Page 25 of If This is Love

Ruth laughed again. “Okay, I’ll be waiting!”

I ended the call and pocketed my phone, then bent to slip the key out from underneath a small, royal blue pot of bright pink petunias. I unlocked the door and pushed it open for Liza to go ahead of me, and then I stared at Gunner’s back while we stepped inside.

Jax leaped up from the floor where he was curled up and started stamping his feet, his whole body wagging with his tail. He whined, reaching his neck forward like he wanted to greet us but wanted to be a good boy even more than that, so he stayed in place.

“Hey, y’all!” Ruth said, and I looked up to see her waving. She was wearing a simple white t-shirt and black fitness leggings that cut off at her strong, shapely calves, and her hair was loose and free, the mass of tight curls swaying as she waved at us. “Good boy, Jax. Good job not jumping on everybody.” She laughed lightly. “Come on in. This was so sweet of you, truly.”

She looked directly at me, giving me a smile that melted something in me that I didn’t even know was frozen. Nobody had ever smiled at me like that before. “Hi, Gabe. It’s so nice to see you again.”

“Yep.” In this situation, the bare minimum words would have to suffice lest I be tempted to wink at her again while Liza was watching. I nodded at her foot, which was propped up on a pillow on the coffee table. “How’s it feeling today?”

Her warm smile warmed even more, and just like yesterday, I was having trouble not staring at her eyes. “It’s still sore, but nowhere near as bad as I was worried about. I think it was your stellar wrap job.”

A smile toyed with the corner of my mouth, and I could practicallyfeelLiza staring at me giddily. The same giddiness she had when she found out Brennan had popped the question to Skye and that Luke and Chloe had sorted out their shit. Somehow, I had a hunch that the whole damn squad was going to figure out that I had a thing for Ruth by the next Sunday lunch. Becauseobviously.

But if that was the price I had to pay to be standing in Ruth’s living room, in her captivating presence, making sure she was okay after a bad fall, so be it.

I coughed into my fist and then gestured at her foot. “I should rewrap it for you since I’m here.”

“Oh.” Ruth clasped her hands together against her chest and drew her ebony brows together. “That would be so kind of you. Thank you, Gabe.” She looked at Liza. “This patient man took time out of his very early morning yesterday to take such good care of me after I did something that was just plumb stupid.”

“Wasn’t stupid,” I couldn’t help cutting in as I sat on the coffee table next to her propped-up foot. “Just an accident.”

She uttered another wonderful, warm, gentle laugh while she lifted her foot and offered it to me. “And you were so nice about going through all the trouble to help me.”

I was staring at her ankle while I carefully unwrapped it, and then I met her gaze with one raised eyebrow. “Sounds a lot like you’re trying to apologize again, Ruth.”

She laughed again, but this time it was a girlish giggle. She quickly, shyly darted her eyes away from me and then immediately fixed her face like she just remembered Liza was standing there. “I know, I know. No apologizing.” She lifted her finger in the air and gave it a quick wag. “Just appreciation.” Ruth gestured at a chair next to the sofa. “Have a seat, friend. Make yourself cozy.”

Liza grinned, cutting her gaze between Ruth and me as she crossed the room and set the foil-covered plate on the coffee table, then sat down in the chair. “Yeah, so that’s from our Sunday lunch. We all have lunch on Sundays at our friends, Scott and Ophelia’s place, and you should totally come some time. We were all over there when he told me.” Her brows knitted as her gaze swept over Ruth’s various bandages. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah,” Ruth said, waving her hand. “It all really does feel a lot better than I was expecting it would. Just a bit sore.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Liza frowned. “Well, me and Connor and Gabe all live on the same street, so we’re really not far at all. If you need anything while your ankle’s healing up, just holler at one of us. Even if it’s super late or super early. I want to make sure you have my number, too.”

They exchanged phone numbers and then made casual conversation about Skye’s organization and all the stuff in the pipeline, and I took my sweet time wrapping Ruth’s ankle while also mentally reciting sports statistics.

Because goddamn.

Ruth had done something to me.

Even her feet were beautiful. That was a fantasy I’d never had with my imaginary girlfriend that was exactly like her: giving her a foot massage. Suddenly, I was craving to rub her feet just to see if I could do it well enough to make her moan.

She probably has the most incredible moan.

Gunner growled quietly from…wherever he’d decided to plant his ass because I wasn’t paying attention to himat allfor once. But he had my back like he always did, and the growl was useful to snap my mind out of the gutter. And thank God, too, because I was physically and mentally fighting the rush of blood from my brain to my dick.

I finished wrapping Ruth’s ankle and reluctantly set her foot back on the pillow, standing up just as Liza started to stand up, too.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to meet Emma,” Liza was saying. “Her story is unbelievable. Like, in a good way. Anamazingway.”

“Yeah,” Ruth echoed. “She’s a really special lady.”

“She sounds like it.” Liza smiled way up to her eyes. “Well, I’d love to stick around here with you but my…” She lifted her hands to grab her own breasts, and I immediately spun around to face a wall. “I’mslowlyweaning my toddler, so I need to go empty these things before I start looking like Dolly Parton.”

They chortled, one of them evensnorted, and I continued to patiently wait and pretend I hadn’t seen or heard anything related to Liza’s tits.

JesusChrist.

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