to go now, or did you have something to do before we can leave?”
“Hold your horses, cowboy.” I held up my flowers. “Somebody brought us these. I’d better get them in some water before we go anywhere. Luna will never forgive me if I let bouquets like this wither and dry out the same minute we get them.”
“Luna again?” he asked, nudging his shoulder into mine. “I feel like I need to meet the mythical Luna. She keeps coming up.”
My hands trembled a little at the thought of introducing Chris to the power couple. They’d both go into overdrive and would probably be planning our wedding for the week after. Call me crazy, but I wasn’t even close to ready to even think about getting married again.
As much as I liked Chris, this was all very new. Cyrus and Luna might just be a little intense in their excitement about meeting someone I was dating.
“Yeah, I’ll find out when they’re available. They’re pretty busy.” I held my hand out for Adi’s bouquet. “I’ll go get these in vases. You put on some shoes and we’ll meet you at the door.”
Chris came to the kitchen with me, leaning with his hip against the counter while I fished out two vases from a trip to Brazil Luna had given me for Christmas last year.
“What are they so busy with? It’s okay if it’s just that you don’t want me to meet them yet.”
“They’re busy people,” I said vaguely. “Traveling, working, fu—” I cut myself off and cleared my throat. Luna would kill me if I actually said fucking to someone she didn’t even know. “Fun.”
“Fun?” Chris laughed, arching a brow while I filled the vases with water. “Is that what the cool kids are calling it these days?”
I shrugged but I couldn’t quite hide my smile. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not one of the cool kids. Anyway, I’m sure they’d love to meet you too, but I’m afraid meeting them would send you running for the hills.”
“Would I be the one running for the hills, or would you?” He tilted his head to the side, giving me a meaningful look before taking one of the vases and dumping a bouquet into it.
“Luna would also kill you if she saw you treating flowers that way, so maybe you wouldn’t be running for the hills. Maybe Cyrus would just be having his henchman burying you in them.”
He chuckled but moved forward until he was right in front of me. He took the second vase out of my hands and gently set it down on the counter beside us. He brought his palms to my hips and splayed his fingers across my back, tugging me closer to him.
Once I was there, he lowered his head to plant a soft kiss on my lips. “I wouldn’t run for the hills unless you were running with me, April. I don’t know where this is going either, and I don’t want to scare you off, but you don’t have to be so afraid all the time that I’m going to disappear in a puff of smoke. I thought we’d established that.”
“We have but…” I trailed off when I heard Adi’s bedroom door closing. “We’d better go.”
I moved out of his grasp and went to hunt for my purse, wondering why my heart was like putty in this guy’s hands. Any other guy who tried saying something like that to me, I’d laugh in his face and probably mock him just a little bit.
But with Chris? The damn butterflies were back. I’m not going to disappear in a puff of smoke.
I liked the sound of that.
Or at least, I did until we got to the building he wanted to show us. An ominous feeling in my stomach squished all the butterflies.
A realtor’s sign with a SOLD sticker hung from a stand planted in the overgrown grass. “What is this place?”
“It’s my new practice.” He grinned, slinging his one arm across my shoulders and the other over Adi’s. “What do you think?”
“You’re leaving the hospital?” My tummy sank. “When?”
“It’s going to take us months to renovate this place,” he said cheerfully. “I’ll also probably remain on staff there in some capacity for at least the first couple of months after we leave. I’m working on a deal with the board, but until I know for sure it’ll work, I won’t leave anyone high and dry.”
“I’m proud of you,” I said but my throat felt like it was closing. I really