“Yeah, he was a jerk.”
“Good.” He stepped closer, almost having her pinned to the desk.
She put her hands on the desk. “What are you doing?”
“I’m planning on kissing you,” he said and raised his hand to her cheek.
“I, I don’t—”
“Shh. You’re going to argue with me about the potential and future of this, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Don’t.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“I wasn’t the nicest to you either, the other day, when I said it was a waste of my time to spend time with you if you don’t see a future. The fact of the matter is that regardless if this soars into the sky, or crashes and burns, I want to be here. With you. All the time. You’re the first person I think of when I wake up, and you’re the last person I want to talk to when I go to bed.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but he put his finger over her lip.
“I don’t know where it’s going to go. And I don’t really care. I want this. I want you, Winter Duncan, in my life. You’re a pain. You’re a goddamn control freak who needs to loosen up. Like a lot.”
“I know.”
He put his other hand on her shoulder. “I want to try. Whatever this is between us, I want to explore it. We can move as slow or as fast as you want.”
“Monday, you told the firefighter that you were my boyfriend.”
He nodded.
“That should have made me mad,” she said.
“Did it?”
She shook her head. “It didn’t. And with everything hitting me on Monday, I didn’t take time to analyze it.”
“And now you have?”
She put one hand on his arm. “I’ve thought about the idea. And frankly, a month ago I would have been horrified. Disgusted for wanting to be with anyone.”
“So what’s changed?”
“You. You’ve changed. You’ve changed me.”
“For good or bad?”
“Good, I think. I’m still a damn control freak, and we’re going to have to do a lot of compromise on decorating if we get that far—”
“You’ve thought about living with me?”
She shrugged. “We aren’t getting any younger. And you’re putting your house on the market.”
“This is true.”
He caressed her cheek and leaned in and kissed her.
She wrapped her arms around him.
