I laughed. Because she didn’t mean that. She definitely loved this for me.
“I will feed you and hose you down once in a while, you know, when I’m not busy getting sexed by your delicious man.”
“That’s enough of that.” I hit her with a pillow.
We dissolved into fits of laughter and Susanna flopped on the bed, spreading her arms and legs and doing a snow angel motion, messing up the comforter. I plopped down beside her.
“I don’t wanna backtrack,” I told her, soberly. “I’m falling in love with him. I can’t believe this is actually my life. He’s amazing.”
She smiled big, got tears in her eyes, and hugged me.
“How could you not? When you two get married,” she whispered in my ear, “I better be your flower girl.”
I gawked at her. “Flower girl? You mean maid of honor.”
She shook her head and sat up, wiping happy-tears from her eyes with her fingertips, her ringlets bouncing, and said, “Nope. Fuck that. I don’t want all that work that goes with being a maid of honor. All that planning, and showers, and shit. Just give me a pretty dress and let me walk down the aisle showering everybody with petals.”
Laughing, I hugged her hard. “You’re totally going to have to throw me a shower and be my bee-atch while I plan my wedding. But we’re jumping ahead. We’ve been dating a week. How can I be feeling this way so fast? Is it because he essentially rescued me?”
She busted up laughing.
“It’s more like he’s essentially the catch of the century and is treating you like the queen that you are, Violet.”
I smiled. “And really…” I added, “When the time comes, I don’t need all that glitz and pageantry. I just need the man and the preacher and the promises. I just need us looking into one another’s eyes and knowing down to the bottom of my soul that we both mean it.”
“You’re so right, girlfriend. Some day my prince will come, maybe.”
“I thought my prince turned out to be a toad, but now I’ve got a knight. I’m more than happy to have a knight.”
She looked around. ”The guy has money, Violet. He’s a stacked knight. I mean, I could get fired from my job for telling you this, but he’s got millions. Plus I’m sure he’s got to have investments I can’t see with other banks. And profits coming in fast and furious from that gambling website. That business account isn’t even with my bank so who knows what it’s worth. What if he wants a prenup? Is that going to burst your bliss bubble? Guys who are business-minded tend to be businessy about that shiz.”
“I don’t care about his money. I’d sign it. All I need is the way he looks at me to know he loves me. I mean… if we get to that point.”
“You will. You might already be there.”
“He acts like he loves me, Suse. If he hasn’t even fallen yet I can’t imagine how great things would be if he does. But if he lost it all tomorrow and wanted to go live in the woods with nothing but a knife and his wits, I’d feel confident that man could shelter and feed me and keep me safe as well as make me happy.”
“Oh my God. You’re giving me a toothache.” She rolled her eyes. “You feel this way that fast?”
I nodded. “God, did I really just say that?”
“You did.”
“Yeah. Pretty sure I do.”
“So, you’re ready to make it official and move in?”
I shook my head. “Not quite. It’s been a week. I think that’s a little crazy.”
“Maybe a little bit of crazy is just the thing you need.”
When Susanna left, I ran a bath and Killian joined me there, holding me, being quiet, but kissing me non-stop. And then he made love to me for at least two hours in his bed.
I wondered if he’d somehow overheard me, with the way he was acting.
We still haven’t used the kitchen counters yet, but I feel like if he asked me again if I wanted to stay, I’d be tempted so that he would lift me up on those counters and fuck me there like he wanted to do so much. He hasn’t brought it up. He’s just spent the week taking every opportunity, though they weren’t excessive as he was so busy, that I’ve got no choice but to be falling for him. Because he’s incredible.
Even if he’s in super late, he’s pouring me that coffee in the morning. One day, I talked to him mid-afternoon and told him I was having a shitty day of putting out fires and when I got back, he’d ordered in dinner and ran me a bubble bath.
After we ate, and we prepped and cleaned up together, he gave me a foot rub.