Giving the word document that held her article one more critical stare, Emma began to re-read it once more, making sure that it properly conveyed the seriousness of the injury, how this would be an adversity that the Blizzard would need to overcome. So deep was she into her thoughts that she almost didn’t hear the knocking on her door jamb from the delivery men, indicating they had already finished their work.
“We’re all done ma’am.”
Emma stood to follow them back into the other room and found that not only had Ryan ordered a bed, but also a night stand and small desk. Putting her hand appraisingly on the mattress, she found it to be softer than she was expecting – but not so soft as to be squishy. Turning around to face the men, she told them, “Everything looks to be in order here.” When they handed over the paperwork, she signed it, and then walked them back to her outside door.
No sooner had Emma gotten lost in her article once more, she heard a familiar tromping of footsteps thundering down the staircase – Luke was on the move. What surprised her though was when her own doorbell rang a few moments later. Heading to the outside door once again, she found both Perrault cousins waiting for her, Luke’s arms holding a large box and Ryan giving her a cheerful smile.
Holding the door open for them both, she questioned, “Dare I ask?”
“Microwave.” Ryan replied. “You’ve seen who the cook is in my family so.”
Luke rolled his eyes as he sat about unboxing the microwave and getting ready to place it on the rolling cart Emma had in the corner of her kitchen. “Remember, no metal, Tortue.”
Emma looked on bemused as Ryan gave his cousin an exasperated look and muttered at him, “Mange de la marde.”
“I’d rather not.” Luke retorted coolly, plugging the microwave in and then admiring his handiwork. Turning back towards Emma, he asked, “Does he have a key to this place yet? If not, I need to take my afternoon run anyways; I can head over to the home improvement store, get a copy made for him.”
Emma blinked, since Ryan needing a key hadn’t even occurred to her, but obviously, that was the case if he had to ring the bell to get in. They had much to discuss about these arrangements still. “Not yet. Here.” Reaching around Luke to grab her own key off the hanging rack, she offered it to him and he saluted them both before he turned and headed out again.
Left alone with Ryan once again, he maneuvered himself further into the room and asked, “Furniture delivery come?”
Replying as she started to walk back towards what would now be Ryan’s room, Emma answered, “Yeah, it did. I had to text your sister to see how you’d want it set up. I think it’s about time we exchanged telephone numbers, roomie.”
Following behind her, but at his own pace, Ryan quipped, “Does that mean I can expect naughty texts from you when I’m at prehab?”
Emma stopped short and Ryan almost couldn’t stop himself in time so not to run into her. “Naughty texts?” She turned around and stared at him, finding that he was trying hard to keep a smile off his face, but the corners of his lips were betraying him and quirking up. “Only in your dreams, hotshot.”
Finally letting the grin fill his face, Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t blame a boy for trying, can ya?”
Wondering once again exactly what she had gotten herself into, Emma could only shake her head once more, and mumble at him, “You are a piece of work.”
Chapter 14 - Sweet Talkin' Sleep Talker
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Emma woke with a start at the noises coming from the room directly above hers. It sounded like the furniture was being rearranged and, was that someone crying out? Pulling herself out of her bed and reaching for her glasses, Emma headed across the short hallway to Ryan’s room, finding him splayed across his bed with one arm folded over top of his face. Reaching for his other arm and giving it a slight shake, Emma spoke in a loud whisper. “Ryan. Ryan. Wake up. There’s something going on upstairs.”
Ryan seemed to stir a bit but his arm didn’t move from over his face. After a moment or two, she heard him question in a voice heavy with sleep, “It late at night?”
Glancing around until her eyes settled on the clock Ryan had put on his nightstand, finding it read just after 2 am. So definitely late by her standards. “Yeaaaaaah.” she finally answered him, and she could see his head just barely nod a bit.
“Bed. Hopping. ’Cross. Floor?” Ryan mumbled, periodically interrupting himself with yawns. Blinking in surprise, Emma thought back to the sounds she had heard. When she could only stare dumbly at Ryan, she heard a sleepy snort come from his direction, before he offered an explanation. “S’reason Luke is called ‘Lucky.’ He’s gettin' some.”
Blushing profusely at the thought of that type of action going on just over her head, Emma wondered aloud, “How the hell am I gonna sleep with all that racket?”
Yet another snore came from Ryan’s direction before he answered, “Earplugs. Or stay in here. Either way.”
“You cannot be serious.” Emma stared at Ryan for the longest time, but he didn’t respond. “Ryan?” Shaking his arm a bit, his only response was another snore. “Ryan!”
“Mrrrmphhh?”
Still shaking his arm, Emma asked, “Were you being serious?”
Pulling his arm away from Emma and flailing around a bit, she heard him mumble something that sounded like “glove save” before he started snoring loudly once more.
Backing away from him and shaking her head, Emma slowly headed back into her own room, finding the noise from above had mercifully stopped. But one thing was for certain – she was definitely picking up earplugs in the morning!
