CHAPTER526
How can I marry a guy I can’t even tell I love yet?
“You know…. because I live with you and you rubbed off on me. You have made abrasive love an art form.” He winks, once again, sass in place of love sonnets and I eye roll.
“Thanks. I feel so proud! …. About that…… Ummmmm. How much do you like your spare room?” I finger the hem of my shirt nervously, pushed to do this now because it’s been on my mind and seems like a good topic to slot it in. Watching his strong shoulders move under that sexy fitted tee as he does the chef thing over there.
“If you’re planning on a sex cave, or an Xbox room, then I am all for it.” He turns to me a little, cheekily smiling, leans in and kisses me, completely missing the subtlety of my hint.
“I was thinking pink…. Maybe a lot of sparkle.” I blink at him nervously, watching as he goes and scoops the last of his pasta out of the water, into a colander thing and turns the heat off on the sauce. Preoccupied and not really getting the heaviness of my tone.
“You want a pink sparkly sex room? I don’t know if that will do it for me, baby.” He glances at me completely confused. Head clearly on what he’s doing and not what I am saying, although, my topics are usually random, so he probably thinks I am off on another weird tangent.
“You’re the only one thinking of sex rooms here…. I was thinking of ...You know? That if I’m going to move in, then I would need to bring my sewing room.” My heart skips a beat as I finally verbalize what I have been wanting to say for days now and kept losing my nerve.
“Mmmmmm.” he is only apparently half listening and answers vaguely before he seems to frown. Arrick pauses with moving the pasta to plates and looks at me twice. Face finally registering on that extra little glance. “Moving in?” For a moment I really believe he’s maybe changed his mind and my stomach drops to my toes, but then the smile that breaks across his face, like a sudden beam of light, soothes the pop of pain that went with it.
“If the offer is still there?” I sound so scared, completely out of my comfort zone and Arrick drops everything he is doing to pick me up and kiss me hard. It’s so sudden I yelp in fright and flail my arms before gripping on tight. A clumsy kiss, bashing noises and I manage to bang my teeth on his, hardly the sexiest of moments but it makes me giggle away the nerves as he cradles me against him tightly.
“Offer is most definitely still there, baby… You can paint the whole apartment pink and fill it with fluffy cushions if it means I get to come home to you every night.” He spins me around, hugging me tighter and kissing me again, grinning like a crazy person and it’s infectious. I giggle back as he slides me down to my bare feet, but keeps a hold on me, hands sliding down to cup my ass cheeks through the thin shirt.
“I’m bringing my unicorns.” I point out sternly. Making it clear now, before he faints when I box up the three million fluffy roommates I have.
“Didn’t expect anything else, even if there is an army of like fifty now.” He kisses me again, obviously very happy with my decision to move in. Not caring about the Unicorn army either. Yet! He hasn’t seen them in their entirety all in one place like I have.
“And my complete collection of shoes. I may need another wardrobe though, as yours is so not big enough.” I raise serious brows his way, knowing the importance of my walk in, and the sheer lack of one in Arrick’s room. Just breaking him in gently for what he is agreeing to.
“I will sacrifice any room in the house to keep your shoes and dresses pampered, baby… I’ll even buy another floor if we need to expand down the ways. I want you here, always.” He lets me go to wander back to what he was doing, content and smiley still. I’m suddenly bursting with happiness too. He dishes sauce over the pasta in the bowls and stoops to pull garlic bread from the oven, winking at me as he does so.
My cute boy.
“You may need the cleaner to come a little more often… I don’t do cleaning, or cooking, or you know? … most adulting stuff that is normal for girls.” I shrug unapologetically and know fine well that he is forever cleaning up my apartment when we stay there, being a bit of a neat freak. Arrick is forever loading my dishwasher and emptying my trash. He should understand all of this before the big move in, you know, in case he regrets it, or thinks I might miraculously turn into Martha Stewart or some sort of normal female. He should know he’s getting a fully-grown child with bad habits, and a really lazy side when it comes to cleaning.
