“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” I tease, and she snorts.
“It’s not. Promise,” she says, and I chance a glance to read her face. Her cheeks are bright pink, and a small smile sits on her sweet lips. “And you can tell me it’s none of my business. But are you paying monthly for the condo?”
While I’m confused why she wants to know, I say, “No. We bought it outright after a year of NIL agreements.”
She nods. “So, if you were to move out, Louis wouldn’t be in a pinch.”
I look over at her, but she’s not looking at me. She’s looking at our hands, rubbing the underside of my hand with her thumb. “Not at all,” I answer, my heart kicking up.
Silence fills the car and I almost ask why, but I’ve dumped the puck in her zone. This is all her. I think I know what she is asking, but I’m not coming out and saying it in case I’m jumping the gun. She starts to squirm, and I almost help her out, though I feel if I do, I’ll admit that I’m obsessed with her, love her, and want to live with her—all in the same sentence.
A girl may like a guy who expresses himself, but I sound really needy and obsessed in my head.
“How do you see the future?”
She’s killing me. “The future? Or our future?”
I feel her gaze on me. In the smallest voice possible, she answers, “Ours.”
My heart aches in my chest as I squeeze her hand. “I see us finishing school, figuring out where we’ll end up, maybe living apart for a bit, and then settling down together. Marriage, kids, a pet, the whole nine.”
I probably could have left off that last part, but…well, here we are. I hear her suck in a breath before she asks, “So, together?”
I scoff. “Kinda.”
She snorts. “Maybe part time,” she teases, and I grin.
“Or on all the days that end in Y.”
Her laughter sends good shivers down my spine. “But together.”
“Totally together,” I assure her, and I see her nod in the corner of my eye.
She brings her lip between her teeth and then takes a deep breath. “My condo isn’t mine. It’sTía’s, but it’s mine until I move. I don’t pay anything monthly since my dad bought it for her, and when he passed, she moved in with my mom. So, you wouldn’t have to pay or anything, but I was wondering if you’d like to move in with me.” I go silent just to fuck with her. I feel her anxiety rise as the silence stretches, until she says, “I know it might be early and I don’t want to upset Louis, but he has Jennings living there, right? I don’t know. I really like waking up with you, and you haven’t left. So, I just thought?—”
“Fuck yeah, Ro,” I say, cutting her off. “I want to live with you too.”
She glares when I flash her a toothy grin before she smacks me with her free hand. “Ass.”
“You love it.”
She rolls her eyes, exhaling. “I know things are a bit up in the air, but I’d rather us be together now in case we can’t be together all the time later.”
“Agreed.”
“I know neither of us expected this to come along, but I wouldn’t change it.”
“Neither would I,” I agree, looking over at her.
She glances up at me through her lashes. “But I like the sound of that future.”
“It does sound pretty damn great, huh?”
“Especially the dog part.”
I bring my brows together. “Yeah, but a cat would make more sense with our schedules.”
She waves me off. “No way. We are dog people, Dawson.”
