Seventeen Days (23 page)

He’s yelling. Good. He’s mad, I’m mad. Appears we’re even on that front. 

It takes me a moment to realize we’re stopped in the middle of the street. Horns are honking all around us, and cars are backed up for blocks. Shit. 

“Stop paying attention to them, we’ll move in a minute.
After
I say what I need to fucking say!” Um, okay then. Maybe he’s a bit more pissed off than I am.

“Before you reacted so immaturely, I was processing what you said. Fuck, I’m processing you made plans with me,
in the future.
Then you had to throw it in how we’re coming back here in December. And he’s not coming to us but we’re coming back. Plans that include your aunt coming as well. Staying in his damn house. Take into account you drop all of this on me while I’m driving, and yeah, I’m going to pick up speed. I was floored. Not only because you made plans that included me but those plans involved coming here again. Now, if you’d let me tell you how I’d be happy to spend the holidays here, maybe we can take off and make our flight back home. I’m sure the traffic would be grateful if we’d start moving again.” 

And with that, he takes his foot of the brake and continues our drive to the airport. 

Holy shit.
Remind me not to piss him off again. 

I can honestly say I’ve never been so pissed off before. Sure, the guys have done things at work to piss me off but never on this level. 

Crazy ass woman. 

Frustrating, beautiful, crazy ass woman.

She knows how to get under my skin. Her making all those plans didn’t upset me, not in the slightest. It was her assuming she pissed me off,
that
pissed me off. Not to mention she included Savannah in these plans. How is she going to take being in the same city as Julian? Not to mention in the same space? The same fucking apartment! 

At least she has a few months to prepare herself. It’s almost August already. Where the hell did this summer go? 

She’s silent on the rest of the drive to the airport. Good. We could use a few moments of silence to deal with everything. If she knew how thrilled I am, she made future plans with me, she never would have gotten so upset. For fuck’s sake she tried to get out of a moving car! 

While she was off having lunch with Julian, I was making future plans of my own. Insane plans. Ring buying type of plans. Meeting with a jeweler last minute on a Tuesday in Paris wasn’t easy. The concierge had to call in a few favors. Favors that didn’t come cheap. Good thing I planned on spending a good chunk of my savings already, when and if I worked up the nerve to ever ask a woman to commit her life to me. 

Jacques agreed to design a ring for Morgan, and I commissioned him right on the spot. He’s coming to the States in three weeks and I’ll meet with him again to give him my mother’s ring to use in the new ring I plan on giving to her on Christmas. Another reason why her overreaction caused me to get so upset. It’s not her fault I was already planning something so big. It’s a blessing in disguise that she made those plans to include those closest to her. I was already planning a quick trip back to make it official and ask Julian for her hand. 

Her plans work out perfectly, actually. If she knew what I had been doing while she was at lunch, she’d run as fast as she can. Fuck, a week ago, I would’ve run myself. 

After my parents died, I didn’t see anyone in my future. I didn’t plan on falling in love. Ever. Was one-hundred percent committed to the bachelor lifestyle. 

Making love to her only aided in my new plans. I already owned her heart—as she owns mine—but now I own her body as well. 

She’s still silent as I pull the car into the rental car lot. “Hey, Red, will you grab the bags while I drop off the keys?” Not answering me, she gets out of the car, grabs the bags, and walks away, all before I get my door open. She can stay pissed. Maybe we should plan all future travels to be by land or sea. Flying seems to piss her off.  

There’s no line at the rental counter so it only takes me a couple of minutes to drop off the car. Paying a small fee for not replacing the fuel we used. 

She’s sitting on a bench not far from the doors when I make my way over to her. 

“I’m sorry, Red. I didn’t mean to get so upset with you but you were about to jump out of a moving vehicle. You could’ve been seriously injured all because you thought that you pissed me off. I’ve only recently found you, what makes you think I want to lose you?” 

If anything happened to her, it’d slay me. 

“I wasn’t actually going to jump out, Harrison. I’m not
that
insane. Only slightly.” Is she joking? Does she think she’s insane? Seeing the smirk on her face is answer enough—she’s teasing. Which can only mean she’s no longer pissed off. 

“C’mere, babe. I need to feel you in my arms.” Pulling her to her feet, I hug her to me as hard as I can, whispering in her ear, “You’re it for me, Morgan. There will never be anyone else. You’re my future.” 

“You’re it for me too,” she whispers. 

“Now, we both need to convince Savannah to join us. Heaven help us. We’ll need all the help we can get. The gift I picked up for her should help, at least a little.” 

