Page 24 of Just in Time
I shifted in Brody’s lap, reaching for the door handle. It wasn’t much cooler outside the truck cab, but inside it was stifling.
I waited for Indy to show me into the house again, following him back to the room with the tv and the hide-a-bed in it. I sat down on the sofa while he ran the groceries in to the kitchen. I heard him greet his mother this time.
Brody came in and sat down at my feet. Noticeably not boxing me in against the sofa arm. “Hey… you okay?”
“I’m fine… I just…” I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I didn’t know that’s why you stuck around… I thought it was me. Didn’t know it was my… pheromones or whatever.”
“It’s not just that, Lily…” Brody reached out and took my hand. “I mean, yeah, that made it easier to make the decision, but… I stayed because of you, honey. I was ready to leave the second I could walk again. But I kept staying… just one more day. One more day with you. And that was even before we was sleeping together. Before I loved you…”
His hand slid up over my bare knee, squeezing. “I might have been attracted to your scent, but I fell in love withyou… You’re an amazing person. A person I thought was worth all the problems we were likely to have. A person who I can’t believe I get to wake up next to every day.”
I smiled and covered his hand with mine.
“And what about Indy?” I asked.
“What about him?”
“You’re suddenly okay with him?”
“Now that I know he’s no murderer? Yeah. Yeah, I’m plenty okay with him.”
“Like… how okay?” I asked, tilting my head.
“I wanted you to save him, okay? How’s that for okay?”
I laughed. “Alright. So I saved him. Now you go keep him from getting killed again.”
“Yes ma’am. I’ll do my best.”
Grinning, I pulled him closer for a kiss.
“Oh, and huge question…” he said, pausing before he reached my lips. “It didn’t feel prudent to bring this up before now, but Indy’s momma is Jolene.”
I snickered softly, nodding my head. “Yeah. I know. His kid brother is Johnny the bartender.”
“Is he?” Brody shook his head in disbelief. “What the actual hell are they doing here? And how do they—”
“I have no idea, and I ain’t about to ask. And neither are you. We can’t fiddle with the decisions people make, Brody.”
He sighed heavily. “But I’m intrigued!”
“I know, but we have a reason to be here. And we need to do it and not worry about what else happens. That’s out of our hands. But we have to fix the rips.”
He closed the distance between us. “You’re the boss, Lil.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
