“Oh,” Mandy sighed. “Oh.”
“Oh,” James agreed, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth. “Oh, my baby.”
AFTER they were finished, they showered together quickly. James removed the bandage on Mandy’s back so the warm water could cleanse the area. He helped her into a pair of yoga pants, a fresh bra, and a new tank top – and then he had her sit down so he could tackle her hair.
“Just braid it,” Mandy said.
“I don’t know how to braid,” James said.
“Then just put it in a ponytail.”
The sound of knocking on the front door of the apartment grabbed James’ attention. “Do not move. I’ll be right back.”
True to his word, he walked back into the dining room a few moments later with four curious – and relieved – faces behind him. He had the hairbrush in his hand, and a determined look on his face. “How hard can a braid be?”
Grady dropped the McDonald’s bag he was carrying on the table and grabbed the brush from James’ hand. “Let me handle the hair issues, shall we?”
James sighed, but he relinquished the hairbrush. Grady used his hip to clear him out of the way, focusing on Mandy. “You look better than yesterday.”
“Thanks.”
“You don’t say that to a woman,” Sophie said, smacking Grady on the arm lightly. “She always looks good.”
“She looked crazy yesterday,” Grady said, brushing through her hair and then dividing it into sections. “She was raving like a mad woman, and she looked like a reject from a 1950s asylum.”
“She was tired and upset,” James said, grabbing a new bandage and medicinal tape so he could cover the wound on her back. “Leave her alone.”
Grady smirked as he finished his braid, tying the end with a simple rubber band. “Voila!”
Sophie glanced down at his handiwork, impressed. “Where did you learn that?”
“I’m a man of many talents, my dear,” he replied.
“Ally and Mandy used to make him do French braids when they were teenagers,” Finn replied. “He got good at them. He’d even add ribbons in to match their cheerleading uniforms. He was like another sister for a time.”
Emma fought the urge to laugh as Grady shot his younger brother the finger. “So, you guys are finally moving in together?”
“I was under the impression we were already living together,” James said. “Ally set me straight on a few things.”
“She’s good like that,” Finn agreed. “She’s the one who had to explain to me that when Emma said she wanted to take a bath alone that wasn’t code for interrupting her for sex.”
Grady barked out a laugh. “When they take a bath alone it’s so they can shave their legs, you idiot.”
“I know that now,” Finn said, his face rueful. “I might have screwed it up a time or two … or five … before Ally explained it to me.”
Mandy laughed, leaning forward so James could finish taping up her back. He pulled her tank top back down and dropped a quick kiss on the back of her neck. “Maybe we should have Ally put a manual together.”
“That could only help,” Grady agreed. “So, where do we start?”
“We start with a quick breakfast,” James said, glancing around the apartment as he pulled breakfast sandwiches and hash browns out of the bag. “Do you want all this furniture?”
“What do you mean?” Mandy asked.
“Well, no offense, baby, but I’m thinking we should just dump most of this stuff and buy new for the house when we find one,” James replied.
“House?” Grady raised an eyebrow. “You guys are buying a house together?”
“We are,” James said, no trace of guile or embarrassment on his features. “When all of this is settled, we’re going to buy a house.”
“Doesn’t that freak you out?”
James glanced down at Mandy’s curious face, rubbing his thumb across her cheek briefly. “After this past week, nothing freaks me out. Nothing.”
Fourteen
A week later, things were back to normal. Mostly.
Mandy’s cast was off, her stitches were out, and the only remnants of the explosion were James’ memories and her quickly healing back wound.
In addition to Mandy’s sassy mouth and flirty attitude returning, so had James’ bossy nature.
“I don’t want you to go back to work,” James said. He was sitting on the edge of the bed watching her get dressed. “We haven’t figured out anything yet.”
“Well, that’s not going to change whether I go back to work or not,” Mandy said, straightening her black pencil skirt and glancing at herself in the mirror. “How do I look?”