“Nothing new there then. If I wanted a domestic goddess, I would never have picked you.” He slides the bread onto another plate and puts all the pans in the sink behind him. Smirking and still looking a lot like a guy who hasn’t changed his mind.
“We really doing this?” I blink at him nervously.
Last chance to run for the hills, handsome.
“Sophs, we have been doing this from the morning of Leila’s party, you’ve just been slow on the catch up.” He kisses my cheek as he passes by and starts to gather up plates on a tray, looking a little too at ease with this.
“Don’t take up snoring. I may have to smother you in your sleep if I have no escape from sharing a bed with you.” I warn, slightly panicky that maybe he isn’t really thinking through how serious this really is. It’s a huge decision, taking over half or more, of his man cave and making it a little less ‘guy’.
“I promise not to take up snoring.” He smiles happily. No sign of any confusion or doubt or niggles, infuriatingly cool and calm like always. Satisfied that he isn’t in shock, misunderstanding of my very real intentions and obviously with the program.
“Good, I think that we have that settled. Guess you just need to paint my room pink and then I’m all yours.” I pat him on the top of his head and saunter off towards the dining table to remind him how hungry I am.
“Wait? … I’m painting the room? You know I can afford a decorator, right?” He pauses what he’s doing and gazes at me, looking a little disturbed, his tone on the shocked side.
Yeah, that right there!
“Ummm noooo. It will mean more if we do it; well…you. I want to see you use a drill thing to build stuff. I think that’ll be hot.” I point out, sliding into my chair, so I can watch him in comfort and see him waiver. Feeling strangely evil in this moment.
“You don’t drill anything to paint a room, Sophs… I mean, I will do it if you want me to? I helped Nathan decorate his apartment, so I am pretty good at all that stuff. I figured you would want it done professionally.” He shrugs, goes back to sorting out the tray and lifts it up.
“You’re a professional fighter. Close enough. Perfect.” I smile, quite happy with myself for that one.
“Is this some passive aggressive punishment for something I can’t figure that I’ve done?” Arrick frowns at me suspiciously, but I shrug. Watching him making his way towards me, he is so effortlessly sexy at times and it makes me sigh and curl my toes.
“I’m thinking pink with wooden flooring, maybe white furniture and a whole wall of hanging rails for my finished pieces. I need a blackboard too, for the design stage. I like the idea of an old blackboard like they had in ancient schools.” I scroll off the list of things I have been daydreaming about when I snooped in the room the other day and try to picture where it will all go.
“Should I get a notepad?” Arrick comes to the table, lays down the tray in front of me, in the center of the table, then goes to his side unit and fishes for silverware. He hands me a spoon and fork and sits down to face me to eat. Handing me a bowl and taking his own, leaving the tray with the bread between us.
“Maybe. I want a chaise lounge; your room is so much bigger than the one at my place, more space for girly stuff, like mannequins.” I help myself and dig in with relish, it smells amazing and I am about famished already. So hungry that my mouth is literally watering.
“Mannequins? Is this a studio we’re building, or an actual store?” He seems momentarily worried.
“Tailors dummies! I have one in my size, but I need more if I’m making different sized items. A store is in the five-year plan, not yet.” I raise a brow at him and Arrick looks completely blank.
“Five year plan, huh? Sophie’s store? … Designer extraordinaire… Career girl in fashion. I like it.” He smiles, eyebrows meeting with that cute half smile, dimples galore. He looks down and scoops up sauce on his bread before stuffing it in his mouth.
“You better? … You’re going to fund it.” I grin at him and catch that small dimple get stronger as he fully smiles and then regards me with a long drawn out smirk.
“Don’t worry, baby… Carrero Corp has your back. We will be seeing you at New York Fashion week soon enough.” He winks throwing me that winning smile that takes my heart."
