Touch by Touch (Riggins Brothers 4)

“Well?”

“We just started dating.”

“So? You’ve known him forever.”

“A little over a year is hardly forever.”

She waves me off. “He’s in love with you.”

My heart stalls in my chest. “Did he tell you that?”

“No, but he didn’t have to. You can see it the way he looks at you, and he bought a freaking house, Aspen. A house for you.”

“He bought it for him.”

“For both of you.”

“Well, I’m not moving in. I did tell him I would stay with him tonight, but I’m not moving in.” Not yet. It’s too soon, right? We’ve been official for a week. We need to slow this train a little.

“It’s been longer than a week. The minute you two got snowed in at the cabin, this started, so it’s been over a month.” My sister sticks her tongue out at me.

Before I can fire back a reply, her phone rings. “Hello, husband.” She smiles. She’s quiet while she listens. “Sure, sounds good to me. I’ll whip up something to bring with us. See you at home. Love you,” she says, ending the call. “That was Grant. It seems his little brother is having a small gathering at his new house tonight.”

“I was getting to that,” I tell her.

“I’m going to make something to take. Any requests?”

“Nope. You know they’ll eat anything you make. I’m going to run to the store and grab some drinks, and paper plates, and napkins before heading over there.”

“I assume you’re helping him pack this weekend?”

“He’s mostly packed. We just met the movers at his place, and they took all the boxes he had packed and all of his furniture.”

“Damn. He’s not messing around.”

“No. No, he’s not. You good here? Need any help?”

“Nope. We’ve got it. Gloria and McKenzie are finishing up lunch. I’ll go back and make something when they get back.”

“Love you, Rory.”

“Love you too, little sister.”

“Marshall is picking up the pizza,” Conrad tells me.

“That’s nice of him. I have the drinks in the fridge, and Aurora is bringing a dessert.”

“And they’re all coming at seven. That gives us three hours to take a nap. I’m exhausted.”

“I can’t believe all the furniture is placed and put back together. Hiring movers is definitely the way to go.”

“We’ll do that when you move in too. It makes it nice to not have to do all of the heavy lifting.”

“You sure you don’t want to unpack some more?”

“No. I want to go down the hall to the master bedroom and lie in bed with my girlfriend, and take a nap. The work will be here tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I say, covering a yawn.

“Come with me.” With his fingers laced with mine, he leads me to his bedroom. It’s weird that his bed is all set up, and his dressers are all placed. This all happened so fast. “We have to make the bed first.”

“Um, do you know where the sheets are?”

“No clue.” He laughs.

“Did you mark the box?”

“Yeah, it should say bed shit.”

“Eloquent,” I tease him.

“Hey, it’s done. That’s all that matters.”

We begin to look at the boxes in the bedroom when I finally find the one that reads master bedroom shit—clean and one that reads master bedroom shit—dirty. “Look at you being all organized.”

“I had an ulterior motive. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to nap with me on dirty sheets.” He shrugs. “I packed that one this morning.” He lifts the box onto the bed and pulls out a clean set of sheets and a soft, fuzzy blanket.

“Is that yours?” I ask.

“Yes. Mom bought us all one a few years ago for Christmas.”

“It’s so soft.”

“We can use it all the time when you move in if that’s what it takes.”

“Conrad, I can’t move in with you.”

“Why not?”

“We’ve been dating a week.”

“So? When you know, you know.”

“Stop.” I chuckle. “Help me make this bed. You promised me a nap.”

In no time at all, we have the bed made and are cuddled up with one another under the super-soft blanket. “This moment right here, this is one I’ll never forget.”

“Why this one?”

“Because you’re mine,” he says over a yawn.

I don’t comment. We’re both too exhausted. Instead, I close my eyes and let the security of his embrace lull me to sleep.

“It’s a nice place you have here, son,” Stanley tells Conrad.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“I can’t believe you kept this from us,” Lena comments. She doesn’t sound angry, just surprised.

“It all happened kind of fast.” His hand that’s resting on my shoulder gives a soft squeeze.

“Well, you’ve chosen well,” his mom tells him.

“Which room is mine?” Marshall asks, shoving the last bite of pizza from his plate into his mouth.

“You have your own place,” Conrad answers.

“Yeah, but this place is huge. You can’t stay here all by yourself. You’ll get lonely,” he teases.

“I won’t be as soon as Aspen decides she’s ready to move in.” He says the words with such confidence and assurance.