“Hey there, yourself. Did you sleep well?”
Her smile went from imp to Cheshire cat. “Incredibly well.” She inched up and placed a tender kiss on his lips before snuggling back into his side and groaning. “Can we take the day off and stay in bed?”
She couldn’t have had a better request to drive home the fact that he didn’t live by normal standards where the occasional day playing hooky was okay. He shut his eyes and placed a kiss on the top of her head, giving her one last squeeze before letting her go and getting out of bed.
Retrieving his jeans and yanking them on, he said, “Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t get days off, and we slept in pretty late already.”
“Ugh, I suppose you’re right. Okay, here’s the plan,” she said, crossing to the bathroom. You go for your run and by the time you get back I’ll have already done my yoga, downed the necessary amounts of caffeine to make it through the day, and made my phone call.”
Reid picked up his shirt and looked over to the open bathroom door, where he heard the water running in the sink. “What phone call?”
She emerged from the bathroom in a short robe, brushing her teeth and smiling. Pausing long enough to speak with a mouthful of toothpaste she said, “I have to cancel my date tonight with Stephen before I forget. Can you imagine if he showed up and then I canceled?” Then she added in a fun singsongy voice, “Awk-warrrrd,” as she returned to the bathroom.
He indulged in the idea of her calling off her date with Mann…But only a selfish asshole wouldn’t want the woman he loves to be happy, even if it couldn’t be with him. Shit. Clearing his throat he prepared to say the hardest three words he’d ever spoken.
“You shouldn’t cancel.”
She poked her head around the half-open door, her brows creased in a frown. She pulled the toothbrush from her mouth again. “What do you mean I—” Light blue foam dripped down her chin. “—ick. Hold on.”
When she ducked back in to spit and rinse he caught a glimpse of himself in the dresser mirror and almost threw a punch to shatter his reflection.
“What do you mean I shouldn’t cancel?”
He turned to see her standing several feet away, holding her arms across her chest as though trying to give herself a supportive hug. She was preparing to hear what he suspected that loser ex of hers had said to her. Preparing to get hurt all over again.
Reid swore a hot knife plunged deep into his gut when he looked into those big, dove gray eyes of hers. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t have this discussion yet. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what kind of discussion it needed to be. He had to get out and clear his head, a.s.a.p.
Crossing to her in just a couple of strides he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and did his best to sound upbeat. “I just feel bad for the guy is all. I mean, only one date and then dumped on the day of the second?” Reid put his hand over his heart. “As a fellow dude, let me just say, ‘Ouch.’ Eating dinner with the man a second time just seems like a small price to pay to prevent an ugly suicide.”
She did a combo chuckle-snort that made his heart ache, and then pushed at his chest playfully. “You’re too much. Go for your run and we’ll talk when you get back,” she said before heading for the kitchen.
Reid blew out a big breath. Disaster averted…for now.
He changed into his running gear and was pounding the pavement in record time. The heat of the midmorning scorched his body as he pushed it harder than usual. The rhythm of his shoes striking the ground wasn’t meditative for him today, but instead felt like a countdown on a ticking time bomb. Counting down the seconds until he had to present Lucie with his decision.
The idea of leaving her made his stomach turn and his muscles knot up.
Before he’d gone to see his dad he’d been toying with the idea of asking her to come back to Vegas with him. And although he knew his dad was just a bitter old man with a narrow point of view, Reid couldn’t discredit everything he’d said.