Chapter Twenty-Two
Wow. Nash was a romantic through and through.
Emily couldn’t get enough of his kisses, but she also couldn’t get enough of his serious talks either. There was another side to Nash that she was getting to know, and she liked it. She snuggled into the pillow in the guest room and heard paws skittering across the wood floor then land heavily on her bed. The puppy sniffed her hair.
“Lizardman!” She stuffed her head under the pillow. “How did you get in here? Let me sleep.”
The puppy wouldn’t be stopped, but she supposed that he dealt with a hard master to love. West wasn’t exactly snuggly, and so undaunted, Lizardman clambered over her back, just standing there like Emily was the lookout point to the room.
She laughed.
A knock sounded on her door. “Bacon or sausage?” Nash called through the cracked door.
Her stomach rebelled at the thought of meat so early in the morning and she shouted back, “Toast!”
“Toast?” Nash sounded dubious. “Breakfast is the best part of the morning.”
“No, sleeping is the best part,” she mumbled into the pillow.
“Is Lizardman in there?” Nash pushed the door the rest of the way open. She jolted back, grabbing for her blanket to make sure that her legs were covered. That knocked Lizardman off his perch and he landed against her neck. She twisted, running her hands down her messy hair. “Nash! You can’t just barge in here!”
“What? Why not?” The guy was in blue plaid pajama bottoms and a bare chest. He didn’t have the grace to look even slightly abashed. “You look great!”
She smirked, covering her face with a blanket. She couldn’t even imagine what she looked like. She desperately tried to turn the attention from herself. “Get a shirt on!”
“What?” She recognized that playful note in his voice. “It’s too much for you?”
Definitely! The Slade men were all built from their days working the ranch, but Nash looked especially attractive this morning.
She uncovered her face, still trying to hide her smile, and he called her on it. “You like my bare chest!”
“I don’t care if I do! If you don’t leave now, I’ll never be happy with another man again.” Her momma had always said that line at home when Emily’s daddy came out of his room shirtless, but this time it wasn’t a joke.
“Ha,” Nash said. “Isn’t that the point?”
Was it? As if he’d done this on purpose… because as far as she’d seen, Nash had just thoughtlessly ripped open the door, which just happened to make her embarrassed, and now he was milking his teasing for all it was worth. She could see that she’d be a spitting, volatile firecracker dating such a man.
“Oh, you love this.” She slithered around the blanket and snatched Lizardman back so he couldn’t chew on her hair. She hugged the little puppy close. It was the only way to stop him from teething on her.
Nash laughed. “And now you’re trying to make me jealous of the dog again.” He pressed his palm into the doorframe. “Lizardman, don’t you try to steal my girl from me or you’re out.”
Smiling, she played along. “Noooo!” She held the dog against her. “Leave poor Lizardman alone. Off with you. I’ve got to get dressed anyway.”
“What? Why?” He knelt on the other side of her bed, petting Lizardman’s furry head. “I like you in those.”
He’d caught sight of her PJs. The puppy had caused the blanket to fly off, showing off her striped shorts and a white sweatshirt. “Yeah, right!” She leaped off the bed. Her leg barely missed the loveseat as she ducked into the bathroom. “Get out of here, you caveman.”
“Okay, but how do you like your eggs?”
“I like them nonexistent,” she called from the bathroom. “Honestly, toast!” Her stomach didn’t wake up until noon. It was her greatest failing.
She listened to him steal Lizardman from her as she changed into a white tee shirt and jean shorts. Running a brush through her hair, she stared at herself in the mirror. There was an excited glow in her eyes that was growing brighter by the day in Nash’s company. She hadn’t laughed this hard since high school—when her parents were alive, and they sat around the kitchen table talking about River’s dating life.
Poor River.
And still, she had some good memories of her home life. There was something about Nash that brought back those feelings of family. She’d missed that.
Emily wandered out into the private kitchen that was set next to the living room. She’d stayed up late with Nash playingMoondooglelast night, wrestling with Lizardman, and then with each other when Nash tried to take the last slice of pizza.