~*~
Though Luke would have to head off to practice later in the day, he had decided to accompany Ryan to one of his prehab sessions, which Ryan was fine with. He knew that having Luke there would be extra motivation to get better, to prove the doctor’s wrong so that he could get back on the ice before the season was over.
As they maneuvered into the building, Luke was chattering away about the girls at the rink. “Shame you’re hung up on Emma. One of the pretty little cheerleaders was asking about you, got all sympathetic like when I was telling her you were gonna be out for a while. She asked me to send her regards, tell you that she missed you at the rink.”
Ryan snorted soft. “I do not need a sympathy fuck, thank you very much.”
“More for me.” Luke retorted with a grin. “Speakin’ of, remember that pretty little thing that was followin’ us around the rink that day?”
Grimacing, Ryan nonetheless nodded – he knew exactly which of the fans Luke was referring to. At higher levels, those types of girls would be referred to as ‘puck bunnies’ – basically girls who were looking to score with a hockey player, typically the best looking on the team.
“She’s a good fuck. And she’s got great tits.” Luke told him matter-of-factly, while Ryan palmed his face with his hand.
“So, I was right, you were getting lucky last night. Bastard.” Pausing for a long moment, Ryan tilted his head a bit. “Wait a minute, how the hell did I know that?” Luke was gazing at him curiously and Ryan finally murmured, “I swear I had this dream where you were getting lucky and Emma came into my room all frazzled about it, and I told her not to worry about it. And…oh hell.”
“Now you’re thinking it wasn’t a dream and knowing your knack for talking in your sleep…” Luke started laughing, even without knowing what Ryan may have possible said. “Mon dieu, this is going to be good.”
Ryan had stopped moving and was balancing on his crutches, his face growing increasingly redder and redder. “Fuck me. I think I might have propositioned her.”
Roaring with laughter, Luke smacked his cousin on the back. “Well, it’s about time if you did! I mean you two are living together, one would expect you’d act as a couple, yes?”
Shaking his head immediately, Ryan tried to explain. “It’s not like that. It’s still awkward. I mean we’ve only just gotten bathroom stuff s
ettled. The first night I slept there, I was in the bathroom in the middle of the night when she needed to go. Damn near bowled my ass over to get in there once I got out. Was so cute though, she was doing this little dance in the hallway.”
Luke patted him on the back this time. “You have it bad, cousin. Girl does a pee-pee dance in the hallway, and you’re finding it endearing.”
“Ferme ta gueule.” Ryan muttered as he finally started moving further into the rehab center. He was definitely going to need to get this situation resolved as soon as possible and hope that his sleepy mouth hadn’t damaged whatever relationship he had with Emma in the process.
~*~
After a long day of working on Trent’s article and even hazarding to throw a few texts his way, Emma was more than ready to spend an evening at the Malones, and even more happy to have a designated driver in Ryan. As they drove out of the complex with Luke not too far behind, Emma noted Ryan glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes. She thought about calling him on his behavior, but as soon as they pulled out onto the main road, he coughed, and then spoke.
“Listen. I wanted to apologize if I said anything inappropriate to you last night. I should have told you that I talk in my sleep, that I can be completely asleep and still hold reasonable conversations. I don’t precisely remember talking to you last night, but I have the sense I did.”
“It’s okay,” Emma said as she reached over to pat his hand that was still resting on the shifter. “You did ask me to sleep with you.” Ryan almost drove off the road at her words, and did end up in the breakdown lane where he immediately put the vehicle in park and turned to stare at Emma, his face almost crimson. Laughing at the look on his face, Emma patted him once more and smiled. “It’s okay. As you may have noticed, I didn’t take you up on that. I did though follow your suggestion to get earplugs. I’m not sure I can listen to Luke getting lucky every night.”
Before Ryan could summon up any sort of response, his cell phone started vibrating across the dash and he flipped it open to read the text message, and then turned it so Emma could read it.
Everything okay up there?
Emma rolled her eyes and murmured, “Tell him to go on ahead, we’ll meet him there.” Ryan nodded and tapped out the response, and in a moment they saw Luke’s luxury car pull around them, horn honking as he passed.
Once he was safely out of sight, a still blushing Ryan turned back to Emma. “I’m just sorry to have put you in that position.”
Emma shrugged again and silently tried to remember the last time she’d had a guy try to proposition her into his bed – for sure at some point in the past few years, usually from the guys she was ‘helping’ with their homework. Finally, she told him, “Let’s head off to your sisters’ place. Besides, I want to hear more about Luke’s new girlfriend.”
“I’m not sure I’d call her a girlfriend,” Ryan answered as he nonetheless put the vehicle back into drive and continued towards his sister’s house. “More like a flavor of the month. Perhaps only a flavor of the week given the type of girl he picked up.”
Though part of her felt some pity for the girl who no doubt thought she was ‘with’ Luke, Emma nonetheless chuckled soft.
