Page 30 of Dr. Do-Right
“I told you I’d give you a dresser.”
I blinked at him, then back down at the phone. “You…I…you can’t buy me a dresser for my vibrators.”
He looked at me like I was insane. “I can buy you vibrators, but you draw the line at storage?”
“It’s…” I floundered, not sure why I felt so taken aback by his suggestion. Maybe because himliterallybuying me a dresser for his place seemed like a big step for us to be taking so casually. Even though we’d moved three boxes of clothes and stuff from my apartment up here, I still technically lived downstairs, with Sonia, who we still hadn’t told about our new situation. She was too busy living it up in New York, and we were too busy in heaven.
Or maybe I balked because the toys had been our dirty little secret for so long. It boggled my mind that he wanted to make a place especially for them, not shove them in the back of the closet or an empty drawer. He wasn’t just making room for them; he was creating a whole space for them.
“Talk to me, Sanchez. You don’t like it?” He cocked his head, patient. Curious.
“No, I do…It’s pretty much perfect, actually…” It was. I could already envision it in the room, right there by the closet. It was gorgeous and had a price tag that spoke to its craftsmanship.
“Pretty much?”
“Well…” I blinked back down at the picture. “Is it too big? I don’t think I have that many.”
He scoffed. “Kitten, just because I’m sleeping with you doesn’t mean you stop getting presents.” He navigated to the checkout page. “We’ll fill this up. Maybe we should get two.”
Laughter sputtered out of me because it was the only defense I had for the surge of feelings breaking through the surface of my chest and blocking out rational thought. “Oh, really?”
“It’s called having your cake and eating it, too.”
I called it being in love with an amazing man who somehow knew what I wanted before I did and made me feel more cherished and important than anyone in the world ever had.
But we’d only just started touching last week. Regardless of our history together, it felt too soon to rocket to the next step like that. I’d been waitingmonthsfor this. To just lay in bed, wrapped up in his arms, doing nothing.
So, I had no words for him. Certainly not the ones I wanted to say. I ended up tackling him, instead, and riding him until the only words he had were my name.
Thursday
“What’s the point of having your own business if you can’t play hooky?”
Mal looked up from a dusty desk, grinning. “What are you doing here?”
He’d tried to stay home since I had the day off, but more emergencies kept popping up, and he hadn’t been able to swing it.
I dangled a takeout bag in his direction. “Hungry?”
He rounded the desk, pulling me into his arms for a kiss. “You brought me lunch?”
“Well, everyone’s…gotta eat, right?” I managed to get out around his seeking lips.
He pulled back, eyes darting back and forth between mine. Something in his expression made me pause. He was tense. Nervous? That tightness clamped around my stomach, accompanied by a voice in my head telling me I had overstepped. Done too much.Beentoo much. Again.
“Is that okay? I can just drop it and run if yo—”
I didn’t get a chance to finish before his mouth was on mine again. He kissed me urgently, like one of us was about to board a plane. It felt desperate, and not in a good way. I pulled back, stroking the line between his brows. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He nuzzled his nose into my neck. “Nothing, just… work stuff.”
“More moving crises?”
“Mmm,” he nodded, hands circling around to the small of my back. I spread my fingers through his hair, guilt pricking at me.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help feel a little responsible. I mean, you’re kind of moving here for me, and it’s been nothing but drama.”
He pulled out of my grasp, hands on my shoulders, eyes more serious than I’d ever seen them. “This is not your fault. Never think that. Ever, alright? I made this choice for me. For us. You are not causing these…issues.”
