Page 49 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

He glanced at hisking sizedbed in the center of the gray room. He’d painted a lot of things gray because it went with everything. It was light enough to be close to white.

He had a dresser on one wall with his TV on it and two floating shelves he built on both sides of the bed to hold a lamp and his remote and phone at night. There just wasn’t enough room for more furniture without it feeling crowded.

Under his bed was his safe that held his guns. That wasn’t seen though as many women he’d been with in the past were always nervous about it.

“One of the first things I did up here,” he said.

She didn’t step in, just looked around, then moved back and looked at his bathroom across the hall.

“Now this is big. I love the tub.”

“I was on the fence about keeping it, but it felt right.”

It’s not like he used the claw-foot tub, but it was in great shape. He kept the white-and-black-checker floors after he scrubbed the shit out of them. Replaced the vanity and replaced the tiles in the shower stall with simple white.

Good enough for him, but he was glad she liked it.

“I bet it feels wonderful to soak in that.”

“I wouldn’t know,” he said.

“Now that is a crime,” she said.

“Maybe I’ll give it a try sometime.”

He was smirking at her. “I wouldn’t mind it,” she said, trailing her fingers along his jaw.

Guess she put him in his place.

16

SOMEWHAT AWARE

Time for the dreaded talk!

They’d been dating for almost a month and her body was telling her it was time to take the next step.

She’d figured out he was being a gentleman and letting her set the pace and make that move. She was going to do it.

She’d been throwing out hints about doing things with him in the future and she knew he was catching everything she said.

But he wasn’t offering much more, putting her in the position to all but ask for the next step.

Andi didn’t know if he was holding back because of her history or if there was more.

Maybe he wasn’t one to let himself go because he worried he’d wake up one day and she’d be gone.

There wasn’t much she could do about that right now. At least it was telling he wasn’t the type of guy out for a fling. Not that she thought that.

She wasn’t going to just disappear on him though, but she wasn’t in a position to ease his mind much about it either.

After making the statement about trying out his tub, she turned and walked down his stairs and into the living room, sitting on the couch and patting the space next to her.

“Come sit by me.”

“Why do I get the feeling that you are going to want to have a long talk?”

“Not long,” she said. “Or it doesn’t have to be. But I think we need to say a few things.”

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