Cut Too Deep(39)
“I’ll do them. You’re a guest here.”
“Don’t be silly. I want to pull my own weight.”
She thought she heard a snort from Mikey, but ignored it.
He quickly shoved all the dishes in the sink and turned on the faucet, adding a squeeze of detergent. “Nope, too late. I’m already doing them.”
She didn’t like sitting around feeling useless, and she suddenly remembered she’d left her sheets in the washer. “Damn it.” That wasn’t like her at all. She hoped they didn’t smell damp, or she’d have to put them through the machine again. She couldn’t stand the smell of damp sheets.
“What’s up?”
“I forgot to hang my sheets to dry yesterday. Do you mind if I do it now?”
“Of course not. Mi casa es tu casa.”
She headed out back to the laundry room and bent to pull her sheets from the washing machine and into a basket. Luckily, she caught no hint of mold, so she carried them out to the back yard and pegged them to the line. The sun had already gathered strength, and the sheets would be dry in no time.
How strange to think she’d slept in Ryker’s bed last night and hadn’t insisted on clean sheets, and she’d slept great. Only a few days ago, the idea of sleeping on someone else’s sheets would have sent her into a panic attack, but for some reason her OCD tendencies seemed to fade away when Ryker was around.
As she completed the mundane, domestic task of hanging laundry out to dry, the sun warming the top of her head and shoulders, a strange nugget swelled inside her chest. She didn’t recognize the sensation at first, but then she realized it was happiness. For the first time in as long as she could remember, despite everything else that was going on, she was actually happy.
Arms wrapped around her waist, making her jump. But Ryker nuzzled her neck and she covered his hand with one of hers, while reaching back with the other to lace her fingers in the back of his hair and press his face even closer. She closed her eyes briefly, relishing the sensation of being held by someone she loved.
Her eyes pinged open.
No, not love. She couldn’t love him. She’d only known him a few days. And if she admitted to herself that she had genuine feelings for him, then she’d never be able to bring herself to leave.
She made herself pull out of his embrace. “So what’s the plan for today?” she asked.
He pulled her back. “I was hoping we could just go back to bed.”
“Careful, Mr. Russo, or I’m going to start thinking that’s all you want me for.”
He nodded. “It’s a definite fringe benefit.”
“But seriously, we can’t just go back to bed, especially with Mikey in the house. It would be kind of weird.”
“What do you think about a walk around the lake?” he suggested.
“Does it include ice cream?”
“I think ice cream can be included.”
She grinned. “Then I’m in.”
Together they went back into the kitchen to where Ryker’s brother sat in the exact same position with his phone. The kid moved so little, Jenna wondered that he didn’t get bedsores.
Ryker must have had a similar thought. “Mikey, we’re going for a walk by the lake if you want to come?”
The boy lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, right. Can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
“Mikey …” Ryker said, warning in his tone.
“I’m going to Conner’s to play Call of Duty. Seriously, you guys enjoy your walk.”
Ryker glanced to Jenna and gave a shrug. ‘What can you do?’ the motion said.
She gave him a smile of sympathy. “Just let me go grab my purse.”
Within a few minutes, they were both settled in Ryker’s truck, heading toward the lake which appeared to be on the other side of town.
“So, does Mikey answer every question with a form of sarcasm or disdain?” Jenna asked as they drove.
Ryker laughed. “Yeah, I’m afraid so. It’s the hormones. I think even if a sentence sounded normal in his head, it would come out sounding as if we’d just asked him to roll in crap and run around the neighborhood naked.”
“Were you like him as a teenager?” She wanted to know all about Ryker, from what he was like as a child through to who he thought he’d be in the future.
“Yeah, except we had our dad around then, and he quickly put me into check. It’s different with me and Mikey, ’cause as much as I try, I’ll never be our dad.”
She gave a sad smile and reached out to cover his hand with her own. “You’re good with him. All teenagers are hard work.”
He glanced over to her. “What about you? Were you a difficult teen?”