“She seemed fine with sleeping on the couch,” he reminded her.
“I know she did but at the time I don’t think she was thinking too much about it. After a week of having the place to herself and sleeping in a bed, I’m thinking it’s going to be awkward to ask her to sleep on the couch.”
“So you’re saying you want to share your bed with her? Maybe spoon with her?” he asked with a straight face, but she knew he was teasing.
“I think you know me better than that…”
He laughed softly, picked up her hand and kissed it. “I do know you better than that, but I get what you’re saying. If your place was bigger and you had more space or at least a guest room, this probably wouldn’t be an issue.”
“It still might be…it’s not like Nat and I are the best of friends or anything…”
“Maybe she can go stay with Julianne,” he suggested.
It was a possibility, she thought, but the image in her mind showed her asking Nat to do that and Natalie looking at her like some sort of stray dog who she kicked back out into the street. Ugh…she definitely couldn’t do that.
“No…I’ll just have to deal with it and figure something out. She’s already left her own home. I don’t think it’s fair to kick her out and keep bouncing her around from place to place. That would just be wrong.”
The plane came to a stop and all around them, people started to stand and gather their belongings. When Kayla went to stand, Adam stopped her.
“What if you didn’t go home?” he asked slowly.
She stared at him in confusion. “Um…a little too late for that. We’re already here. Well, back in North Carolina anyway. And besides, where would I go? Am I supposed to stay at a hotel so Natalie doesn’t have to sleep on a couch? That seems kind of counterproductive.”
His expression was of mild amusement as he studied her. “That wasn’t quite what I was thinking.”
“I guess I can call my mom and maybe crash there for a few days,” she commented. The thought held little to no appeal but at least she’d have a little more space and the possibility of some privacy. “But all of my computer stuff is at my place and I don’t want to unhook it all and lug it all over the place.”
“I have a good computer,” Adam said conversationally. “Top of the line. All the bells and whistles and whatnot. Newest edition of Photoshop too.”
“Hmm…I mean I guess I could do my work at the office and stay at my mom’s…” It would be like having to go to the office to work like a normal person – and put on pants every day…
“That’s not quite what I was getting at,” he said after a minute.
People were starting to move off the plane and Kayla looked at them and then at Adam. “Aren’t we getting up?”
“Eventually,” he said and then with one finger, he turned her head so she was looking right at him. “I wasn’t talking about you using the computer at the office, Kayla.”
So…he was going to lend her one to keep at her mom’s? Which is what she asked him and her eyes went wide when he growled with frustration. “What? I mean it would be the same as me moving my computer and that’s always tricky because you don’t know if anything will shift or get banged around in transit and…”
“And maybe you can just come and stay with me – live with me,” he corrected, “and understand the things I’m trying to tell you.”
“Um…say what now?”
His grip on her hand grew tighter. “Live. With. Me.”
“Adam…that’s…I mean…we never talked about that.”
“We’re talking about it right now,” he countered.
“This is the middle of a crowded airplane! It really isn’t the time or the place to talk about moving in together, even temporarily.”
He immediately released her hand and stood up, muttering an apology to the people he banged into. Kayla slowly came to her feet and took her carry-on bag from him when he handed it to her. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why he was so upset.
It wasn’t wrong not to make important life decisions while on a plane – that was not an unreasonable request. What was unreasonable was him getting in a snit every time she didn’t readily agree with him. Adam’s back was to her and she slipped her phone out of her bag and turned it on. While they were waiting to merge into the mass exodus, she tapped out a quick text to Natalie to let her know of the change of plans. No doubt she was already parked somewhere close to the airport and waiting for them, but she didn’t want to throw any surprises at her either once they got in the car.
When the line started to move with them in it, Adam turned and brusquely asked, “Did you let Natalie know we landed?”
“Yup. She’ll probably be outside of baggage claim waiting for us by the time we’re done.”
He nodded and they walked in silence to collect the rest of their bags. Kayla didn’t mind the silence; it gave her time to think – which is what she liked. Adam tended to think things out and then throw them at her and want her to immediately agree with him without thinking. Well…Kayla was going to deal with that.
They stepped outside and, as predicted, Natalie was waiting. She greeted them both with a huge smile and immediately began asking questions about their trip. It was a wonderful distraction and Kayla was more than happy to let Adam do most of the talking. His place wasn’t far from the airport and within fifteen minutes, they were pulling up in front of his house.
“Thanks for the lift, Natalie,” he said pleasantly as he climbed from the car. Kayla met him at the trunk and he seemed surprised when she pulled out her suitcase along with his. He placed his luggage down on the driveway and studied her. “What are you doing?”
She shrugged. “What does it look like?”
A small smile tugged at his lips. “It looks like you’re taking your stuff out of the trunk. Planning on moving it to the backseat of the car?”
“Nope.”
“I see.”
