He was too cute.
“Hello Alec,” I chuckled.
He walked up behind me. “Hello, Kitten.”
“How many boxes did you get with the van?” I asked.
He snorted and kissed the back of my head. “Nice to see you too, Kitten. I missed you as well.”
Missed me?
He was gone for about an hour.
I rolled my eyes. “Hi, I missed you too... How many boxes did you get?”
Alec laughed and playfully smacked my behind. “Twenty. My brothers are folding them and taping them now. They gave them to me flat and because they were free I didn't wanna complain.”
I smiled, but said nothing as I thought for the millionth time about moving.
“Hey,” Alec murmured in my ear. “Is everything okay?”
No, not at all.
“Yeah... I'm just stressed with the move,” I replied, playing it off like it was nothing.
Alec placed his hands on my arms and gently rubbed up and down. “Are you sure that's all?”
I nodded my head.
“Keela,” Alec began. “Talk to me, what's wrong?”
Everything.
“Nothin', I'm fine,” I assured him.
His silence spoke volumes, so I decided to give him a little piece of what I was thinking.
“I've just never moved into a house with another person before, especially not another person who is my fiancé. It's sinkin' in that we're for real. I was convinced for a long time that you wantin' me was some kind of fluke. I was expectin' you to realise that you could have anyone, so why settle for me? Then you'd up and walk out.”
Alec turned me to face him and leaned his head down so he could press his forehead against mine. “I don't know what else I can do to make you realise you're it for me. I don't see anyone but you. You're my life, Keela. I wish you knew just how much I love you and how lucky I am that you picked me. You don't know how beautiful you are, and I hope you never realise it because if you do, you'll realise you can do better than my sorry ass, then you'll up and leave me.”
Yeah, right.
“Stop it,” I mumbled and tried to pull back.
“No,” Alec stated firmly and held me still. “You are beautiful. You are perfect to me. You are my life. You are never going to convince me that I am worthy of you. Kitten, I love you so much it hurts. Please realise that.”
Oh, Christ.
I was about to cry. Again.
I quickly lifted my hands to my face and covered it completely.
“I hate you!” I said then burst into tears.
I hated everything.
I had this unbelievably beautiful person both inside and out, and he wanted me by his side for life, yet here I was doubting whether or not we were moving too fast. I wanted to be with Alec for the rest of my life, I swear I did... so why the hell did everything we were doing feel like it was too fast?
Alec took my emotional state as a good sign and put his arms around me and cuddled me to him. He thought I was overwhelmed by his profession of love, and I was, but what he didn't realise was that I was close to breaking down and revealing what was really wrong with me.
“Cry baby,” he murmured to me.
I lightly chuckled and pulled back. “I'm fine, it's just the stress of movin' that has me so teary.”
Alec nodded his head and kissed my forehead. “Let's go get a start on boxing and speed this day up. What do you say?”
I forced a smile. “I say lead the way.”
We went out into our sitting room and leaned against the wall and watched everyone. Kane and Aideen were arguing, big shock there—not. Nico and Bronagh were kissing, another big shock—not. And then there was Branna and Ryder who were on their phones, which wasn't a shock either because lately they favoured their phones rather than each other’s company, which I thought was sad.
“What are you both givin' out about now?” I asked Aideen.
She huffed. “He,” she glared at Kane, “said us girls will be useless at packin' and I'm fightin' against it.”
I looked to Kane. “That's a bold statement.”
“But a true one,” he replied.
Alec and his brothers snorted.
I looked over my shoulder to Alec. “What are you laugin' at?”
“Kane,” he replied.
I frowned. “You... agree with him?”
“Say no,” Nico whispered.
I rolled my eyes at his Man Bible advice.
Alec snorted and ignored his brother. “Yeah, I agree with Kane. You four will be no help and you know it.”
The audacity!
“We can bloody be of help and we will be!” I snapped.
“No,” Alec laughed. “You won't.”
I growled, “Do you wanna bet?”
“Yes,” Alec grinned mischievously. “I do.”
“I didn't mean a real bet,” I said, nervously.
Alec smirked. “I did.”
I scoffed. “Really? You do remember what happened the last time we made a bet, don't you?”
Alec chuckled and moved away from me. “Yeah, I won said bet. I got balls deep in your sweetness if I remember correctly.”
Alec's brothers fist bumped him, which caused me to shake my head. Why did men feel the need to congratulate each other about shagging another person?
I rolled my eyes. “And what happened after that?”
Alec frowned. “Hell.”
“Exactly. Bad things happen to us when bets are involved.”
Alec waved me off. “We aren't betting your pus—”
I put my fists up indicating we would thrown down if he said that word.
Alec stopped speaking mid-word to smile at my actions.
“Your private parts aren't the grand prize this time around.” He winked. “I was thinking more along the lines of your culinary skills. How does this sound? If me and my brothers load up our side of the truck first then I win and you cook dinner for a month at our new house.”
I was hesitant.
I enjoyed cooking but only because Alec and myself took turns when it came to the kitchen, so I wasn't sure if accepting the bet was the right thing to do.
Was it worth the risk?
I looked over my shoulder when I felt a sharp poke on my backside.
“We got this,” Branna murmured.
I turned around and folded my arms over my chest as I scanned my teammates if I accepted the bet. All three of them were short, I was the tallest at five foot eight inches and even that was nothing on the brothers' height.