Page 182 of Surprisingly Us

“Okay, I wasn’t expecting you to really get in there. I thought a general area sniff would be sufficient.”

“I love how you smell. Even when you’re sweaty and fresh from practice. I think it’s pheromones or something.”

“Great, so you’re clearly not the person to ask if I suspect I have body odor.”

He smirks, then swats my butt. “Go sit down.”

I lift my brows in challenge, but ultimately follow his instruction. “See, this is how you do it. When someone asks you to sit down, you listen.”

“You’re such a good girl, Lettie. Following directions.” He leans close, his lips pressing against the shell of my ear. “That’ll come in handy later when I tell you to sit on my cock.”

The temperature of my blood spikes at his comment. Forget food, forget the shower, my body has other needs. But then I realize I’ll probably pass out during sex if I don’t eat and that doesn’t sound appealing, so I keep my priorities straight.

On my way to the table, I pass by the living room and notice the tulle for the tutus is pulled out.

“Did the cats do this?” I ask, but then I notice that there are a few tutus completed and one that is halfway done.

“Oh, shit. I forgot to put that away. I got distracted making dinner.”

“You came over early to make tutus?” I ask.

“I figured with evaluations coming up, your schedule would get even more intense, so I wanted to help.”

I’m floored. I can’t believe he came over early and started making tutus.

“Thank you. That’s so sweet.”

Rhys shrugs. “It’s nothing,” he distractedly answers, while plating our dinner.

He moves to the table, setting the plated food on the placemats he’s arranged there.

I can’t help wrapping my arms around his waist and snuggling against his back.

“You say it’s nothing, but to me, it’s everything.”

He looks over his shoulder at me, smiling.

“Don’t tell anyone, it’ll ruin my image.”

I smile against his back, because I don’t think the image he created for himself was ever truly him. This is who Rhys is.

“I don’t have much experience but you’re really knocking this boyfriend thing out of the park.”

“Boyfriend?” His tone is all teasing. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Princess, it’s only the first date.”

“I’ve already got the ring,” I wiggle my left hand in front of him, “so if anyone is getting ahead of themselves, it would be you.” The engagement ring is too large to wear during practice but I always put it on right after.

“Touché.”

He unwraps my arms from around his waist so he can turn and draw me in for a quick kiss. Then, he pulls out my chair so I can sit down.

My eyes drop to the plate. It’s turkey meatloaf. The way my mom makes it in silicone muffin liners which are the perfect size for portioning out leftovers throughout the week. That means he called my mom and got the recipe. I stare at him, even more fascinated by this man.

He sits down across from me and sets his napkin in lap.

“Acts of service. It’s your love language.”

It is? Did I know that?

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