“And…” he prompts me to fill the silence.
Stammering, I try to come up with the right combination of words to say what I want to, but I fail miserably. “I… would you…uh…”
Cupping a hand to his ear, he leans across the table. “I can’t hear you. You need to speak up.” His playfulness is not appreciated right now. Ass.
Rather than continuing to taunt me, he stands from the chair and pulls a small box out of the cabinet above the sink. “I was going to give this to you last night. But then that happened,” he points down to my busted ankle. “I hope this is what you were getting at.” He slides the box over to me as he sits back in the chair.
I lift the top on the box and my pulse jumps, pure elation shooting through my veins. “Now, I was just planning on giving that to you so you have it. Figured it would make things easier, but,” he pulls the key from my hand, twirling it between two fingers, “now, it means a lot more.”
“Yeah,” I tilt my head, taking in the sight of him nervously confessing his feelings. “How’s that?”
“Move in with me.” It’s not a question, but more of a plea.
Dumbfounded, I simply stare at him slack jawed. I had a feeling that’s what he was going to say, but hearing the words had an unexpected effect on me. Mistaking my silence for unwillingness, Dylan rakes a hand through his hair in frustration as he shoots up from his chair. “It’s too soon. I knew it.” His words echo around the still-silent room.
Using my good foot for balance, I awkwardly stand from my chair. Gripping his shoulder, I spin him around to face me. “When I moved here, I had two goals in mind. Open that gym.” I lose my balance and Dylan helps me sit. Some of the tension that was in his face moments ago softens as he sits across from me.
“And the other?” There’s a scared caution in his words.
“To find you.” He flashes me a look of disbelief and his eyes scream, “oh really? Tell me more,” with no little sarcasm.
“Laugh at me all you want.” I pull his hands into mine. “I may not have known it was you I was supposed to find. Coming here and starting all over, quite literally from the ground up, was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve willingly stepped into the octagon with guys who would make you shit your pants if you ever ran into them in an alley.”
We both laugh for the briefest of seconds before the weight of what happens in to good people in dark alleys sinks in.
“I’m ready for this, for us. I don’t need more time to know how I feel about you, to understand how you feel about me.”
“But what if it doesn’t work out?” Suddenly, Dylan is questioning even his own motives.
“What if it does?” I pick the key up from the table, the cool steel imprinting itself in my hand. Everything about it seems right. It feels like home.
I angle my head forward, pulling his close to mine. With a strong hand wrapped around the nape of his neck, I lean into his mouth and claim it. Shocked by my ferocity, his lips separate and our tongues dance together in the most erotic of ways.
He pulls back, breathless and lusty eyed. “Now if that didn’t convince you how I feel, how much I mean for this to work, then you’re just gonna have to wait for my ankle to heal so I can show you in some other, more demonstrative ways.” I waggle an eyebrow at him and he laughs, leaning his forehead back against mine.
“Okay,” he murmurs. “You win. I’ll let you move in with me.”
“Huh? Wait…didn’t you…” I stumble over my words as he laughs at me, playing me. I shove at his shoulder and he feigns injury.
When the goofiness settles, I drag his hand up to my mouth one last time. “I can’t promise it’ll be perfect, that things will always be easy, but I will promise to try my best to make them that way.”
He covers our hands with his, locking his eyes with mine. “And I promise the same.”
“Holy hell, Reid! This couch weighs a ton.” I carefully maneuver my way down the back of the rented U-Haul truck.
Reid has the easy end, but he still jokes, “Sorry, man. It’s a sleeper, too.”
“I don’t care what it is. Please just tell me this is the last of it.” We drop the sofa on the front lawn of his and Maddy’s new home, catching our breath before lifting it again to try to bring it inside. I eye the door and then the couch.
“You sure this beast is going to fit?”
“Eh, if not, we can just bring it out back. Set up an outdoor home theater.” He’s laughing, but as I look back at the door once more, I think he might have that outdoor space sooner than he thinks.
On one last ditch effort, we somehow manage to get the couch into the house. Thankfully, it is in fact the last item. As soon as we drop it on the hardwood living room floor, both Reid and I crash down onto it, exhausted from a twelve-hour day of humping furniture out of their apartment and into their new home.
Since Maddy is about four months pregnant, she isn’t allowed to do more than unpack towels and blankets. Melanie, her newly engaged best friend, and Rachel are helping as well, but the guys have done all the heavy lifting.
Just as Maddy hands both Reid and me a few cold beers, Dylan and Bryan come jogging down the stairs, announcing that Braden’s Batman room is all set up. I still haven’t figured out how I got stuck with the furniture.
