Page 58 of Always Be Mine
When he was done tucking Meri in, Craig returned to the kitchen to grab a beer out of the fridge. Lucy’s bedroom door was still closed. She’d excused herself from the big house hours earlier.
He was tempted to knock on her door to see whether she was still awake. Maybe it would be best to have the conversation right away. That way, she could just get on with being upset with him.
The idea of upsetting Lucy in any way didn’t sit right with him. Maybe he was a chicken shit. No, he definitely was. Wasn’t that the entire reason they were in this situation in the first place? Because he hadn’t faced things head-on?
Craig cracked the can of beer and took a long sip. The clock on the microwave said it was already after nine. He didn’t know anything about Lucy’s habits. It was likely that she was already asleep. Waking her up would just make things worse.
Or was he being a chicken shit again?
A loud mewl at his feet, followed by a head butt against his leg, startled him. “Holy shit.” The curse word slipped out. Fortunately, Meri was fast asleep and couldn’t hit him up for the swear jar. Craig looked down to see Lucy’s giant tabby cat threading his fluffy body through his legs. “You scared me,” he said to the cat.
Craig had never been a cat guy. He’d had a friend in grade school with a crazy Siamese cat who used to lunge out at their ankles every time they’d walked past. It hadn’t left him with a good impression of felines in general, but…
“You’re not so bad, are you?” He bent and scratched the cat’s head. He meowed in response. “Nah. You’re pretty cute.”
Craig took his beer and pulled out a chair at the table. Immediately, Garfield jumped up onto his lap. “Oh. I don’t know about this.” He tensed, but the cat was not to be deterred. Garfield nudged his head against Craig’s chest and nuzzled into him. He circled a few times until finally settling with a heavy thud onto his lap. “Okay, I give in.”
He had to admit, his fur was soft and as far as cats went, Garfield wasn’t too bad. The more he patted him, the louder the purring got, until finally, Craig chuckled at the small engine vibrating in his lap. “You’re not afraid of getting comfortable here, are you?”
“He sure isn’t.”
Craig’s head shot up to see Lucy leaning against the wall. “Hi. I thought maybe you were asleep.”
“I heard you come in.”
“Sorry.”
She moved past him to get a glass from the cabinet. “Don’t be. It’s your house.”
Unsure of what to say, Craig continued petting the cat and took another sip of his beer while Lucy filled the glass at the sink. It wasn’t until she’d hopped up onto the counter across from him that he spoke again. “I’m sorry.”
“I told you, it’s not a big deal. It’s your house and?—”
“No.” He stopped her. “I’m sorry about not telling you sooner about the apartment and having to move. Chase was right. He talked to me about it ages ago, and I should have said something sooner. I was just…”
“You were just what?”
“Afraid.” It was an honest answer, in more ways than one.
“That I would say no?”
He nodded and took a breath, looking down at the cat in his lap for courage. “And also…that you’d say yes.”
The silence in the kitchen was broken only by Garfield’s loud purring.
“I don’t understand,” she said after a moment. “You were afraid I’d say yes?”
No doubt he’d already said too much. He inhaled through his nose and looked up. “It’s just been Meri and me for…well, forever.” He shrugged. “I’ve never lived with a woman before. I wasn’t sure, well…” There was so much more he wanted to say to her, but he had no idea how to even begin.
It wasn’t like he could tell his daughter’s nanny that he was starting to develop feelings for her, or that the idea of her sleeping just down the hall from him made him feel a whole lot of things he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
No. There was no way he could say that. She’d turn and run out of there so fast that he wouldn’t be able to stop her. And he wouldn’t blame her, either.
And regardless of how he felt about Lucy, he couldn’t have her leaving. Everything depended on her staying. It was crucial she felt comfortable there.
Chase’s voice was in the back of his head:keep it that way.He hated that Chase was right, but at the same time, it had been years since he’d had feelings like this for a woman and it was getting harder and harder to hold them back.
“I don’t think any of this is coming out right.” He shook his head. Garfield let out a loud mewl and jumped from his lap. “I guess I said something to offend him.” Craig chuckled and watched the cat run from the room before looking back at Lucy, who still sat on the counter. Only she was no longer grinning and swinging her legs.