After Jacques left our meeting, I ran out to grab lunch and a small keepsake for Savannah. It was meant to be a token of our time here, from the both of us. Now, it’ll help aid us in getting her to agree to come back here with us in December. 

“What did you end up getting her? I never did ask what you did while I was away today. Did you have fun exploring the city on your own?” Not wanting to tell her the whole truth of what I did, I fill her in on the shops I visited and the gift we got for Savannah. 

“I can’t wait to see it. Wait, is it packed away nicely or can I see it before we check into our flight?” 

“No, it’s not here. It’ll be shipped to my place. There’s no way I wanted the hassle of traveling with a painting. Shipping was so much easier. I’ll show it to you before she receives it.” Placing a quick kiss on her lips, I bend to grab our bags and check into our flight. “Let’s get home, Red.” 

The next morning, I wake to an empty bed. Did I dream she stayed over? No, her pillow is still warm, she definitely slept here. Maybe she’s in the shower. 

It’s Wednesday, and we should be heading to work soon, but when we landed, I was able to get ahold of Gentry and he called Thad and they’ll take over my tour this morning. I’m betting Steve won’t be too happy to learn he’ll be doing the small tour on his own. But it can’t be helped. I’m too fucking tried to take a tour out today. Besides, I
had
planned on spending the whole day in bed with my woman. 

Tossing the sheet aside, I go in search of Red. Not hearing the shower, I don’t check the bathroom before heading out of the bedroom. She’s not in the kitchen, or the living room. Where the hell is she? Where the hell is Dog? First I wake to no warm woman in my bed, and now I have a missing dog? Then I hear it. Her laughter. Looking out the front window, I see her and Dog playing in the yard. By watching him playing with her you’d never guess he’s so old. Instead of disturbing them, I head back into the kitchen and start to make us breakfast. 

Setting about to make the coffee first, I get it going before I open the fridge and find nothing. Shit, I forgot I needed to go grocery shopping. Last minute trips to Paris weren’t in my plans for my days off. Groceries, now those were in my plans. 

As I’m pouring two cups of steaming coffee, I hear the front door open and the click-click-click of Dog’s feet on the hardwood floors.

“Good morning,” she says as she wraps her arms around me from behind and squeezes me tight.
I could get used to this.
 

“Mornin’, beautiful. Thank you for taking out the old man. Though he does have a doggy door for such things.” 

“Oh, I didn’t take him outside. He was already there when I stepped out to watch the sunrise. I’ve never seen a sunrise before this morning. Isn’t that sad, Harrison? What kind of person doesn’t see a frickin’ sunrise before they’re eighteen?”

“Babe, it’s not sad. You didn’t grow up in a place where you could fully appreciate a sunrise. That’s all.” Where would she go to see one in New York? Maybe on top of the Empire State, but I'm guessing you can’t go up there so early in the day.

“I’ve traveled to places where I should have been able to see one. Only I never took the time to see one. I’m sure I was probably too busy sleeping off the night before to care about waking before noon.” 

Taking another a sip of my coffee, I tell her, “I’m glad you took the time to see it today then since it’s made you so happy. While you were outside, I peeked inside my fridge and found it sorely lacking. Do you want to go out and grab breakfast with me, or would you like me to drop you off at Savannah’s and bring us all back some breakfast?” 

Rinsing her mug in the sink, she turns to me. “I can think of something else I’d like for breakfast.”

Now,
that
is something I can get onboard with. 

“Why don’t you show me.” It’s not a question, it’s a dare. One she gladly accepts.

After “breakfast”, Harrison dropped me off at my aunt’s. Walking up the front steps, I notice her truck is still in the driveway.
Didn’t she have to work today?
At least, it’s what she said when we stopped over last night to grab Dog before heading over to Harrison’s for the night. 

She’s sitting in the recliner when I walk in. “Is everything okay, Aunt Savannah? Why aren’t you at work?”

“Yes, everything is fine, sweet girl. My first appointment called and canceled so I came back home. And I didn’t have another scheduled until after lunch. I was sitting here waiting for you. I figured you’d be here sooner or later. Harrison is an early riser.”
In more ways than one.
 

“Oh, well, that’s cool. He went to grab us breakfast and will be back shortly. I was going to take a quick shower, but it can wait. What’s up?” 

Taking a seat on the couch, I wait for her to say what’s weighing on her mind.  

“When I checked my emails this morning there was one from Julian, asking about holiday plans and for me to let him know if there were any issues. Only issue is, I didn’t make any such plans. So that leaves you. Did you make plans with Julian for Christmas?”