The Invitation by Adriana Locke

Georgia

“This bothers you, doesn’t it?” I take a large bite of a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and then lay my head in the crook of Ripley’s arm. “Cookies in your bed. I bet you’re dying a little inside.”

He hums against my hair. “After going all week and not seeing you, and not being certain I ever would again, you can eat whatever the hell that you want to eat in our bed as long as you’re in it.”

I grin at the our bed line. All night, he keeps slipping little things like that into our conversations. It’s our bed. Our home. Our puppy, Waffles. It’s so damn cute, that’s what it is.

Ripley ran us a bath after he properly welcomed me home, and we sat in the gigantic tub for over an hour just being together. I agreed to let him help move my things tomorrow, which is much faster than I anticipated when I said yes. I hesitated and almost pushed back. Then I remembered that life’s too damn short to keep waiting. Waiting for what, anyway? Time to overthink things? Time to scare the shit out of myself? Time for something to go wrong?

No, thanks. I’m done with all of that.

“Think it’s too soon to ask for a week’s vacation?” he asks, chuckling against my cheek. “I really just need a few days with you.”

“Oh! That reminds me. I quit my job yesterday.”

I stuff the rest of the cookie into my mouth.

“What? Why?”

“Well,” I say, cookie crumbs toppling out of my mouth. Oops. I pause to swallow. “It’s a long story.”

“One I want to hear.”

It’s his tone that says what he means, not the words. He’s worried. He’s concerned. He thinks something happened and he’s two seconds from getting off this bed and going to take care of it.

I’m not sure what, exactly, to tell him. I don’t want to lie to him. And he needs to know what I saw just in case it matters because I don’t know the whole story between the families, nor do I want to. It’s not my business. But this could be awkward.

I sigh. “Well …”

“Well …” he repeats, coaxing me along.

“My boss left a folder on my desk. It was an accident; he didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t realize it was there until I was trying to choke down some applesauce at lunch.”

Ripley tenses beneath me but doesn’t interrupt.

“Coincidentally, it was a folder about the Brewer family,” I say, wincing.

He pulls away, urging me to sit up and face him. So, of course, I do.

His features pull together, puzzled. “What are you talking about, Georgia?”

“It was a legal case, I think. They were suing your family, but I think it was resolved.”

“Babe, who were you working for?”

“Todd Downing.”

Ripley’s eyes almost fall out of his head. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Nope. I’m not.”

He scrubs his hands down his face.

“I don’t know what the situation is between you, but I got that it wasn’t friendly,” I say.

“So what happened? You found the file. Looked through it, I take it. Then what?”

“I found it. I snooped. I didn’t mean to snoop, exactly. It could’ve been ten people’s files because my office was the gathering place for a media packet we were working on. But, yes, I opened it and saw Brewer Group at the top. That caught my interest. Then I saw the details of a court case and notes and …” I frown. “Then I took the folder into Todd’s office, placed it on his desk, and told him I quit.”

I smile nervously.

It takes Ripley a few seconds to get his wits together. Still, I don’t think he can fully process the events.

“Yeah, I’m unemployed again,” I say. “But I’ll find a job. I won’t be dead weight around here.”

A small grin tickles his lips. “I could give a fuck if you ever work a day in your life again.”

“Oh, I’m working.”

“If that makes you happy, then good. But everything you ever need is already taken care of. You know that, right?”

My cheeks flush and I start to speak, but he cuts me off.

“You really quit your job because of the folder?” he asks.

I shrug. “Of course. I’m not working for the enemy.”

“But we weren’t really together.”

I laugh. “First, you know that’s not true. We were together just not … together. And second, even if we weren’t together, my loyalties lie with you. And I told Todd that.”

He moves so quickly I don’t anticipate it. I’m flipped on my back before I know what’s happening. Waffles, who is not supposed to be on the bed, lifts his head from the bottom of the mattress as if to tell us to stop being so loud.

Ripley hovers over me, his eyes twinkling. “You are one of a kind, Peaches.”

“I know. You used to hate me for that.”

He grins. “There’s a thin line between love and hate, you know.”

“I know.” I run my hands along the lines of his shoulders. “I’m just really happy we crossed to the other side.”

Waffles barks, making us laugh.

“There’s a piece of cookie stuck to my arm,” Ripley says, side-eyeing me.

I giggle. “Just remember how badly it hurt not seeing me all week.”

“You’re rotten.”

“I’m yours.”

He buries his face in the crook of my neck, making me squirm.

“You’re damn right you’re mine.” He places a kiss behind my ear. “And I’m all yours.”

“You’re damn right you are.”