In the four weeks it took for Feyre to heal completely and to be cleared by Thesan to return to work, Rhys found himself spending increasingly larger amounts of time at his office. He had discussed it with Feyre and she had been very sure she would be fine home by herself or even with Nuala and Cerridwen for him to work full days at the office from the beginning. But he hadn't been able to stay away that long.
The first week he had worked half days, going in late and leaving before the end of the day. It had taken him the whole week to get a grasp on the full situation and he had realized Cassian had been right. It had led him to working two full days and three half days for the second week, and four full days and one half day on the third week. The fourth week he had spent his normal scheduled time in the office but had made a point not to get stuck working late.
Feyre had been quite content to stay home without him. She had made fast friends with Nuala and Cerridwen who kept close eyes on her while she worked through the classes Azriel had set her up with. Some nights Rhys had come home to Feyre on the phone with Azriel asking him questions about assignments she needed help with. Some nights she had even let him help when she had gotten too frustrated.
But Azriel was right about Feyre getting her education. It wasn't much to get her GED figured out, but it empowered her. And some nights he came home to her reading work reports on her computer or on his when she had gotten better with the stairs. It had given him quite a bit to consider.
On the Friday Feyre finally was able to remove her braces and was given the all clear to return to work, Rhys had found her in the kitchen slowly sketching out a design on a rather large piece of canvas.
"I hope it's okay," she turned to look at him when he made his presence known. "I had a driver take me to the art store and I thought this might be the best place to work."
"Would you like a studio?" He asked. "Do you want a place you can work in that is all yours?"
"It would be nice," she admitted. "But I really don't want to be a bother."
"You are hardly a bother," he snorted and bent to press a kiss to her neck. He marveled at the feel of it under his lips after only touching the hard brace for the last four weeks. He hadn't believed that would be something he missed so much, to be able to kiss her neck, to see her neck with her hair pulled back. "The room on the third floor near my office is open. There's no bed in it and it would be quite easy to set you up in there."
"The room is carpeted though. I wouldn't want to stain anything with paint," she told him after a moment. He grinned as he nuzzled her shoulder. He hadn't shown her that room at all because it was empty, but he didn't doubt she had poked around. After four weeks bound to the townhouse by injuries, he had no doubt she had looked into every room to see what was there.
"We can tear up the carpet and put in something else, hardwood or tile. Whatever you prefer. Or we can get rugs if you don't wish to wait that long." He stared down at the small drawing she had been copying onto the canvas. It was monochromatic, colored in with just a pencil. It showed an abstract mountain with various lines giving it depth and texture. Above the mountain peak sat three bright stars. The background was colored in dark while the mountain and stars were left white. It was simple and yet, it called to him. "Whenever you are ready we can go and see what you'd like to do to the space."
"What do you mean 'do to the space'?" She asked, twisting around in her chair,
"I mean paint the walls, change out the flooring, add furniture," he explained.
"I couldn't do that, it's your house," she turned to look at him.
"And you live here. I'd rather you make yourself at home." He waited for her agreement. Instead she turned to look up at him.
"Shouldn't I start looking for my own place? Cauldron knows you pay me enough to do so and I've intruded on your hospitality for quite some time," she asked.
"I don't see why you should leave. Most couples work towards moving in together. We just made it happen a little sooner," he pulled her into his arms. "Unless you'd like to find a place together that you had some decision in." He paused for a moment, considering. "Or if you like the location of this place, we can always redecorate to accommodate both our styles. I probably need new carpets anyway, the paint could be changed out, do whatever you want with the kitchen but I'd run it by Nuala and Cerridwen, and possibly Cassian," he stopped when she kissed the corner of his mouth.
"I like how this place looks; we don't need to redecorate," she rose up on her toes to kiss him again. "Let's go take a look at that room."
It took less than an hour to convince Feyre that it was perfectly fine to want the carpet gone from the room and even less time to convince her she could paint the walls, and it didn't just have to be a solid color. She could paint murals if she wanted. It had her mind spinning in ways he liked.
"We should go tonight to order flooring," Rhys told her.
"Tonight?" She turned to look at him and he only smiled at her.
"You've been cooped up here for four weeks. I'm sure you'd like to get out more than going to the art supply store," he reasoned. She grinned up at him once more. "And then you can actually look at flooring and decide what you want to do."
They measured the room for reference and then Rhys drove Feyre to find flooring she liked. When everything was ordered and Rhys had called Cassian and Azriel to ask them for their help over the weekend, they drove to her art supply store to buy proper easels, and far more supplies than he was sure she had ever bought for herself before.
