Page 181 of Surprisingly Us

“Fuck,” he mutters, slamming the drawer. My lips press together to stifle the laugh that’s threatening to burst out.

“Hi,” I say, deciding to let my presence be known.

He looks up from where he’s slicing a parsnip.

“Hey, Princess.”

His eyes are on me, but his hands are still working.

“Fuck.” He lifts his finger from where it made contact with the knife blade.

“Oh, no.” I rush toward him to assess the damage. His fingertip is red, blood starting to flow from the cut. “Sit down. I’ll grab the first aid kit.”

I rush back to the kitchen with the kit. Rhys isn’t sitting like I instructed.

“You need to sit down. You’ll get lightheaded,” I warn.

“That was a thing when we were kids, I’m good now.”

He removes the paper towel I wrapped around it. It’s soaked with blood.

I can see the moment he’s not good. His face pales and his eyes go glossy.

“Easy.” I reach out to stop his fall. He’s a big guy so my goal is to at least make sure he doesn’t hit his head. He slinks to the floor, his back against the kitchen cabinets.

I wrap a clean towel around his finger, absorbing more blood before I put on the antibiotic cream and band-aid.

“Am I going to live?” Rhys teases, his color coming back.

“It’s a small cut but sometimes those are the worst bleeders.”

“Yeah, I think my pride is more wounded than my finger.”

“Well, I think it was a good thing my knives are sharp, otherwise you might have needed stitches.” I press a kiss to his lips. “I thought we were going out.”

Even as I mention it, my body revolts at the idea of washing my hair and getting dressed to be in public. To be on display.

“I figured you’d be tired, so I was cooking for us.”

“Really? I love that.”

“I wanted to do something nice for you.” He lifts his bandaged finger up. “I guess I’m not doing a very good job.”

“This is nice.”

“You playing nurse while the food gets cold?”

“You being here when I got home, but I wasn’t expecting you to cook.”

“I thought about all the places I could take you on our first date. All the fancy restaurants and exclusive lounges.” As he talks, I slide into his lap, letting my hand wander under the collar of his shirt. “But there’s nowhere I rather be than cuddled up on the couch at home with you.” Maxine saunters over and puts her paw on Rhys. “Do you need some attention, too?”

She meows which clearly means yes, so we give her some love, too. A loud beep starts going off.

“I’ve got to get that. You want to shower before dinner?”

“I’ll do it after. If I stand in a hot shower before I eat something, I’ll probably pass out. Unless you think I smell and will be too disturbed by it to eat dinner?”

He lifts my arms over my head, gathering them with his hands as he leans down to smell my armpit.

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