Page 69 of Wild Justice

The king-sized bed in Lulu’s room had been the toughest, and they’d left it for last. She’d picked a modern style with a dark oak padded headboard, and the frame had built-in drawers underneath. But of course, that meant that they had to construct the drawers which took a good bit of time. By the time they finished, they were tired, giggling, and wanting another pastry from the box in the kitchen.

“We have to put the sheets on,” Lulu instructed after they’d put the mattress in place. “I want to see the bed all made up with the pillows and everything. My friends helped me pick it out. I’m not great with what color goes with what.”

It simply wasn’t fair that Lulu looked completely adorable after their menial labor. Her chocolate brown hair - which had been piled on top of her head this morning - had fallen down around her shoulders, and it was all he could do not to reach out and run his fingers through those silken strands.

Her cheeks were pink with the effort of tossing around a king-sized memory foam mattress after putting together the heavy oak bed frame and headboard. She hadn’t made him do everything because “he was a guy” either. She’d been in there just as much as he’d been, and she had her own toolbox that Chase had given her as a housewarming gift.

“Okay, let’s go then,” he said as she disappeared into her walk-in closet.

She returned, her arms full of linens.

“I already washed them.”

“You’ll get no judgment from me.”

With Lulu on one side of the bed, and Kai on the other, they managed to wrangle the mattress cover, the fitted and flat sheet, a cozy blanket, and then the brightly colored comforter on the bed.

“Okay, now the pillows,” she commanded, pointing to a pile of them on the floor.

There had to be at least a dozen or so, all color-coordinating with the comforter and sheets.

“That’s a lot of pillows,” he observed. “You’re only one person.”

“I’ll only sleep with the bed pillows,” she said with an eye roll. “The other pillows are for decoration.”

“Call me a Neanderthal, but I don’t have any pillows in my house that are for decoration. They’re for use or they’re not there.”

“Are you helping me or not?”

“I am. Just making an observation.”

It only took a few extra moments to arrange them on the bed, although Lulu kept fussing with them as if it mattered where the blue throw pillow was located compared to the green.

It didn’t matter at all.But what do I know? I’m a guy.

Wearing a huge smile, Lulu stepped back to survey her work.

“It’s perfect. I love it.”

It did look nice. Like something out of a magazine. All those pillows were lovely to look at but not terribly practical. Was Lulu going to take them off every night and then put them back in the morning?

But it was almost too perfect.

Lulu wasn’t the perfection type either. She didn’t care if her lipstick was touched up, or her hair was windswept. She didn’t sweat the small stuff. She might nitpick during a murder investigation, but not about whether her sandwich was prepared exactly to specifications.

Kai simply couldn’t help himself.

He picked up the green throw pillow and casually tossed it on the floor, watching her reaction closely. Would she explode? Or would she laugh? His bet was on the latter.

She pulled her brows together for a moment as if she was surprised by his action, but then a smile bloomed on her far too beautiful face.

“You threw my pillow on the floor.”

“I did.”

“You know that’s just going to start a fight, right?”

“I’m counting on it, sweetheart.”

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