Crossroads (Book Three)

Chapter 3

Lyla

I walk into my bedroom carrying a beer in each hand and try my best not to laugh at the scene in front of me. Shawn is laying on his side on my floor with his back towards me as he struggles to put together my Ikea bed frame. I can hear him mumbling curse words under his breath before I make my presence known.

"How's it goin' in here?"

Shawn rolls onto his back and sits up to face me as I hold his beer out to him. He smiles as he takes it from me.

"Thanks. It's coming along." He takes a long swig before he sighs and turns back towards the bed frame.

We have been at this for about two hours now, it's one of the last few pieces of furniture to assemble. It's almost eight o'clock and we got the keys to my new apartment around noon. My parents met us in the parking lot, towing a U-Haul behind their SUV filled with all my belongings they drove up from Harrington. The four of us went straight to work carrying everything up to my apartment, thankful that the building manager blocked off one of the elevators for us.

It took longer then I expected to just move everything up and we were done probably around three o'clock. My parents stuck around for a late lunch and we just ordered in pizza while my mom and I started unpacking all the kitchen boxes and my dad and Shawn setup the TV and internet.

They left us around six o'clock and Shawn dove right into the bed frame, reasoning it was the most important piece of furniture as he wiggled his eyebrows at me. He had been adamant he would have it all assembled in half an hour, yet here we are.

"Can you hand me that Allan key?" He asks as he points to it on the floor by my feet. I pick it up and bring it over to him.

"Do you need a hand with anything?" I offer.

"No, I'm good here beautiful," he assures me with a quick smile before his focus returns to the bed. I admit it is starting to actually look more like a bed frame at this point. The instructions that came with it are sprawled out on the floor beside Shawn as he studies them, his lips moving silently as he reads the directions to himself.

I leave him in the bedroom and walk back out to the common area. I look around my new apartment and sigh contently. I'm already in love with this space and can't wait for Megan to get here later this week. I take a sip of my beer and walk over to the kitchen island.

The pizza from lunch is still sitting out and I open it, pulling a slice out and taking a bite. It should be a sin how good pizza is, even cold it just hits right. I put the slice back in the box, resisting the urge to devour what's left inside of it.

"Done!" I hear Shawn's triumphant voice call from my bedroom and I make my way back to it.

I walk through the doorway to find Shawn standing with his hands resting on his hips as he grins proudly down at the bed frame. I walk over to his side and lean up to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"You're so handy," I tell him as I add in a smack on his ass. He glances down to me at his side and grins as he shakes his head playfully rolling his eyes.

We both drag my mattress in from the living room and lay it down onto the frame. I already dug through my boxes and set aside my bed sheets so we quickly make the bed together. When I throw the last pillow onto the bed we both fall back onto it, letting out tired sighs as we take our first official break of the day.

I roll onto my side to face Shawn as he lays on his back with his eyes closed. I pull my phone from my pocket and see that it's passed eight thirty. I hear Shawn's stomach growl next to me and look over to watch his eyes open. He turns his head and grins at me, his dimples appearing.