Page 57 of Top Shelf
She’s right. This is only temporary. Why does Hutch need to know about it? In a few months, it’ll be like this never happened.
Lies, lies, lies.
I push away the voice chanting in my head, not just because I know it’s right, and nod.
“Fine. Then we don’t say anything.”
“Good. Now, can I see the other bedroom?”
I lead her out of the room and into the next. There’s nothing in there except a few boxes left over from when I moved in.
“When you said one room was practically empty, you truly meant that.”
“Yeah, what did you think I meant?”
“I don’t know! That you had an air mattress or something in here and you were just trying to be nice the other night.”
“Uh, no. I am far too old to sleep on an air mattress.”
“I’m not. So, where am I going to sleep?”
“My bed.”
Her eyes widen. “What?”
I chuckle. “We’ve been over this, love. You can have my bed while I take the couch. It’s just for a couple of days until the one I ordered gets here.”
Her gaze softens, her plump lips parting just a fraction. She’s staring up at me like I just told her I rescued a kitten from a burning building, and I both love and hate it.
“You bought me a bed?”
I nod with a shrug. “It’s no big deal. You loved mine so much, so I figured why not? It should come while I’m on the road.”
I can tell she wants to say something else, maybe even argue with me, and I think a part of me wants that, mostly because I love the fire that ignites in her eyes when she does. But to my surprise, she doesn’t.
She just nods and mutters a quiet, “Thank you.”
It does something to me, and it has me wanting to kiss her again—but Ican’tkiss her again. Instead, I mumble something about needing a shower and hightail it out of the room before I do something really, really stupid like forget we’re supposed to be just friends.
CHAPTER 13
VANESSA
We’re surrounded by boxes of delicious takeout, from potstickers to fried rice to three different kinds of chicken and even a few dessert rolls. It’s incredible food, and I can’t remember the last time I was so full, but all I can think is,He bought me a bed.
I never once expected Gavin to go out and get me a bed. That was something I was going to do on one of my off days. In the meantime, I planned on sleeping on the couch, but of course, he wouldn’t let that slide. No, he had to go and prove just how perfect he is, reminding me once again that this is a bad idea.
It took everything I had not to launch myself at him when he said he bought me the exact bed he sleeps in. Not just to thank him for the inevitably amazing nights of sleep I’m going to get, but because he took the time to remember something I liked, to do something kind for me when I didn’t ask him to. I don’t think Neal would’ve ever taken that initiative. If I were in this situation with him, he would be snuggly in his own bed while I had a fitful night of sleep on the couch. Or even the floor. He wouldn’t have cared. Not like Gavin does.
I need to stop comparing the two. I know that, but the divorce is still fresh on my mind, especially with my so-called “friends” back in New York texting me about the news that’s spreading like wildfire. Apparently, Neal and his secretary aren’t just pregnant. They’re pregnant with twins…and engaged.
Surprisingly, this new information didn’t send me into a spiral when I heard it this morning. I was mad, yes, but it didn’t break me like I thought it might. Actually, it made me want to draw. I don’t know why, but for the first time in a really long while, I wanted to pull out my sketchbook and create something pretty and hopeful. Maybe that means I’m finally moving forward and this starting-over thing really was exactly what I needed.
“Okay, that was a hell of a feast. Remind me to let you do all the ordering from now on.”
Gavin pats his stomach as he rests against the back of the couch, and I try not to think about the abs I know are hiding under his hoodie.
I chuckle, then set my half-eaten carton of chicken chow mein on the coffee table with the rest of the food. “I just pressed a few buttons.”