She nodded toward his house. “You have a laundry room, right?”
“I do.” His smile grew.
“And…you have food in the refrigerator, right?”
“Some, but I was planning on getting some takeout tonight.”
“Do you think you could plan on getting some takeout for two?”
“Ugh, you guys!” Natalie called as she stuck her head out the car window. “Can you do this whole playful Q&A away from the back of the car? Some of us need to go find out if someone’s going to love it or list it. And you know they only run five or six episodes in a row so…keep it moving!” She smiled brightly and then gave them a happy little wave when they picked up their luggage and began to walk toward the door.
“Does she realize what just happened here?” he asked as they walked into the house.
“When I texted her about our arrival, I told her what was going on.”
Adam put the luggage down and walked into the kitchen to grab them both something to drink. “And what is going on?”
Sitting down at the breakfast bar, she took a sip of her soda and began speaking with complete and total honesty. “What’s going on is that you need to stop making these decisions for us without talking to me first. And you need to stop getting pissy when I don’t agree with you on your decisions right away.”
The look he gave her clearly said he wasn’t expecting that from her.
“You weren’t asking me about something trivial, Adam; you were asking about a major life decision. I was going to need more than a minute to think about it and it wasn’t wrong to not want to talk about it on the plane.”
Rather than argue with her, he nodded in agreement. “You’re right. Go on.”
“For all I know, you did just come up with the idea of us moving in together,” she said, “and it didn’t even scare you to think about it. But Adam, you should know me well enough by now to know I don’t think like that. And asking for time to think about it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to say no.”
He nodd
ed again. “Again, you’re right.”
She sighed. “If this – what we have – is going to work, then we have to communicate better. I promise I’ll try to stop being so…me,” she said with a laugh, “but you have to promise you’re going to be better about how you approach things where our relationship is concerned.”
Then she waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Adam took a long sip of his soda and put the can down. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is us…communicating.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I think it is.”
“We never did this before.”
She shook her head. “No, we did not.”
“I think I kind of like it.” He walked over to her and stepped in close, then tugged her off the stool so he could wrap his arms around her. “And I’m glad you’re finally talking to me about…us.”
He kind of had a point there. In the past, she used to avoid any kind of personal conversation like the plague. It was easier to make jokes or talk about work. But now she realized that what they had deserved more than that. He deserved more than that.
Hell, she deserved more than that.
“I can’t promise you that I’m going to magically turn into the kind of woman who wants to talk about my feelings or that I want to start planning…” a wedding “…where we’re going to vacation next year. But I do promise to try to stop being so self-absorbed that I don’t take your feelings into consideration.”
And when he held her tightly and kissed the top of her head, Kayla silently prayed that he couldn’t feel her trembling or her heart racing.
A wedding? Had she almost just mentioned planning a wedding?
“I think we need to celebrate,” Adam said, his voice a little husky. And when he took her by the hand and led her to the bedroom…their bedroom…she forced herself to stop thinking and just enjoy the moment.
Eleven
For two weeks, everything seemed to be on even keel and as Julianne turned on the music for her class Saturday morning, all she could think was how she hoped it lasted for a while.
“Good morning, my lovelies! I’m Julianne and this is Zumba! Do we have any first-timers here today?” Julianne said as she began her spiel. Several people raised their hands. “Awesome! I am so glad you decided to join us today! This is a cardio dance class but don’t worry if you don’t have any dance experience – you don’t need any. And don’t worry if you don’t pick up the steps right away because we’ve all been there!”
There was a small round of cheers and she could feel the energy and excitement in the room. Looking out, she spotted where Kayla, Natalie and Harper were all marching in place together. She let out a happy sigh because things were finally getting better between the three of them and she knew that at the end of the class, they’d still be side by side – no more leaving Natalie on her own.
“Okay, let’s all let go of our stress and worries for the next hour and just dance and have fun!” Julianne called out and raised the volume on the music.
For an hour, this was her turf – her happy place, her sanctuary. It felt so damn good. This week she changed up the routine this week and had all new music in place along with new choreography. She ran the entire thing by Gavin last night and he did the whole routine with her in their basement.
This new routine still had her usual fifteen songs, but left out the country and belly dancing and put in some dance hall, jive and swing instead. Gavin had really enjoyed it and they even talked about choreographing a swing dance number for their wedding. It would definitely be fun, but the thought of doing that in her gown just sort of exhausted her. Maybe something a little less lively…
“Brace yourselves,” she called out as the music was getting ready to transition to the new stuff, “we’re going to try something new today – a little Jamaican dance hall! Just follow my lead and remember, you don’t have to be perfect at this! Just have fun!”
Words to live by, she chided herself. If only she could remember that for herself. Most of the time she tried so hard to be the perfect person that she forgot what it was like to have fun. She and Gavin had fun, but it was more of a quiet and reserved sort of thing. And the same thing with the girls. When was the last time they had just gone out and had a wild girls’ night out? When she couldn’t remember right away, she knew it was too long. Probably before Natalie got married.
