question.
Because I trusted him.
Them.
Yeah, them.
There was no way my uncle would ever put me in any kind of danger, and I’d heard enough about Rush to know the man was much more than my uncle’s employee. So that answered the question about why I trusted my uncle, but what about Rush? Why wasn’t I hurrying through patching him up and getting him out the door? Why wasn’t that tight ball of fear that pretty much lived in my stomach full-time crushing the little butterflies that were dancing around my insides? Why wasn’t my first thought… my only thought about protecting my secret?
“Do you really believe that?”
Rush’s soft voice broke through my confusing thoughts. I turned my head to look at him full-on.
God, he really was beautiful. I could still feel his arms around me as if it had been only yesterday that he’d come to my aid. Night after night, I heard that little hitch in his voice as he reassured me he’d gotten to me on time.
“What?” I asked, not to stall for time but because I really had forgotten what he’d said.
“Do you really not believe in love stories, Christopher?” Rush asked. He leaned forward a bit, but he was careful not to disturb Pip. I was mesmerized by the way his lips moved as he spoke. “That moment when your heart beats just a little bit quicker when you meet someone you know in your gut is different? The nerves that come with those first tentative touches.”
Rush paused long enough for me to realize I was staring at his mouth. I forced my eyes up. It turned out his mouth was the safer bet because his eyes burned with something the old me would have fantasized was desire.
“That first kiss?” Rush continued. “The sigh of relief when you know everything is going to be okay. That you’re finally going to be getting the happily ever after it feels like you’ve been waiting your entire life for…?”