“Mornin’,” I replied, snuggling deeper into his warm, hard body. Then I declared, “I have to apologize.”
He did a slow blink and asked, “For what?”
“For going back on the promise I made myself last Sunday that I’d make you breakfast in bed every Sunday morning until the day my arthritic hands couldn’t crack open an egg.” I watched his face get soft(er) and thus hot(ter) and kept talking. “But I have to talk with Lee, and I have to get to Fortnum’s to check in.” I snuggled even closer and finished on a whisper, “But you pick a day this week, I’ll make up for it.”
“You don’t have to make up for it, Ally,” he replied.
“Yes, I do.”
“Babe, you don’t.”
“Babe, you liked it,” I stated. “And I liked that you liked it. And I like doing things for you that you like. So give that to me and think on a day when you’ll take my rain check.”
It was him that pulled me closer when he said, “All right, honey.”
I kept snuggled close as I moved on to the hard part. “There’s something else I need to tell you when you’re in a sweet, waking up Sunday morning mood.”
His eyes came alert and his lips muttered, “Oh shit.”
Oh yeah, oh shit.
“Okay, there hasn’t been a good time to tell you this because there is no good time to tell you this, but also things have been kinda busy, so I’m picking now because you need to know,” I explained.
“Just tell me, Ally,” Ren demanded.
“I know who wrote that book. She’s a member of the Fortnum’s family. Her name is Jane,” I said quickly.
“Fuck,” he growled, “Seriously?”
“I don’t know if you’ve met her but—”
“Does your brother know?” he cut me off to ask.
“Which one?” I asked back.
“Either one, Ally,” he clipped, impatient.
“Um… well, yeah. Both of them do.”
“And what’re they doin’ about this shit?”
“Nothing.”
Ren stared at me a beat before he asked, “Nothing?”
“She’s a member of the family, honey,” I said quietly.
“Who’s tradin’ on the private lives of that family,” Ren returned.
“Who’s weaving fairytales,” I countered and slid up so we were eye to eye. “She’s wanted this her whole life.”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“It’s beautiful, Ren. All of it. Why shouldn’t the world know?”
His head jerked against the pillow and he clamped his mouth shut.
“I’m not mad,” I told him. “None of the girls are mad. Neither Hank nor Lee freaked about it. And I want you to try to dig deep in you to find that to give to Jane because I care about her. And I believe in what she’s doing.” I shot him a smile. “Everyone should know how righteous we are.”
“Does it matter to you that I don’t want everyone to know how righteous I am?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “And if you dig deep and find that you can’t get there, you tell me. I’ll do what I can. In the meantime, I think we both need to read Indy and Lee’s book so we know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
He drew in a breath before he murmured, “That I can do.” My lips started turning up again, but his arms gave me a squeeze. “I don’t wanna do it, babe. That kind of book is not my thing and there are things about your brother and his woman I do not want to know…” He paused. “Like everything.”
I again had to fight my lips turning up as he carried on.
“But I should know how bad it is before I make a decision.”
“Or how good it is.” I gave him an alternate option.
“Whatever,” he mumbled.
I let loose my grin.
Ren caught it. The irritation leaked out of his eyes and he sighed.
Loved my man.
