“I thought I’d start with a month,” she said.
“I can work with a month.” He leaned across the space between them to kiss her. Her lips were soft and tasted faintly of the wine she’d drunk at the dinner.
She rested her hand on his cheek. “I want to give this a chance to work. That’s going to take more than a week.”
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Awesome. We’re home,” Shelby said with a yawn.
Rowan pulled away and grinned.
“If you two are going to stay in the car and make googly eyes at each other all night, can I have the keys to the house, please?” Shelby wiggled her fingers.
“We’re getting out,” Luke said.
Shelby opened the door to the car he’d hired and Rowan followed her out. Luke thanked the driver and handed him a fifty-dollar bill as a tip, then climbed out after the women, taking Rowan’s hand as they walked to the door. It felt so normal—so right—coming home with her. Something he could see doing for the rest of his life.
Once inside, he tossed his keys and caught them. “It would be useful having a table in here to put things on.”
“Among other things,” Rowan said.
“We can go shopping tomorrow,” he said.
On the upstairs landing, Shelby headed to the guest bedroom Rowan was in originally. “Try to keep the crazy monkey sex noises down to a minimum.”
Luke shook his head and steered Rowan toward his bedroom. There was enough space between the bedrooms that there was no way Shelby would be able to hear them. Just in case, he made sure to close the door tight.
Rowan kicked off her heels and sighed. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been weird since you came back to the table after you went backstage.”
He stepped close and grasped her head. Time for the truth. The truth that mattered more than anything else.
“I love you, Rowan. I’ve loved you since we were sixteen years old and you sucker punched Matt Chester after he beaned me in the head with that pitch during practice because I asked you to spring formal first.”
She placed her hands over his. “Is that why he did it? All I knew was he’d hurt my best friend.”
“You’re more than that. You are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. You’re the one I want to wake up next to. The one I want to have a family with. And the one who will tell me you love my music when I think it sucks. I will do anything and everything to make you believe that.”
She was quiet for several seconds and sweat trickled down the middle of his back.
She placed a hand over his heart, slipping under the lapel of his jacket. “I believe it.” She pushed on his chest and backed him toward the bed, a sexy smile teasing her lips.
It might not be the three words he was hoping for, but they would do for now.
