Page 55 of The Right Woman

“He’s an asshole and probably won’t want you to, but let’s try.” Piper kneels and hands the orange tabby to my son, and for some reason, the cat calms in his hold.

“Be gentle, Odin,” I say.

“I am.”

Avery and Odin battle over who can hold the little guy and he seems to enjoy the attention for once. “He never lets me do that,” I tell Piper.

Rhodes points to the open boxes of pizza. “You all want some?”

“Yeah, we’re starving,” I say. “But can you help me unload the truck? Uh, Piper brought her stuff.”

“She did!” Avery jumps up excitedly.

“How would you two feel about her moving in with us?” I glance over at her, making sure she’s not about to back out of this. Her response is a solid head nod with a knowing smile.

The kids start hopping in circles around my girlfriend, yelling excitedly. “Yeah!”

Piper’s relieved smile is the best thing I’ve seen all day.

Rhodes slaps a hand on my back and squeezes my shoulder. “Well done, man.” Grabbing Piper, he pulls her in for a side hug. “Did you agree to this without seeing his tyrant Thursdays first?”

Odin groans loudly.

“What’s that?” she asks.

Avery rolls her eyes. “That’s where he makes us all do cleaningdrills.”

Piper laughs. “Oh…that soundssuperfun.”

“Better get used to it, young lady,” I tell her.

Rhodes helps me bring stuff in from the truck while Piper gets Freckles situated with the kids and shows him where his stuff will be. It’s difficult to get Avery and Odin to go to sleep after they found out how spastic the cat gets with a laser pointer, but eventually they head to their rooms and Rhodes heads out to his car.

“Just a sec,” I tell him before he leaves, then turn to Piper. “I’ll be back inside in a minute.”

She gives me a nod and returns to the kitchen to heat our pizza.

Rushing over to Rhodes’s driver side window, I lean in and thank him for helping so much. “Can I ask one more favor of you?”

“What is it?” he asks wearily.

“I’m going to tell Piper I was with you a couple of nights from now. We’re going to the NU hockey game for the finals to grab a beer, and it’s just the two of us.”

One of his dark eyebrows raises. “You want to go to a hockey game?”

“No. But you go. Say I was there.”

“And you’ll be…”

“Not there.”

“Do I need to worry about you and Piper already?”

“Not at all.” I stand and slap the side of his car.

“Fine. Don’t tell me, but you better not be a cheating asshole.”

Smirking, I shake my head. “Never.”

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