“Frisco has a way of making his point known.”
“What about your parents?” Barbara took a sip of her tea, not realizing her words hit me like a bullet to the chest. “Are you close with them?”
I heard Nate’s swift intake of breath. Our roles reversed, and he became my strength, sliding his arm around my waist and holding me tight.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “You don’t have to talk about it if it hurts too much.”
It always would.
I forced a smile. “I was. Very. They died in a bus crash in Switzerland my junior year of college.”
“Oh, Presley, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” She gazed at me helplessly, her eyes filling with tears.
“You couldn’t have. It’s okay. It’s been almost fifteen years. I should be over it.” But even to my own ears, I didn’t sound convinced.
“Losing both parents so young and without warning? I don’t know if you can ever get over something like that,” Barbara said, shaking her head.
“It set me on a path of poor choices and left me in limbo until my best friend got sick of me sitting at home. He forced me to go to a grief support group and—”
“The rest is history. He met me, and I swept him off his feet.” Nate kissed my cheek.
I snorted with laughter, and Ethan joined in.
“Not the way I heardorsaw it, baby brother.” Ethan snickered and crossed his arms. “Youwere the one who did the chasing, and Presley—very wisely—put the brakes on you. I’m just happy you recognized the real thing before you lost it. You did, right?”
As if he hadn’t heard Ethan, Nate rose from his chair and took my hand. “Will you excuse us for a moment?” Without waiting for their response, he tugged me along, and we left the room. He said nothing, simply led me to the back of the house, to a smaller room, and closed the door behind us, shutting out the rest of the house. I had no idea what he wanted to tell me, but my insides tumbled with nerves. He took both my cold hands in his, and I braced myself, but I wasn’t sure for what.
“I didn’t want to say this in front of everyone because it’s nobody’s business but ours.” His thumb rubbed over my hand, and my nerves tingled. “I do love you. And as important for me, I trust you. No one has ever given me their heart before, and I promise to do everything I can to never break it. I want you to trust that I won’t hurt you again.”
I wanted to, but could he have changed his mind so swiftly from where we first started?
“I know what you’re going to say.” He laced our fingers together. “That I changed my mind remarkably quickly, and I’m doing this based on emotions and not thinking it through. But you’re wrong. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“Are you drunk? Or high? Because this isn’t the Nate I’m used to.”
“I think that old Nate has left the building.”
“So who am I here with?” He did seem lighter, his eyes clear, unclouded by the usual wariness.
“Someone who’s been waiting to break free but didn’t have the right reason. Now I do. You.”
I worried about that. “Don’t change for someone else. Change for yourself, because of what you want.”
“Or who?” He leaned in for a quick kiss. “It’s you I want, and I don’t want you to doubt it. Not anymore. So that’s why I’m asking you…” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Move in with me. Be with me every day and night. And all the in-betweens.”
Stunned, I stood with my mouth open and eyes popping wide. “Move in with you?”
“Do you see anyone else here?” His eyes twinkled, and I couldn’t see a trace of the moody, quick-tempered Nate I’d met those months ago at the grief support group.
“You want me to move into your brownstone and live with you.” Hearing the words coming out of my mouth sounded as bizarre as the thought of me actually living in that beautiful house.
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I miss you when you’re not with me. Because I want to share the dark with you, and whisper all my secrets, and wake up and see the sunshine on your face.” He shifted closer and nuzzled my neck. My pulse spiked, and my heart began to pound. “Because I can’t sleep without you anymore. And I don’t want to.”
“It’s too much.” I sighed, even as I tilted my head, granting his lips easier access to lick and kiss my neck. “I can’t afford the upkeep, and I don’t want you to pay for everything.”
