Page 11 of Cuts Like an Angel: Part 2

Chapter Six

Rosie

"I've not done anything with the house. I wanted to wait till you returned.”

Rosie smiled, feeling like it was a normal thing for him to say, but something in his tone made her nervous. She reached over and squeezed his hand, thinking maybe he was just nervous. "That is so sweet of you."

He shrugged a little. "Wanted your input on colors and things. I hope you don't like lime green, though."

She gave a laugh, so excited to finally be back. "Orange sherbet is one of my faves, and purple."

"Purple?" he questioned, laughter in his voice. "Royal, no doubt."

"Is there any other kind of purple?" she laughed.

Rosie followed William inside and looked around.

“I haven’t done much,” he said again.

Rosie finally understood what she was hearing in his voice or understood why he was worried. As she made her way to the kitchen, it became clearer. It was like stepping onto a set with everything frozen in time, the very last night she was here. But something was different.

“Everything is sanitized,” he mumbled, as though that would be a dire necessity for her. It wasn’t, but she understood it was for him.

At seeing he was painfully aware that she might notice he’d purposely left everything exactly where it had been—and how would she not notice it—she smiled at him. “I have one thing to say to you,” she said facing his suddenly worried look. “I’ve always fantasized about having a boyfriend like you.” She stepped closer until she stood before him. “Crazy about me.”

His intense blue eyes locked on hers and he gave her a small smile of what seemed like relief, she hoped. “Crazy American meets crazy Englishman,” he mumbled, sliding his arms around her waist.

“I bet my crazy tops your crazy,” she challenged lightly. He threw his head back with a heart-warming laugh that brought her giggles. “Don’t compete with my kind of crazy Mr. Englishman.”

He held both hands up. “Never. I know how to let a lady feel like a winner.” His grin said he’d left off “even if she is far from it”.

She planted a kiss on his lips. "Don’t change. I love you just like you are.”

His lips softened under hers, and she smiled. "I just hope you can live with a pig.”

"I can,” he whispered between her kisses.

She pulled back and said, "Let's remove all the past should'ves and could'ves from this home. Let's make new memories here. Memories so great they’ll wipe all the bad off the face of the whole Earth.”

"I want to,” he said, sounding so serious, like she offered something he’d never thought possible but would allow himself to try. For her.

His lips suddenly crushed down on hers at the same moment his arms wrapped her tight. "I want to Rosie," he finally whispered on her mouth. “Make all the bad go away, make everything new.”

If you say we can," he said, breathless. “Then I will believe.”

"I do say we can." She nodded a lot and stroked his face with her fingers. "I very much do."

She felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

"Sorry," he muttered, releasing her and pulling his phone out. She studied his face as he checked the screen. A flash of something hit him and he glanced at her with a nervous smile.

"I'll go get unpacked while you take that," she said, not wanting to be the woman in his life he ever had to worry about being jealous or nosy. Even if she was, didn't mean she needed to show him that.

"I'm right behind you," he said.

"Take your time," she called, hurrying up the stairs. She paused halfway and stopped to listen when he'd gone into the kitchen, straining to hear anything, just to make sure it wasn't an emergency of some kind. Maybe he'd come right back out.

But he didn't.

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