Brazen and Breathless (Untouchable #6) - Heather Long Page 0,119
to get back, but he also intended to go have dinner and talk to his parents. Jake had warned us his mother had figured it out and that she suggested we tell everyone.
After the incident with Trina? Yeah. I got it.
“I could go with you,” I offered.
But Ian had shaken his head. “Angel, let me deal with any initial fallout. They love you. But they need to understand that I love you and that this isn’t a negotiation.”
Guilt eating away and my focus shot, I pulled the kitchen apart to clean it, emptying the various dead takeout boxes from the fridge and making a shopping list.
At least I had a coupon app to go with the coupons in the sale paper. Another text to Rachel went unanswered, and I called her to leave a message as I grabbed my keys.
“Hey, if I don’t see and hear that you’re all right tomorrow before school, I’m going to camp out on your porch. Call me. I’m worried.” I hesitated a beat, then added, “And feeling neglected. If she’s that hot, I want pictures.”
Jacket on and keys in hand, I ran into Archie as I let myself out. He grinned. “Hey, babe, where are you running off to?”
Despite the grin, he gave me a critical once over. I didn’t even ask. I’d bet money Ian had texted Jake and Archie so they knew what was going on. “Grocery shopping,” I told him. I also had the trash bag to toss, so he snagged that and then hooked his arm through mine.
“I’ll drive, if you want,” he offered, and I chuckled.
“I need more groceries than we can load in the Ferrari. Besides, you’re not a fan of grocery shopping.”
“Maybe not,” he said easily. “But I’m a huge fan of you.”
I didn’t groan as he left me at my car with a quick kiss and jogged the trash over to the dumpster. Archie in a grocery store was a disaster. He hated grocery budgets.
He strolled back over to the car and grinned at me. “You don’t have to look like that, babe. I know how to behave.”
“Uh huh.”
Thirty minutes later, we were having an argument on the cereal aisle.
“We do not need both of those,” I told him. “Not to mention, I have a coupon and a buy two get one free for this one.”
Archie eyed the box I had versus the name brands he had. “Hard disagree. That crap tastes like cardboard, even with the milk. And I know for a fact that Jake prefers this brand and so do I.”
“But they’re smaller boxes…”
“So we get more.”
And I tilted my head back to stare at the ceiling as he added more to the cart. “Archie, they cost more.”
“They taste better, of course they cost more.”
“How are you a genius at so many things and so very bad at this?” I grabbed the boxes I’d intended to buy and put them back.
Even with the strain of the brand names, and the extra boxes, the budget would be all right, I’d just scale back on a couple of other things. The guys were all throwing money into the grocery shopping fund.
“Babe, I’m not bad at shopping.”
“We have a grocery budget…”
“It’s a guideline,” he told me as he took charge of the basket and started walking.
“No, it’s a budget. It keeps us from spending a small fortune on groceries. If you spend too much one week, you don’t have enough for the following. It’s basic economics.”
Pivoting, he gave me a smile. “You’re going to hit me for this, and I want you to know I say it with absolute love and adoration…”
Arms folded, I raised both eyebrows.
“I respect your budget, and I believe every word you say.”
“But?” I dangled that word out there, because there had to be a but on that sentence.
“But,” he said with a grin and spread his arms, “I’m a fan of enjoying the things we can, and one of the things we can enjoy is whatever the hell we want to eat. You have your grocery budget, and I will respect it. And I have mine that will fill in all the gaps, so you never have to worry about coming up short next week.”
It was almost like he was patronizing me, and at the same time… “You just paying for everything makes it hard to keep us all equals.”
“Again,” he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and his eyes soft. “Hard disagree.”