“Yes. But the only thing that’s going to convince you is time passing, and me being a steady presence in your life. My words aren’t going to cut it.”
“I do believe you,” she said. “I believe that something shifted for you.”
“We’re a family now,” he said, touching her stomach and smiling.
***
Not long after, both of them agreed it was time to go to sleep for the night.
“I’m worried about hurting your ankle if we try and sleep together in this tiny bed,” he told her.
“I need to be close to you tonight.” She sat up on the couch and swung her leg to the floor. The ankle didn’t even hurt that much anymore, although it was incredibly stiff and awkward to move on. “I’m going to run to the bathroom—or hobble, I guess—and get changed.”
“Let me help you,” he said, coming to her side and supporting her as she stood up. “How does it feel? Can you put your weight on it?”
She tried. It hurt. But it didn’t hurt badly enough to make her want to stop walking—she just needed to be careful. “I’m okay. I’m just going to lean on you.”
“I love it when you lean on me, baby.” Red’s arm was slung around her waist, her arm over his shoulder, but he had to stoop down because he was taller.
Finally they made it across the cabin to the door to the bathroom.
“Grab my bag for me?” she said.
Red had brought it in from the car earlier, and now he grabbed it and carried it to where she stood. “You came prepared.”
“I wasn’t going home without seeing you.”
“How did you find me here, anyway? Almost nobody knows this place exists.”
She leaned on the wall. “Well I tried the house, but the security guard wouldn’t tell me a damn thing.”
“Good,” he said.
She gave him a look.
“It means they’re doing their job,” he explained.
“Yeah, if that job is to keep you apart from your fiancé.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I was at my wits end. So finally I called your brother at his practice.”
“Jeb?” he said, his eyebrows rising in surprise.
“How else do you think I would have figured this out?”
“I don’t know,” he said, contemplating it. “I was so happy to see you and overwhelmed with the whole thing—I didn’t really care how you figured out where I was.”
“Do you care now? Are you upset with me for calling him?” Nicole watched him closely.
She could tell that there was a kind of battle going on inside of him. The old Red would have been annoyed—frustrated at least—that she’d gotten in touch with Jeb after the falling out the two brothers had had. Nicole hoped he wouldn’t let his temper ruin what had been a nearly perfect day until this point.
“I totally get why you called him,” he said, after a long moment. “You needed to try every avenue to find me and I’d made myself completely unavailable to you. I’m ashamed that I did that to you, Nicole. Forgive me?”
“Of course I forgive you.” She kissed him. “Now I need to change.”
He smiled. “I’d rather you came back out with nothing on.”
“That can be arranged.”
“Oh?”
“We’ll see.” She gave him a wicked grin and then hobbled into the bathroom. The ankle was ruining any chance she had at a sexy exit, but oh well. She did the best she could.
Nicole decided to meet Red halfway. After a few minutes of primping and readying herself, she appeared again wearing nothing but a t-shirt that came to her upper thighs.
“Oh boy,” he muttered, when she opened the door and he got a look at her.
She batted her eyelashes at him. “Can a girl get a helping hand around here?”
“Anytime,” he said. And then he picked her up in his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather. Red carried her to the little twin bed against the wall and laid her down on it.
“Cozy,” she said, even though it was anything but.
“That thing?” he said. “It’s about as cozy as sleeping on a pile of rocks.”
“It’s more like sleeping on a thin mattress on a pile of rocks,” Nicole corrected him. “And I don’t care, as long as you’re in here with me.” She patted the bed next to her.
“There’s hardly any room.”
“You’re used to sleeping in gigantic beds. This is better. I want to change our bed in the master bedroom to one that’s this size. Maybe we can swap them for one another.”
Red laughed at that. “You’re nuts,” he said, climbing into bed with her. “Your ankle?”
“I’m fine. Just don’t sit on it and we’re good.”
“I’ll do my best not to sit on it.”
“Good.” She spun so that her back was to him and he wrapped his strong arms around her, pressing his entire body close to hers.
Instantly, Nicole was warm and happy, as content as she’d ever been. “This is nice,” she purred.