The thought of Madison’s sweet ass climbing the ladder to the loft, AND falling onto a bed, screamed,hell yeah, to me.
“Grant, I don’t know if she would sleep out there very often.”
He shook his head in disagreement. “I’m sure you’ll get her mad someday, and she’ll decide to sleep a night in her she-shed.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t be a jerk very much, okay?”
“You got it. I’ll try not to be a jerk.”
I backed up as he grinned. “Always be nice to her. Every time. Like when you kissed her today.”
Oh, shit. “Buddy, why don’t we keep that between us, okay?”
“I promise not to tell a single person in the world. Cross my heart.”
“Cool. Because friends kiss all the time, and she’s my friend. It’s nothing.”
He huffed incredulously. “I’m seven, not stupid.”
A full-size mattress, gray sheets, twinkly lights, and some flowers later, we were heading home. We came, we saw, and we kicked shopping’s ass.
I drove through the back pasture to avoid being spotted with a truckload of shit, raising all sorts of questions I had no fucking answers for.
Why were we building a she-shed for a woman who had a life and career across the country? It wasn’t just a job. It was her family’s hotels, something she couldn’t just get out of, even if she wanted to. And she didn’t want to.
I just couldn’t wrap my head around this thing we had, where she could literally stop my heart with a glance. How there’s a tsunami the second we’re alone together. This SpaghettiOs loving, duck-chasing, sexy blue-panty-wearing fireball had me spinning in circles with no idea how I would deal with her leaving Montana. Leaving me. The thought stung. How Grant and I would feel when she chose New York, which she would. Right?
We rolled out the power blue and cream rug, which Grant immediately dropped to the ground and rolled all over.
“It’s the softest rug ever! I think Madison will love to roll on this with me.”
“She’s a grown-up, likely not.”
Coming to his feet, he laughed. “She’s notallthe way grown up. Do you remember her at the animal scramble? She was the only big person not afraid to run and get dirty.” He looked down at the rug and sighed. “I know she’ll roll on the rug. Maybe even do a somersault.”
He had some good points, and I know I’d love nothing more than to roll around on the damn floor with her, so I was embracing his optimism.
We pushed in the loveseat and scooted the chair to the corner before bringing in the two little white pots, with pink and purple flowers popping out the top and setting them on the coffee table.
Everything was easy compared to hauling that mattress to the loft while climbing the ladder. A big old pain in the ass. As I pulled, Grant pushed, and somehow, we got it up there.
“I’ll put the sheets on, and then we just have to hang the lights.” I had a good view of the she-shed from the loft, and it looked pretty damn amazing.
How would her face look when she saw this? I was sure the cute wrinkle between her eyebrows would make an appearance while her emerald eyes would be clocking one hundred blinks an hour.
Two ways this thing could go down. She either hugs Grant, hops in my arms, and we ride off into the sunset, or this gesture makes her slip back into her tap shoes and clicky-clack right out of Montana. If it’s option two, I’d have to catch her and keep her in the she-shed forever. And as I’ve already explained to Grant, Johnny Law might have a little something to say about that.
“How do we put the lights up?” Grant pulled them from the box.
I grabbed a box of clear thumbtacks from my pocket. “Well, I got these at the hardware store. We just put the tacks in the ceiling and wind the wire around it.”
Yeah, we were a good team, and he dropped on the mattress when we were done. “This is comfy up here.”
I lay down next to him and decided it was time to have the talk. Notthetalk, but the one about the risky situation we were putting ourselves in.
“Grant, I need to talk to you, buddy.”
“What?”
“I think we’ve done a real good job here today. This place looks great.”
