Heart Signs (13 page)

“Yes it is.” She pointed inside the bathroom. “He got revenge on your toilet paper.”

Sam craned his neck around the door and groaned at the strips of white hanging from every surface. “He’s a baby. I thought he’d sleep for a while. I left him his bed and litter box and food.” He glanced down at the empty dish. “Maybe not enough food.”

“He could’ve come out with us, silly. I love cats.” She leaned against his chest and angled up to kiss his chin. “Plus I’ve been wanting to meet him.”

“Uh uh, he’s a voyeur. He always lurks around when I’m on the phone with you. No way he’s seeing my woman naked.”

The glow from his words seemed to fan out from her heart to every one of her cells. Now she had a new thing to chant in her head.
My woman
.

God. Had anything ever made her happier?

Rory glanced down as fur brushed against her calf and let out a laugh. “Too late. The voyeur’s struck again.”

Sure enough, Junior plunked down on his behind and stared up at them. Sam made a show of covering her breasts with his hands and tugging her back toward the bedroom, leaving Junior to follow, tail held high.

“Oh yeah. The bed.” She glanced over her shoulder and let out a war whoop at the size of his new king-size special. “We never even tried it out yet.” She wrenched away from him and took a flying leap, landing dead center. She flung out her arms and sighed contentedly. “So bouncy.”

“Bouncy is good,” he agreed, flopping down beside her. A moment later, the cat pranced across Sam’s belly on his way over to Rory, whom he proceeded to sniff before curling up next to her side. “See what I mean?”

“I certainly do.” She cuddled against Sam and wiggled her nose between his ear and his neck, enjoying his little catch of breath as she reached down to palm his cock. “We’ll just have to be sneaky.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” he said somberly, arching into her strokes while pretending to zip his lips.

Much later, she snuggled against Sam’s chest, her feet under the purring lump that was Junior. She closed her eyes, on the verge of dozing off, when his voice stirred her.

“Ror,” he murmured, reminding her of the love letter she’d written him that he still hadn’t read yet. Already part of it had come true, like a prophecy. Here they were, lying tangled together in the dark, and she could hear his heartbeat as clearly as the sleet pelting the windows.

“Yeah?”

“You’re not the only one who fell.” He cleared his throat when she glanced up at him quizzically. “In love, I mean. It took me longer, but I’m right there with you.” His mouth curved. “God, I’m so there.”

She grinned and let her head fall back to his chest. “It’s all happened so fast. Normally, I don’t trust things that I can’t predict. But this time it’s funny.”

“What’s funny?”

The little hitch of worry in his voice made her grin spread. “It’s funny how much I trust in you and me. We’re right. I can feel it.”

He took her hand and lifted it to his mouth in that old-fashioned, gentlemanly way he had that always sucked the last coherent thought from her head. “We’re both overdue for some right.” He nipped her skin then soothed the bite with his tongue. “And, yeah, it feels damn good.”

“G’night, Sam,” she whispered, eager to fall asleep for the first time with his breath ruffling her cheek.

“G’night, Ror.” His arm circled her waist. “Love you. Just trying it out,” he added when she chuckled.

“Love you too,” she echoed. “Same reason.”

“Wow, I actually said something out loud instead of writing it down.” He sounded awestruck.

“Me too. Though I wrote you a letter too. A ridiculously mushy one.”

“Yeah?” There was no denying the pleasure in his voice. “I can’t wait to read it. Especially since I have one for you too.”

“Really?”

“Really. It’s not as flashy as a billboard but—”

“I don’t need a billboard.” She kissed his shoulder and inhaled his scent. A faint hint of sweat, soap, motor oil.
Sam
. “Just need you.”

“Now that that’s squared away…good night for real.”

She waited until his breaths became soft and even then glanced up to see if Junior had noticed the most important moment of her life. Sure enough, bright-gold eyes glowed at her in the dark.

She settled back into Sam’s embrace and grinned. At least she had a witness.

S
ummer in full bloom
. Lots of things were blooming. Some expected, some not. The bucket of mums they’d picked out from the florist had begun to sprout, though the actual flowers wouldn’t show their colors for a few weeks.

Their other sprout would take a while to grow yet.

“I gotta go to work,” Rory said from behind him.

“So stop wallpapering,” Sam said, amused as always by her impatient huff of breath. “We’ll do it tonight.”

“Just gotta finish this section.”

Sam fought a smile as he turned away from the wide picture window. She stood near the doorway of the adjoining room. Hands flat on the wall, gaze intent. A tape measure somehow hooked from the vee of her maternity top.

Their place would have the most cheerful design ever, assuming Rory could ever stop changing her mind about the color of the darn wallpaper. First it had been mint green. Then yellow. The latest acquisition was sunset orange with tiny white flowers.

Orange, green, he didn’t care. He already had been given the world. Everything else was just details.

“You know, we’d get this done a lot faster if you helped and stopped standing around looking so—”

A couple months ago, when she’d been in what she called her “hormonally horny” phase, she would’ve ended that statement with something dirty. Now she just scowled.

His smile broadened. “And get in the way of your redecorating dreams? Not a chance.”

The big airy loft in downtown Haven hadn’t been either of their first choices, but the price was right. Billy had purchased the building to open a bike shop on the first floor and he’d offered them the second level for a great rate.

Home rarely seemed to end up looking like a person expected, Sam mused as he crossed the room to slip his arms around Rory’s waist. She grumbled a little, as she was wont to do before ten a.m., but he didn’t miss her contented sigh.