"What am I going to do with all of this?" Feyre demanded as he followed behind her and added five more of everything she picked up into the cart.
"There's a closet in the room. It will be storage for all of your supplies," he smiled at her. "You're a great artist, Feyre. I'd hope you'd use that skill even if it's just to amuse yourself." He kissed her nose when she wrinkled it at him. "And then we can get dinner and head home and start ripping up your carpet."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that was a crude attempt at sexual innuendo," Feyre murmured.
"It can have a double meaning if you want," he teased. "But I was thinking of letting you have a night to settle in before I attack you."
"Oh really? I'm surprised," she laughed.
"Why? I can have restraint!" He touched his chest in mock hurt.
"I heard you moaning in your sleep last night, it accompanied some very suggestive movements and a certain something standing at attention," she replied. He searched her face for any trace of a joke but didn't find anything more than her normal amusement at being able to tease him. She wasn't making it up.
"How often has that happened?" He asked, swallowing hard. He remembered those dreams enough to know they had been vivid, about Feyre, and he had been completely certain they had stayed just dreams as the boxers he wore to bed were clean still when he woke.
"Every few nights or so," she replied, turning back to look between two different shades of red.
"I haven't hurt you, have I?" He asked, horrified. He had been so careful. He had been careful of her injuries to the point he had restrained himself even in kissing her.
"No, Rhys, you have not. I didn't even bother waking you. That should say something," she glanced back at him. "If it truly bothered me, I would have woken you and made you face away." She glanced back once more, "and they sounded like such good dreams, I was a little jealous of dream me. Or I hope it was dream me."
"As if I could dream of anyone else," he assured her. "Perhaps we should get dinner to go and I could show you exactly what those dreams were about."
His mind was filled with every highly indecent thought possible as she swished her hips in front of him and bent over to pick up something low on a self. He didn't even pay half a thought to what she was putting in the cart as they walked to the front and he mindlessly paid for everything, only stopping to grab a business card for the store to later set up a charge account or buy the place through Velaris. The rational part of his mind was still somewhat functioning. He had noted on the way in that it was a small business, not some chain store. He would look into them at another time and see what they were about, though he doubted Feyre would support any business that wasn't worth his time.
They did stop for dinner, just long enough to pick up two large pizzas. They had gotten home, unloaded the car, eaten with Feyre sitting on his lap, and then he hadn't waited for getting her upstairs. He had laid her out on the dining table, after making sure the shades had been drawn, and had taken as much 'dessert' as he had wanted.
In the morning he had regretted his lack of restraint almost instantly as Feyre let out a soft cry of pain the moment she had moved. Her hand had gone straight to her neck to rub at the pain. He hadn't even given a thought to his own nudity as he had wrenched open the bedroom door to run down to the kitchen. Somewhere he had registered two pairs of hazel eyes going wide at the sight of him rummaging in the freezer but he hadn't paid much attention as he had turned to run the ice pack back up to Feyre. She was still hissing in pain as she rubbed at a knot but let out a soft moan when he set the ice pack right on the spot.
"Thank you," she whispered when he held it in place. "Do I smell bacon?"
"I assume Cassian," Rhys murmured, trying to calm his racing heart. He had hurt Feyre.
"And you ran down there naked," she laughed after a moment. "Cassian must be scandalized. I hope he doesn't burn breakfast because he's trying to wash his eyes."
"I hope that's not a comment on how you feel how I look without clothes," he teased back. "Though given how much you enjoy staring at me, I'm going to go with you are teasing."
"Well, my sisters might be pretty, but I don't want to see them naked. I'm sure your brothers feel the same. I mean, do you want to see Cassian naked?" She turned her eyes on him.
"I have seen Cassian naked more times than I can count. The image is burned into my mind forever," he nuzzled in against her cheek. "I'm sorry, Darling."
"It's a cramp, or a knot. That isn't your fault," she countered. "It's bound to happen until my body gets used to not having a brace on all the time. Thesan told me it was normal."
"I pushed you too hard last night," he pressed.
"No," she assured him. "It's just a cramp. We should get up. We asked Cassian and Azriel to come help, so we should at least get up."
"Rest a moment longer," he begged. But Feyre was stubborn and wiggled out of his hold. She went into the closet to pull on a long t-shirt and a pair of leggings and then into the bathroom to fix her hair. Rhys got up to follow only because he didn't want her out of his sight.