That’s what she was going suggest to them after class – a girls’ night out! And not a lame dinner and a movie, but a real night out – dinner, drinking, dancing – all of it! True, the thought of more dancing might not be appealing to everyone, but this was choreographed music for fitness; Julianne wanted to go out and listen to something loud in a club where they could just dance for the fun of it!
Now she was excited and couldn’t wait to present the idea to them! They didn’t have anything wedding-related to do today and she only had one class after lunch so…they could go grab breakfast and pedicures if they planned it right.
“You’re all doing great! Isn’t this music fun?” she said as she spun around. “Another new selection coming up for you to try! Now don’t be scared! We’re going to do a little reggaeton and then move into some dances that you’re a little more familiar with! Just keep going!”
Yeah, she loved the mid-music pep talks and knew that sometimes they were what made the difference between people giving up or sticking it out. Choreography was a funny thing and although this was still considered a beginners’ class; not everyone was coordinated or had the rhythm to keep up. It was important to be encouraging and to remind them how it wasn’t a competition and to just have fun with it.
Fun…she couldn’t wait to have some of that for herself tonight. Her mind raced with places they could go to eat and then dance and who was going to drive…maybe they’d all crash at Harper’s. While Julianne knew she had room for everyone at her house, it might be a little awkward for Gavin to wake up to a houseful of women.
Who were hopefully a little hungover.
Never let it be said that she wasn’t considerate of the man she loved. He knew the girls and they knew him and they all went way back, but some things he did not need to be privy to – and that included the after-effects of a girls’ night.
Yes! With any luck, it would be a great night for all of them – something she knew most of them were in desperate need of.
Natalie was still staying at Kayla’s place. There had been some minimal communication between her and Jayce, but Julianne feared this estrangement wasn’t going to end any time soon. She seemed to be handling it well – adjusting to living alone – but there was a sadness to her that Julianne had never seen before.
And Kayla…well…apparently she was trying very hard to adjust to living with Adam. It wasn’t quite the honeymoon either of them thought it was going to be. Although, to be honest, Julianne greatly doubted Kayla had ever considered it to be a honeymoon phase. She moved in with him slightly out of necessity and without taking her usual sweet time to think about it.
Looking out, she caught a glimpse of her sister and smiled. Right now, Harper was probably the only one of them who was looking truly blissful. Things were progressing nicely for her and Brady and he was the perfect distraction for all of the tensions she’d been experiencing with their mother.
And on that note, her parents had turned down three dinner invitations from her and Gavin. Three! Maybe some of the things that were said that night hadn’t quite been forgiven. According to Harper, she had limited her interaction with their mother to texting. She said the only way for her to make sure she didn’t get her feelings hurt were to cut back on how they communicated for now.
Julianne wished she could do the same. Eventually they were all going to have to sit down and deal with this – there was no way she could get married with this much tension and animosity between them.
Glancing at the clock she cursed that time wasn’t moving faster. They could go to the ca
fe and grab breakfast or they could do the one thing she would normally look down on – they could go to the bakery and grab some muffins and some coffee and enjoy them while getting pedicures.
It sounded damn near like nirvana.
And she was sure no one was going to say no to it.
The music changed again and she smiled brightly. “And everybody mambo!”
****
She was hot, sweaty and exhausted and yet she felt so damn good! Harper waved to her sister and told the girls she’d meet them in the locker room but she was going to see Brady first. She went out to the lobby then up the stairs, and when she saw him sparring in the boxing ring, she was completely mesmerized.
He was literally beating the crap out of his opponent and normally violence of any kind wasn’t her thing, but there was definitely something inherently sexy about the way he looked and moved and sounded.
She almost had to lock her legs to keep from falling to the floor in a near-orgasmic flutter.
With her towel, she wiped away some of her own sweat before resting it over her shoulder. Moving closer to the ring, she thought she could stand here and watch him all day and enjoy every damn second of it. Her mouth went dry as he moved around the space and she had to take a drink from her water bottle to keep herself going.
The bell rang and Harper nearly jumped out of her skin. Brady turned and spotted her. Taking his mouth guard out, he walked toward her and leaned over the ropes to smile down at her.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey,” she said and let out a very un-Harper-like giggle. Brady noticed it too because his brow arched in amusement. She cleared her throat and tried to speak. “I mean…hey. How’s it going?”
And now she sounded like a dude. Awesome.
He smiled, climbed through the ropes and hopped down. With a quick kiss, he walked over and grabbed his own water bottle. “How was class?”
“Good. Really good. Jules threw some new moves at us today so it was challenging. The good news is that I didn’t step on anyone’s feet and I didn’t hurt myself so really, it’s a good day.”
The Bridal Squad Page 21