The Fighter and His Tiger (Unexpected Love #1)

22. Sunday Week Seven (pt2.)

My little diagram of Rei's house 😂 I hope it makes sense 😂😂^

22. Sunday Week Seven (pt2.)

As soon as we entered the house, Ty ran into Eli's arms as if he had known him since birth. What the hell?

My eyes narrowed at the sight of Eli crouched down in the kitchen talking to my little brother with my Nan in the background making dinner; this was wrong.

I cleared my throat to gain their attention before looking directly at Tyler, "shower, now," I demanded.

Of course, he argued with me, "but I had one yesterday."

"So? Do you know how many diseases you can pick up in 24 hours?" He looked confused by my question but I didn't care as I pointed to the bathroom, "you go now or I come with you and scrub you clean myself."

He huffed and mumbled about how unfair I was as he stomped off to the shower. He was almost 6 but Nan had always said that if you can't learn to clean yourself from a young age then you were never really clean as an adult. Made zero sense but then again, neither did she...

Eli stood up from his crouch and joined me in the living room a smirk gracing his gorgeous face, "jealous, tigru," he raised a hand and tucked a curl behind my ear as he spoke.

"Of what?" My eyebrows furrowed at his question

"Ty clearly likes me more than he likes you."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, you've met him, what, twice?" I stated, feeling defensive and trapped in my own home. I stepped away from him, further into the living room and away from my Nan who was whistling away in the kitchen. Conflicted by my emotions I started fussing with things in the lounge; tidying away Ty's toys, straightening the cushions.

"Three times actually," he had followed me into the lounge but he grabbed my hand and tugged me to face him. "Hey," he said, trying to gain my attention. Still, I wouldn't meet his gaze so he cupped my cheek and forced me to look straight at him. His head was tilted slightly to the side and his eyes were calculating as they scanned my face, "what's wrong?"

Annoyed that he could read me so well, I tugged myself out of his hold, "nothing, why would anything be wrong?" I ran my hands through my hair before stepping back, further away from him.

Eli continued to peer at me in question with his arms crossed on his chest, he gave me a pointed look with his eyebrow raised, "Rei..."

I sighed, "fine," my eyes flickered to him but I couldn't bring myself to look directly at him as I spoke, "it feels weird, okay?" At his look of confusion, I carried on, "having you here, in my home, with my family. I've never had anyone here before," my eyes flickered to his cobalt ones again, "I've never had a boy here before," I stated carefully, "other than Noah, obviously," I added as an afterthought.

He grunted, "obviously."

"I just," I took a deep breath in, "I don't know, having you here is kinda overwhelming. But I don't think it's the having you here which is freaking me out," I met his stare head-on before I finished, "I think it's that I like it."

My bottom lip was getting gnawed to pieces as I shuffled uncomfortably on my feet. Eli stepped closer to me and reached up to pull my bottom lip out from my teeth with his thumb. He then ran his thumb across my bottom lip before gripping my chin in his fingers, tilting my head back and placing a soft kiss against my lips.

"I like it too," he whispered.

A smile broke free on my lips but the moment was ruined by my Nan, "dinner's done," she practically screamed from the kitchen. Our living room/kitchen area was open plan so there was zero need for her to yell. When I glared at her, her response was, "what? I wanted to make sure you could hear me over all your bullshit."