Page 144 of Unravel Me

And I’m gonna take her home and worship her.

I pull back, just an inch, Rosie’s trembling fingers on my face, mine buried in her hair.

“Hey, trouble,” I murmur, and she grins.

“Hey, you.”

CHAPTER33

I THINK I’VE TRANSCENDED

ADAM

I wasn’t expecting this.

Fuck, I wasnotexpecting this.

I race around my room, tossing dirty clothes in the hamper, scrubbing at the scuff on the bathroom mirror, washing away the drop of toothpaste that fell to my sink right before I left for my game. I hear Rosie say a final goodnight to Connor down the hall, the click of his bedroom door, and I throw myself on top of my bed, tugging at the covers to make them look neat and tidy.

Fucking figures, the one time I’m running late and don’t have time to clean before leaving my house, Rosie comes home with me.

The bedroom door opens when I’m mid–karate chop on a pillow, and when my gaze collides with Rosie’s amused one, I stop. Gently, I finish fluffing the pillows, then prop myself up on my side, my cheek on my fist, elbow on the mattress.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing?” she asks, and every step she takes closer to me sends my heart into overdrive.

“I was just…I was…cleaning,” I finish on a sigh, taking a moment to starfish on the bed before hopping off it, joining her at my nightstand. “I didn’t have time to clean before I left for hockey, and I didn’t want you to think I’m messy.”

“Adam, I’msomessy.”

“Yeah, but your mess is organized chaos. Mine is just…” I circle a hand around the mess on my nightstand, searching for the word I’m looking for, but all hope is lost when I see what I’ve left on the table. “Oh shit.”

Rosie’s gaze follows mine, and when I try to step in front of the table, she elbows me out of the way. “What’s this?”

“What’s what?”

She holds up the book from my nightstand. “This.”

I swallow down the nerves that want to eat me alive. Just when I was feeling so confident thirty minutes ago too. “I’ve been doing a little light reading.”

“Light reading?” She turns the book over in her hands. “Co-Parent, Not Stepparent: How to throw out the labels and support your partner so you can be the best co-parent you can be.”

“Okay, well, you didn’t have to read the title out loud.”Geez.

“How long have you had this?”

I rub the back of my neck. “A little while. I wanted to be perfect for you and Connor if you ever gave me a second chance.”

She stares at me for a long moment, her throat bobbing. Then, she points at the colored sticky tabs and highlighter on my nightstand. “And those?”

I clear my throat into my first. “I, uh…I’ve been tabbing the important parts. So I can go back to them later.”

“You’ve been annotating a book about how to be a good partner and stepfather?”

“Yeah, I guess. Well, I mean, the book says one of the most important things is to scrap the stepparent label. You’re supposed to love the kid as if they’re your own. But that’s easy, because, hello, I already do love Connor like he’s my own.”

Tears well in Rosie’s eyes, and they make me frantic. I want to stop them, so I open the drawer and pull out my pen and notebook.

---