“We can come over as much as you want.”
“I know.” She still sounded sad.
“Talk to me, baby. What has you so hesitant to move from a big ass house that’s constantly full of people? Let me find out you got a crush on one of these niggas?—”
The snort that came out of her stopped what was about to be a tangent.
“Gideon, please. I do not want any of those niggas. Half of them are married, and the other half are too young.”
“Oh, that’s the only reason you don’t want them?” he asked. His voice sounded like a low grumble mixed with a growl, but she knew how to tame him every single time. That small hand to his chest held a certain magic. As soon as he felt her hand there, he relaxed. He was definitely wound tight that morning.
“Of course not. I don’t want them because I have you. I’m a married woman, after all.”
And he was a married man. It was still hard to wrap his mind around it most of the time. He couldn’t believe how the last couple of months had shaped his life.
“Okay, then what’s with the hesitation whenever I mention moving? I want our own space, baby. I wanna to do things the right way. We already did this shit ass backwards. Let me at least buy you a big house you can decorate and that we can settle into for the rest of our lives.” He paused for a moment before he hesitantly asked, “You do want this for the rest of our lives, right?”
He hated sounding so unsure of himself, but he didn’t mind being vulnerable with Glimmer. She was his safe space.
“I just told you I love you, Gideon. God Himself is going to have to force me up off you. I want this for the rest of our lives, and I’m not hesitating. I’m just comfortable. This is the first place I’ve felt comfortable since my daddy went to prison. Even before he went to prison, we were in hiding and not living much of a life, so this has been refreshing for me. I’ll admit that cooking breakfast naked does sound nice . . .”
He grinned. “So that’s a yes?”
“It’s a yes. Let’s find our forever home.”
Her words made his heart race with excitement. He wrapped his arms around her, and they settled into a comfortable silence for a while before he said, “The food is probably cold by now.”
She wiggled free of his arms. “That’s okay. We can warm it up.” She moved to get off the bed.
“Where you goin’?”
“To warm our food up.” Her head tilted as she looked at him in confusion.
“I can do that.” He moved to get up this time, but she stopped him.
“Let me do it. I would rather stay busy today . . . you know. To get my mind off everything.”
He nodded his understanding. She was able to smile and joke around, but he still sensed the lingering sadness within her. He knew it would take time for her to get back to herself.
While she got dressed and gathered their plates, he pulled his phone out and called the realtor’s office Haze hooked him up with. If his baby wanted to stay busy that day, then he would make sure she stayed the fuck busy.
“Yo, where we goin’?” Gideon asked for what felt like the hundredth time. It didn’t matter how many times he asked in the last twenty minutes. Glimmer wasn’t letting up on that information.
Her little ass insisted she drive after their last house viewing. They were currently riding up the coast, and it didn’t seem to him like Glimmer knew where they were going either.
Instead of responding to him, her eyes lit up, and she swerved the car into a parking lot. “There!”
“Aye, yo! There, what?” Gideon asked as he held on for deal life as she pulled into a parking lot.
Glimmer pointed to a storefront a few stores down, and Gideon’s brows rose. “All that for a tattoo shop? You even got any tattoos?”
She shook her head and opened her door. “Nope.”
Before he could get on her about opening her own door, she hopped out and slammed it. He shook his head and stepped out of the truck.
“Aye, man. You can’t be opening your own doors. That’s law.” He hugged her from behind when he caught up to her.
“Sorry. I’m just excited.”
