Chapter Nineteen
“You’re doing what?!”
“I’m moving to Fairpoint, like today. Can I move in with you until I can find another place?”
That was the phone call I’d woken up to this morning. I had to leave James still sleeping in my bed to take the call in the bathroom so I wouldn’t wake him up. Not the way I had envisioned this morning going, at all.
After a lot of whispered questions and not so great answers, I’d told Jens I’d see him that afternoon and ended the call. It seemed the universe wasn’t done with us yet.
Crawling into bed and snuggling with James was the best I’d felt in a long time. The sex had been spectacular, but this was just as good or better. Having another person to rest your head on and cuddle was so comforting, and sometimes comfort was better than orgasms. No one talked about it, but it was so often true.
I snuggled up to James’s warm side and laid my head on his shoulder, startling a little when his muscular arm came around to pull me in closer to him. That was what I craved. Sure I liked to be a bossy bottom in sexy times, but I also longed for a strong man to hold me tight and not let go. In James I had found the perfect combination. We liked each other just the way we were.
“What is Jensen up to now?”
Through all the texts, chats, and messages we’d sent each other, James knew almost as much about Jensen as I did at this point, so his question didn’t even surprise me.
“He’s moving in with me this afternoon. That guy Trick is supposed to be bringing him over with his stuff. His mom and dad told him they were selling the house and moving to Savannah to be near Mom’s sister and her family. They asked him if he wanted to go with them, but he said he’d rather come here and hang with me. Then last night Marcus made another appearance at the Swallow harassing Jens after work. He got scared even though Nick threw Marcus out. He said Marcus was wild-eyed, talking like if he couldn’t get to me, he’d get the next best thing. The guy’s crazy, James. What if he finds me?”
James turned over, so he was still holding me, but now we were face to face.
“Don’t you worry about anything. I’m here, and I’m not letting anyone hurt you. Plus, you have my entire family and all the friends you’ve made so far. You’ll be fine here. We love you, and we’re not letting anything happen to you.”
I knew it was a figure of speech, but my heart turned over when I heard him say the L-word. I wanted those words from him, but I’d wait if I needed to. I already knew I was head over heels for him.
“I believe you, Jay. I feel at home here. More at home than I’ve felt since Gram was alive. I love it here so much.”
“I’m glad because if I have my say, you’re never going anywhere else.”
Wow, did this man know how to hit all the right notes or what?
“Well, I guess I’ve been told, haven’t I?”
I tried to laugh it off by joking, but James wasn’t done. “No, I’m serious, Ethan. I want you here. Actually, if I’m honest, I want you back at my house with me, but I get why you moved out. I do. I just can’t wait for the day you say you’re ready to move back in. I got used to you being there, and it’s lonely without you to come home to.”
“Oh, Jay. I want to. I really do. I loved it there, but I think we need a little more time to really get to know each other. I want you to see I can make it on my own.”
James smirked, then kissed the hell out of me before getting out of bed to head to the bathroom. “Believe me, baby. After last night, I know you can take care of yourself and me, too. At one time, I thought of you as a hurt kitten that I needed to take care of. But, Jesus, Eth, you’re no kitten, you’re a wild cat, and I love it.”
All I could do was stare at the closed bathroom door and think about what he’d just told me. He’d already changed his ideas about me being vulnerable. Maybe we were moving faster than I thought.
* * *
The buildingover the Falling Star Pub was utter chaos.
Jensen and Trick had arrived a few hours ago to move his stuff in, and the loft was now jammed full of not only my things but Jensen’s as well. It was so good to see him in person instead of video chat that I almost missed the fact his hair was back to its normal pale blond again.
“New town, new me,” he said when I asked him about it.
If that wasn’t enough going on, Dalton, the cop who frequented the pub and had some weirdthingwith Remy, had picked today to move into one of the two-bedroom apartments one floor down. He wasn’t alone, either.
He was moving in with his big brother, Bart. And when I say big brother, I meanbig.Bart towered over all of us, including Trick. He was bearded and hairy and looked like a big bear in a flannel shirt and ripped jeans. But his eyes were such an unusual shade of blue you almost didn’t notice all the other things. They were somewhere between blue and green, and I almost wondered if they were colored contacts until he pulled out a pair of glasses at one point to read the label on one of their boxes.
James, Trick, Jens and I had all pitched in to help them, because even if Dalton was strong and his brother was a beast, moving all of that furniture would have been a hard task for just two people. Dalton had started to gravitate toward Jens the longer we were working, and Jens didn’t seem to have anything against that at all. I noticed him playing with his hair more than usual, which was a sign he was into someone. I really hoped he’d be able to find someone like I’d found my Jay.
When we were all done, Bart suggested they buy us all dinner and a few beers downstairs to say thank you. Trick had to get back to NOLA, but the rest of us went down and grabbed a table near the back. While we were getting to know each other, Remy and Taylor came in the bar, and James invited them back to join us.
Taylor, as usual, was dressed fashion-forward with what had to be designer jeans, a cashmere sweater, and shoes that cost more than I could make in a week. At Christmas, he’d told me he was thinking about cutting his dreads, and it looked like he’d decided to go for it. Not having all that hair around his face brought out his high cheekbones and he looked more like a model now than he did before.
