He tucks a finger under my chin. “You’re exhausted, baby. Stay here. Eat something. I’ll get your dog and bring her back to spend the night too,” he says. “If that’s okay with you?”
If that’s okay with me? Holy smokes. That’s more than okay. That’s next level. “You want to drive to my house, fetch my dog, and bring her here?”
His brow knits deeper. “Um, yeah,” he says, like it’s obvious that’s the sequence.
And it is.
But wow.
Just wow.
“Okay,” I say, feeling a little bubbly, then I give him the code to my garage and the keys to my car. “Use my car though, because she has a dog seat in the back with a seat belt and everything.”
Shaking his head in amusement, he says, “Of course she does.”
Then he leaves, and I lie down on his couch, where I stare at the ring a little longer, feeling fizzy.
Feeling wanted.
I reach for my phone, open it, and type out a message to Rachel.The date was amazing. Can’t wait to tell you about it.
I hit send, then I crack open a new book.
But before the heroine even bumps into the hot guy under a ladder, my eyes are floating closed, and I’m swimming off.
* * *
Someone is kissing me.
Someone is rubbing against me.
Someone is licking my mouth.
I stretch and open my eyes. Gigi is engaged in a full kiss attack. With a yawn, I push up on the couch, where I’m slathered in more canine love, whimpers, andwhere have you beens.
“I missed you too, girl,” I murmur. Then my gaze swings to the tiled floor. What’s that pink fluffy thing? A pillow? “Do you have shaggy pink couch cushions?” I ask, looking up at my man as he walks closer.
Gabe flops down on the couch next to me. “No. I got Gigi a dog bed for the night,” he says.
Silly boy. She sleeps on the human bed. But the gesture sends my heart into overdrive.
This man made me a picnic. Picked up my dog. Bought her a bed. Bruised my body in all the best ways.
I need a way to stop time and live in this moment forever.
But I also need to fight off the inevitable heartache. We’re on a honeymoon. It ends tomorrow night, then we return to reality. We will go our separate ways. He’ll head to training camp and to the love of his life—football. I’ll be working long days and long nights to build the next phase of my life. And I was fine with that when we first started. But now, I’m definitely not.
SATURDAY
A Day
24
I’VE GOT THIS
Ellie
We’re five miles away from my mom’s home when my phone trills. Mom’s calling.