Page 151 of Foreplay on Words

“Yeah, she’s dying to meet you, but I think she’s hanging out with Kristine and Sam right now,” he smiled.

“Oh man, they’ll all gang up on us,” I laughed as I thought about Kelly and Kristine teaming up their powers.

“We can take ‘em,” Evan grinned.

“Were you serious? You want to live together?” I was afraid that now we didn’t have a room full of people staring at us, he’d rescind the offer.

“We already have been living together,” he smiled.

“But permanently? How are you going to escape from me?” I laughed.

“I don’t want to escape from you. That’s the point,” he rolled his eyes as he squeezed me tighter, kissing the side of my head.

“What are we going to do with my condo?”

He smiled as he leaned forward so he could look at me. “You own it, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s not as big as your house. Living together would be cramped, and I thought you hated being in the city.”

“Why don’t we keep it for now,” he smiled.

“As a safety net?”

He shook his head. “No. So, we have somewhere to stay when we’re in the city. Chances are we’ll need to make trips in, and why spend money on a hotel.”

“Are you sure you’re okay moving into the middle of the woods?” he asked quietly.

“I love your house. There’s plenty of stuff to do around there,” I smiled. “You know I’m going to make you actually leave the house now and again, though—and not only to go running.”

“I know.” He held my hands and kissed my fingers. “As long as you’re with me, I’ll manage.”

“We’ll probably need more than a few minutes, but what happened?” There was half a day while he was missing that I needed to be filled in.

He took a deep breath and pulled my legs over his lap, leaning his head against mine. “I had a panic attack.”

“Oh, my God. Why didn’t you come to get help?”

“Wasn’t really thinking rationally. I went outside to get some air, and she was there,” he shook his head as he closed his eyes.

A rumbling growl formed in my throat as I thought about his nasty ex-girlfriend.

“I heard you punched her in the face,” he told me, sounding amused.

“I should have punched her in the throat...and some other places,” I growled again.

His deep laugh filled the air, and I smiled as he kissed the side of my head, running his fingers through my hair. “She’ll probably leave us alone now that you’ve stood up to her.”

“She better.” I nodded with a steely edge to my voice.

“So, go on,” I coaxed as I tried to return to our original subject with the limited time we had left.

“Abridged version—hopped in a cab, cab driver kicked me out at an urgent care center, a nurse gave me some anxiety meds that made me feel woozy, Emory and Nathan found me, I got sick and passed out, woke up this morning and had already missed you guys leaving, Nathan took me to the airport, Kelly picked me up, and then I was here.”

“Wow. I don’t even know what to say,” I told him with eyes wide at the truncated version of an exceptionally long night...and morning.

“It’s okay. I know it was a little unexpected. I felt horrible I wasn’t there this morning.” Worry lines appeared on his forehead, and I reached to smooth them out.

“I wasn’t worried about that. I was worried about you. When I couldn’t get a hold of you, it freaked me out. Kristine told me you dropped your phone down a sewer?”

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