Page 177 of Tenderfoot

He yanked a hand through his hair then dropped it, and his head.

As much as I detested his pose of defeat, I kept my silence and let him work through it.

He turned to me. “You didn’t tell me how pretty they are.”

Oh God.

It lasted all of two seconds, but I was done letting him work through it.

I raced to him and threw my arms around him.

He drew me closer and shoved his face in the side of my neck.

“I’m not gonna be able to not see them again,” he said into my skin.

I figured.

I was just going to kill Austin Atherton.

Metaphorically, of course.

I was so totally hijacking our sit-down with Nancy.

Me and the Angels were going to take a side trip to Millionaire Town for me to lay down the gol’ darned law.

I tipped my head back to catch his eyes. “Since I’m barely taking anything home, we need to grab your stuff and take it there so we can go shopping. No rugs. No lamps. Just a big Sephora haul so I can keep my skin healthy.”

“Babe—”

I pushed close. “You don’t have to prove anything to anybody. And you don’t have to go faster than you’re ready. You’re a smart guy. Eventually, you’ll get it. You’ll know you made it. You’ll see you’re on the other side. But you can’t rush it. It has to be at your comfort level.”

His lips quirked, thank God.

“Except a new nutribullet,” he remarked.

“I’m buying that.”

He frowned.

I pushed up on my toes to kiss it off his face.

When I rolled back, I ordered, “Go get your bag. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“All right, lil’ mama,” he muttered, bent, pressed his lips to mine then moved to the stairs.

I went to get the nutribullet.

“Babe,” he called.

I turned to see him halfway up the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“I got guilt,” he said.

Dang it.

“Honey, it isn’t on you that?—”

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