Soon enough they were pulling into the Malone’s driveway and Emma moved to the front door to hold it open for Ryan so he could maneuver himself in. No sooner than they had crossed the threshold into the home, they could hear Luke’s infectious laughter as he described something - or someone - to his cousin’s. “Seriously! Built like this!” And though she couldn’t see his hands just yet, Emma could only imagine the description.
Ryan had finally come through door behind her and was rolling his eyes. Essentially announcing their arrival, he called out loudly, “I’m so buying you stock in a condom company for your next birthday!”
The laughter from the other room got louder and Emma followed behind Ryan, watching him until he soon settled into a reclining chair with a grunt and a sigh. When she finally looked up, she found Gabi giving her a bemused look and Devin tilting his head off towards the kitchen. Before she headed in that direction, she looked at first Luke and then Ryan. “Beer?”
Ryan shook his head no, while Luke nodded and grinned. “If all else fails, I can catch a ride home with you guys.”
Nodding, Emma followed Devin into the kitchen, and even though she headed straight to the fridge to grab the beers, he followed close behind, murmuring to her, “I see you have an admirer.”
Turning so fast she almost dropped the bottles, Emma could only stare at Devin with a baffled look on her face. “Me? Admirer? Who?”
Devin rolled his eyes and draped an arm over Emma’s shoulders. “Little one, I adore you, but sometimes you are quite daft. Ryan is smitten with you. It’s all over his face.”
Turning more towards Devin and shaking her head, Emma murmured, “You have got to be mistaken. Why would a guy like him be interested in a girl like me?” Almost under her breath, she added, “I’m not pretty, I’m heavy, and I’m about as socialized as a brick.”
“Stop that.” Devin growled under his breath. “You are quite cute, little one, and you have a soul that captures people, whether you realize it or not. That one out there? He’s too shy to admit it, but I know him well enough to know when he’s attracted to someone. And he is so attracted to you.”
Shaking her head again, Emma moved to edge away from Devin, starting towards the kitchen door and back towards the main room. “You’re wrong. It’s not like that with us. He’s my roommate, he’s grateful for my help. That’s all there is to it.”
Once more Devin rolled his eyes. “Alright, if you’re so certain of that then go sit on the edge of his chair and see how he reacts. And at the end of the night, you tell me if you still are so certain that he’s not interested in you, ya?”
Flipping Devin the bird, Emma nonetheless headed back into the living room, offering Luke one beer while keeping the other for herself. After glancing around the room casually, she settled on the arm of the recliner Ryan sat in, and was surprised when his arm immediately reached out to steady her, his hand finally settling on her hip. It’s just a friendly response, she told herself. It doesn’t mean anything.
And Emma might have kept on believing that until she looked up to find that Devin had settled in the chair across from them – with Gabi sitting in precisely the same position she was, with a cat-eating-canary grin on her face.
Growling without any words to herself, Emma took a long pull from the beer. She had little doubt she’d need it if she was going to make it through this night!
Chapter 15 - Wounds
In the days since the gathering at the Malone household, Emma found that she still had her doubts about the sincerity of Devin’s words. She was entirely too used to being played, and while she hoped that her friends wouldn’t do that to her, it seemed too convenient that Ryan had responded exactly the way Devin implied he would. Had she been set up? She still wasn’t sure.
Despite her misgivings, there remained little question that she and Ryan were getting closer, they were getting more comfortable in each other’s presence. Emma found herself checking the clock if Ryan wasn’t back from an appointment by an expected time, and she’d noticed that he tended to give her a lot of space if he saw that she was hunched over her laptop, mashing keys into words.
This particular morning, Ryan had seemed more like himself than any other day that Emma could recall since he moved in. While the knee brace remained on, he’d actually managed a slow but awkward gait – unassisted by crutches – from his bedroom to the bathroom. From there he went onward to the living room, where he’d settled in her Grandpa’s chair.
It was ironic to say the least. Here was this man who she never would have associated with like this, if not for his injury. And now he was sacked out across her favorite chair like it was his favorite too. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought.
When Emma finally ventured out of her bedroom for the day, she noted that R
yan’s eyes immediately started following her movements and he had a light smile playing on his lips. She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he was so happy, but didn’t ask. He shrugged at her unasked question but grinned more and then held out a hand for her, beckoning her closer all without a word being spoken.
Even with her doubts, Emma found herself drawn to this man, found herself willingly crossing the room to climb up onto the side of the chair, much as she had that night at the Malones. And much as he had that night as well, Ryan immediately wrapped an arm around her back until his hand settled on her hip. Leaning her head against his, she remained quiet for the longest time, simply enjoying his company, his companionship.
Soon, as his thumb slid along her hip, caressing her skin through her shirt, Ryan finally asked her softly, “What’s on your agenda for today?”
She didn’t want to answer, didn’t want to ruin this perfect moment. But she did, answering him in an equally soft voice, “Finally putting a wrap on Trent’s article in the morning. Afternoon essentially off unless I decide to go to the rink. Evening is up for grabs at this point. If I end up at the rink, I’ll end up writing tonight.”
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