Three years had passed since they’d bumped fenders. In that time, they’d traveled all over the States, usually a new trip every few months to coincide with the car shows Sam wrote off as work. They’d laughed their asses off in Vegas when she won a thousand dollars her first time playing Blackjack. Stumbled over the rocky shore along the Atlantic in Massachusetts when he’d decided he wanted to find her authentic sea glass. Poked tentative hands through fence slats in Kentucky to stroke horses who looked every bit as awed at the sight of them as they were over the horses.

None of those adventures could swish a pony’s tail at the one stretching before them now. In a little over two months, their lives would change again.

“You know, we could hire someone to do this,” he murmured against her hair. She’d grown it longer and the ends brushed her shoulder blades. “Just like we could run away and—”

She turned in his arms, more than a little awkwardly, and tucked her tape measure in her bra. “Uh uh. You know my answer to that.”

“I do. Or I don’t, since you won’t.” He tipped his forehead to hers and smiled into her eyes. They’d been engaged for over a year and she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to check a new box on her tax return.

Married or unmarried, they were in love. Their child would have his last name. And hers. So it didn’t matter.

Much.

“It’s a timing thing, big guy.”

“So you say. Since going with the flow has brought us here, I can’t fault your methods.”

“Exactly. I’m all about the spontaneous.”

“Which means we’re gonna be living in sin forever.”

She cocked her head, a hank of her honey-brown hair—she’d stopped dyeing it black a while ago—falling into her face. “To do that, you gotta actually, you know, sin. Early and often.”

“That ball’s in your court.”

“No, the ball’s right here.” She grinned and cupped her stomach. “Go to work,” she said, giving him a light kiss that made him long for more.

She always made him long. Sweetly, as she had right from the beginning.

He laid his hands over hers and gave her fingers a squeeze. Then he nodded and whistled to Junior, who apparently thought he was a dog and trotted out for a treat.

“See you tonight,” he called, setting off once he’d fed the cats, plural. If there were snacks, Snowdrop wasn’t about to be denied.

“See you,” she called back. She’d be late for sure. Good thing she worked for family.

He worked straight through the morning, busy with several new customers. He’d gotten a great deal on advertising space—he was again renting what he considered “his” billboard—and traffic into the shop was non-stop. He barely managed to escape to go see Rory for lunch as he usually did.

Halfway there, his cell rang. “Hey, what’s up?” he said, hoping she didn’t hear the worry he wasn’t good at hiding. She rarely called during the day. What if—

No
. There were only good what if’s in their world now.

“I need you to go pick up something.”

A spear of panic shot into his throat. “What’s wrong?”

“I want ice cream.” She dropped her voice conspiratorially. “That blackberry kind from Sunny Scoop. What’s it called?”

“Black Thunder. I’ll get you some after work.” He let out a long breath and shifted the phone to his other hand. “Sure you’re okay?”

“Absolutely. But I have to have that ice cream. Can you get me a quart? You can get two spoons,” she added when he didn’t reply.

“I’d have to go home and get my car.“

“It’s a craving. I
need
it, Sam.”

He suppressed a sigh and altered his route. She’d said the magic word. When it came to cravings, there was no saying no. “Gimme half an hour.”

“Thank you!” Her delighted squeal seemed a little much, but he never questioned a pregnant woman’s desire for dairy products. “Sam?”

On the verge of clicking off, he frowned. “Yeah?”

“It’s such a pretty day. Maybe you should bring your camera.”

“Why? Want a picture of the giant inflatable cone on top of Sunny Scoop?”

Laughing, she hung up.

Maybe she wanted to go for a walk along the harbor near her work. Hard to say with her. But he brought his camera just the same.

Half an hour later, he’d paid for her quart of ice cream and was on his way to JD Signage. Instead of taking the back roads, he decided to make the trip on the highway since she was right, it was a beautiful day. Might as well check out his incredible logo.

Except there was a bright blue billboard where his was supposed to be. What the fuck? He’d paid for the whole quarter, just as he was supposed to. His billboard’s background wasn’t blue. It was green, to match the new sign he’d gotten for the front of his shop.

Idling at the entrance to the highway, he flipped out his phone and punched the first speed dial. Who the hell had hijacked his sign? It was supposed to say
Sam’s Classics
, not
Marry Me, Sam
.

He slammed the car into Park just as Rory’s cheery voice chirped in his ear. “Got my ice cream?”

“I—what—how?”

“You drive to Sunny Scoop, ask for a quart of Black Thunder, give them your money.”

“I have the ice cream. But—what—” Horns sounded behind him and he yelled out the window something he might’ve felt badly about had he been aware of what was coming out of his mouth. “Why are you proposing to me? How can you, when I proposed first?”

“It’s not a proposal so much as a suggestion. Since we’re already engaged and all. You busy this Friday?”

More horns sounded. This time he didn’t bother speaking, just held up his middle finger. He’d feel even worse about it later. “We’re going to Vegas.”

As the realization dawned, he started to laugh. Jesus, was he the biggest dummy on earth or what?

“Exactly right. And we’re going to get hitched and start our life of legal sinning. So you might want to get that ice cream back here now, since we have a history of making stuff melt.”

“That wasn’t just a ruse to get me over to the billboard?”

“Hell no. We both know you go scope it out every day. And don’t worry, your shop sign will be back up by the close of business. So take your picture while you can.”

He glanced up once more at the billboard, his throat so tight that words were practically an impossibility. But he tried anyway. “Ror—”

“I know.” Somehow he heard her swallow. “Me too.
Us
too,” she corrected, making him smile even when he couldn’t speak.

Just before she clicked off, his sentimental soon-to-be-wife uttered her final words of love. “Now bring me my ice cream!”