“No.”
“Damn.”
“But they were busting out of my bra, which is now too tight.”
“So are my pants now.” He groaned then glanced down at his crotch. “Thanks a lot.”
“You’re hopeless,” I laughed, secretly loving that I was turning him on with my words.
“Will you let me watch next time?”
My body was heating up. “Are you serious?”
“Look fucking down. Do I look like I’m kidding?”
I laughed. “No, you don’t.”
“Okay, then. Next time you go clothes shopping, I wanna come.”
Hearing him say he wanted to come made me have to clench between my legs.
When we arrived at my house, I turned to him after he shut the car off. “Did you want to come in?”
“Actually, I have to get back to The Heights. I have a lot of end-of-the-season stuff I’ve gotta get done.”
I swallowed in disappointment. The old Rush would have taken any opportunity to jump my bones after the foreplay of our sexy conversation.
I simply nodded and exited the car.
He suddenly walked to the back of the vehicle and opened his trunk.
Rush took out three shopping bags. I recognized the name of the maternity shop on them.
Squinting my eyes in confusion, I asked, “What are those?”
“Your clothes. The ones you couldn’t buy.”
Pointing my index finger back and forth, I frowned. “How did you…”
“I didn’t find you by chance. Naomi called me after you left and told me what happened. She said I might want to come and pay for my girl’s stuff because she left upset after her credit card was declined.”
I covered my mouth. “Oh my God. I can’t believe she did that.”
“I saw your piece of shit car still parked there and wondered if it had given you trouble. After that, sure enough, I found you walking along the road.”
I looked through the bags. There were a ton of clothes. “I only had a few items I was going to buy. What the heck did you get?”
“I told her to give me everything she had in your size.”
My mouth fell open. “I can’t accept this, Rush.”
“Yes, you can and you will.”
“No.”
“Gia…I’m not taking anything back. I like supporting local businesses. And if you don’t wear this stuff…I will.”
What?
Did he just say what I thought he did?
Bending my head back, I laughed at the ridiculousness of that thought. “You’re gonna wear the clothes…”
He scratched his chin. “If you refuse them? Sure.”
“Well, that’s reason enough not to take them.” I started walking back to my door, leaving the bags on the ground.
When I turned around, Rush had lifted off his shirt. I gasped inwardly at the sight of his cut chest. It had been a while since I’d seen it bare, and I swear, he looked hotter than ever.
Rush bent down and took the first thing he grabbed out of the bag. It was a pink, floral top. After examining it like he didn’t know what hole to put his head through, he slipped it on. He then unzipped his jeans and kicked them off. I gawked at his muscular legs before he covered them with one of the maternity skirts.
With his hands on his hips, he winked. “How do you like me now?”
I love you.
I absolutely freaking love you.
The sight of this big, beautiful, tattooed man in that feminine ensemble was truly something.
“Only you could still look sexy in a pregnant woman’s outfit.”
“Don’t make me have to walk into The Heights like this. Put me out of my misery.”
My mouth hurt from smiling. “Okay, I’ll keep the clothes.”How many times was I gonna fix this crap car? I’d been under its fucking hood more than I’d been under Gia.
The day after I picked her up on the side of the road, I’d gone back to where it was parked in front of the maternity shop to try to get it running again.
At this point, getting it to run was like a battle against an enemy, and there was no way I was going to let this piece of junk win. I think fixing it repeatedly was like a challenge to me. That had to be the only reason I continued to mess with it, especially when it would have been much easier to just replace it.
After about an hour, I finally got it running. My plan was to drive it to Gia’s and walk back to my own car.
Halfway there, the damn thing started smoking like crazy. I’d finally reached the end of the line. This was the last straw.
Breaking out into a laughing fit, I pulled over and leaned against it, buried in a cloud of smoke. Then, as if a switch went off inside of me, I began kicking the shit out of the car—over and over. This moment must have been the culmination of all of the stress I’d been under over the last several weeks. But it just felt so damn good to do it. Add to that, the fact that I was picturing Elliott the whole time I destroyed this thing, and it was exactly what I needed. People were driving by and honking, but I didn’t care.