"Are you decent this time?" Cassian demanded, his eyes dutifully on the pan in front of him while Azriel buried his face in the newspaper as they came into the kitchen.
"No," Feyre teased and took up a stool. Rhys followed behind her with the ice pack and replaced it gently over the place she had been massaging. He saw Cassian and Azriel very slowly peek over. He wasn't sure if they were checking if it was safe or trying to steal a glance at a supposedly indecent Feyre. "I, for one, am never decent," she declared as she saw them looking.
"Can I talk you into not helping today?" He twisted her stool to look her in the eye. Perhaps there was a chance she'd listen to his pleading if she could see what it meant to him. "Please."
"It's a knot, Rhys. I'm not going to rebreak my neck because of sex or because we're doing some renovating upstairs. I'm fine and you're over reacting." She twisted back in her stool and adjusted the ice pack.
"If I had a choice, Feyre, I'd pick anything else than trying to renovate a room with these two," Azriel murmured with a glance to Rhys. "These two can't agree on what's right. They'll argue all day about who knows the best way to do something and then while they are pouting I just fix it." Rhys was about to protest but it was an accurate statement and he knew Azriel was trying to help him discourage Feyre from doing anything too hard.
"Rhys just refuses to admit I might know what I'm doing, especially in laying tile. Him and his pretty rich boy hands rarely see real work," Cassian snorted. "If he can't intimidate the tile into place, then he doesn't know what to do."
"And if Cassian can't use brute force, it's apparently not being done right," Rhys shot back.
"I see your point," Feyre sighed to Azriel. "You'll come let me know if you need me to get them in line?"
"You have my word," Azriel assured her. "And I'm thinking I'd like to see what progress you make on that," he nodded to the canvas he had likely moved off of the kitchen island when Cassian started cooking.
They ate together at the kitchen island, omelets thanks to Cassian's skills and then Rhys led his brothers to the boxes he hadn't unloaded from his car the night before, tiling designed to look like wood. The sales associate had assured Feyre it would be the better option to keep staining hard wood to a minimum and still look beautiful and homey. The choice had required him to need to buy some different sub flooring materials but it would be worth it. If he could get Feyre to claim some space as her own, then perhaps she'd never question leaving again unless they had to.
"You seemed a little panicked this morning, Brother," Cassian teased as they set about tearing up the carpet he hadn't gotten to at all the night before. "Work her too hard on her first day free from braces and casts?"
"You want details?" Rhys asked. They had once shared details of their love lives but after Amarantha, Rhys had stopped taking part and his brothers hadn't asked for any details involving Feyre.
"No, Cauldron, no!" Cassian turned back to the carpet. "I regret opening my mouth."
"There's a first," Azriel chuckled. "Not that Feyre isn't an attractive woman but she's practically our sister now. I don't ever want to hear about your sex life."
Rhys laughed, feeling the tension that had gathered in his shoulders that morning loosen. He relaxed knowing Feyre had been setting up to paint in the kitchen and that his brothers would help him get the work done.
They worked through the better part of the morning prepping the floor and laying down cement board. They only stopped for lunch which Feyre had taken the liberty of ordering and having delivered just before they even thought about it. Then they returned to laying tile. Surprisingly, things moved along nicely and soon the entire floor was covered in a solid layer of tile that looked like a rich, dark hardwood.
"Now Feyre just needs to decide what she's doing with the walls and I think she's all set for now, until she decides she wants to change something else," Rhys admitted when they finally stepped back and saw the entire floor fully laid out.
"She has great taste," Cassian admitted. "I might put this tile in my kitchen."
"Of course she has great taste. She's dating me," Rhys scoffed.
"I've been meaning to ask," Azriel moved to close the door most of the way. "Feyre intends to return to work on Monday, yes?"
"That's her plan currently," Rhys looked to his brother.
"When are you planning to tell her you hired Lucien Vanserra as your personal assistant and that she's currently displaced?" Azriel pressed.
"She's not completely displaced," Rhys shot back. "And I was planning on talking to her last night over dinner but we got side tracked by this project." He rubbed his face. He had meant to sit Feyre down and talk about her position at the company.
Originally it had been a temporary solution to Feyre being gone and him still needing assistance but Lucien had been working for him the last two weeks and had been doing a fantastic job. He couldn't think of where he could possibly send Lucien elsewhere in the company but he could imagine where he would set Feyre. Getting her GED was a start and if she took some business classes she'd be set, but all she required was a little direction and she'd do well wherever he put her.
"I'll talk to her tonight after our family dinner."