He Loves Me Right, Finally novel Chapter 86

Wynette glanced at the time and realized that in all the rush to get Adriel discharged, neither of them had eaten a single thing all morning.

It was already past eleven.

She started, “Adriel.”

She wanted to ask if he was hungry, and whether she should put something together for them to eat.

Before she could finish, Adriel cut in. “Addy.”

Wynette looked at him with open confusion. What?

She had no idea what he was trying to say.

Adriel raised a brow with quiet patience. “We’re married, even if it’s not public yet. You’re going to have to face my family eventually, and you can’t keep calling me by my name like we’re business contacts. Call me Addy. Like a friend would.”

When he put it that way, Wynette had to admit he had a point. Using his name every time did feel stiff, almost cold.

But jumping straight to a nickname felt like a leap she wasn’t quite ready to make.

Adriel made it look effortless. “From now on, you call me Addy, and I’ll call

you

Winnie.”

He’d rehearsed that name in his head more times than he could count.

It came out sounding warm and natural, like he’d been saying it for years.

Wynette, on the other hand, felt completely off–balance hearing it.

She met his eyes, felt heat climb into her cheeks, and managed a stumbling attempt. “A… Addy.”

“Just takes a little practice.” Adriel smiled, easy and encouraging. \

After that, she couldn’t very well leave the word sitting unused on the tip of her tongue.

She said it quietly a few times in her own head first, then let it out for real. “Addy.”

It came out much more naturally that time.

Adriel’s mouth curved with quiet satisfaction. “Right here.”

That soft, unhurried response did something strange and soothing to the nervous flutter in Wynette’s

chest.

“Keep going. Get comfortable with it.” Adriel made the request without any ceremony,

Wynette picked it up without overthinking it. “Addy. Addy. Addy…”

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Finished

By the end of it, a laugh slipped out of her before she could stop it.

Adriel answered every single one, steady and warm. “I’m right here.”

They looked at each other, both smiling.

Wynette circled back to where she’d started. “Let me make some chicken noodle soup.”

Adriel pushed himself up and followed her. “Let me handle it. You don’t exactly…”

He stopped himself, but not quite fast enough.

He’d been about to say that she couldn’t cook. He knew because the story of Wynette nearly leveling her kitchen while trying to heat up ravioli was practically legend..

A full–blown fire department situation. The whole thing.

Wynette stopped walking and turned around with a puzzled look. “How do you know I can’t cook?”

Adriel hadn’t expected her to stop so suddenly. Her forehead connected squarely with his chest.

Fortunately, she kept her footing this time.

If she hadn’t, Adriel would’ve started to genuinely wonder whether her forehead and his chest were somehow cosmically drawn to each other.

He answered without missing a beat. “Joanne told me. She mentioned the kitchen incident right in front of me.”

He threw Joanne in front of the problem without a moment’s hesitation.

He was absolutely not going to admit that he’d made it his business to know everything that happened in Wynette’s world.

Wynette’s expression cleared immediately when she heard that.

Of course. How have I forgotten about Joanne?

She accepted the explanation without question. It would’ve been absurd to assume he’d gone out of his way to dig that up.

Adriel saw the belief settle across her face and quietly exhaled.

“Tell me what you want,” he said, already rolling up his sleeves. “I’ll make it. Whatever you ask for, I can do

it.”

Wynette gave him a skeptical look. “Bold claim. Don’t write checks you can’t cash. The embarrassment’ll be all yours.”

She was relaxed enough to tease him now, and it felt good.

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Though, really, she couldn’t find any fault with it.

Blaze, seeming entirely unbothered by the expression on her face, walked right in with the bags and set

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Chapter 86 Smack

everything down.

Finished

When he caught sight of his boss occupied in the kitchen, he felt a swell of profound inner satisfaction. All those cooking classes Adriel had signed up for had finally found their purpose. Every single one of them.

Because the moment Adriel found out that Wynette had nearly turned her kitchen into a crater trying to heat up ravioli, he’d enrolled in every cooking and baking class he could find.

He’d had exactly one goal in mind: the possibility of someday making her a meal.

Now that day had arrived, and Blaze was so moved by the sight of it that he was fighting back the urge to set off celebratory fireworks in the front yard.

He set the bags on the counter and turned to Wynette with a pleasant nod. “Ma’am, I’ll be heading out then.”

A good assistant always knew when to clear the room.

Blaze was a very good assistant.

Wynette stared at his retreating figure as he vanished out the door at a pace that suggested something was chasing him, and she felt nothing but puzzlement.

Back in the kitchen, Adriel made a quiet mental note about the way Blaze had addressed Wynette.

He’d be quintupling that month’s bonus the moment he was back at the office.

Adriel cleared his throat. “Winnie, I’ve got flour on my face. Wipe it off for me?”

While she wasn’t looking, he’d reached up and smeared his own flour–dusted hand across his cheek.

He felt that a reasonable, self–aware man should know how to engineer his own moments of closeness.

Wynette turned around and found Adriel’s face absolutely covered in flour, looking for all the world like a very distinguished, very confused tabby cat.

She couldn’t hold back the laugh. She crossed over to him anyway, pulled a damp paper towel free from the roll, and reached up to wipe the flour from his cheek.

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He Loves Me Right, Finally