“You’d seriously rather stay at that crappy apartment instead of here?” Parker asked, planting soft kisses along my curves as he carried me to the bedroom.
I squirmed. “I don’t want to be a gold-digging mooch.”
“You’re not.” Parker’s gray eyes were intense in the darkness. “Everything I have is yours,” he said, laying me on the bed.
“And everything of mine, even though it’s not all that much, is yours.”
He smiled and kissed me softly. “I love every bit of it.”
* * *
As much asI wanted a repeat of the previous night, the next morning was the start of a new work day. I had my first day on the job as the head of the Rural Trust.
“First things first,” I said to my team, which consisted of Remy, Parker, Jasmine, and Davy, who had just been suspended from day care. Billy and Ellis were there too; Hunter had refused to release them from punishment.
“I want fried chicken,” Davy announced.
“People who bite other children don’t get fried chicken,” Parker told him.
“I’ll make some for you later,” I promised Davy. “But before I do that, we need to assure the donors that the ship has been righted and everything’s operating smoothly. They spook easily,” I said.
“And what’s the best way to fix that?” Parker asked.
“We’re having a party!” Jasmine said happily.
“Since the development is happening, we’re going to have a visioning session slash wine party slash hang-out at the shirtwaist factory this weekend,” I said. “I want to have not just office space but community space as well. I’m inviting people, but this isn’t a fundraising gala. More important are the press pieces and the photos of a successful kickoff for the project. We have to show unity.”
“Ellis and Billy will be over to help you set up,” Parker assured me.
“You should let them off the hook!” I teased. “They brought us together.”
* * *
“So you did it!”Jasmine said as we walked through the shirtwaist factory later that afternoon, making notes about how we wanted to have the party organized. “We should hang up sheer white drapes to frame the space and have lots of food and drinks.”
“That’s the nice thing about Harrogate,” I said. “Cocktails are super cheap.”
“Amen!”
“It’s the perfect town.”
“And now you’ve got the perfect life!” Jasmine gushed. “You have the guy and the job and the goat.”
“I mean, I guess. I don’t have any savings, and now I own a money pit of a historic house.”
“But it’s going to be gorgeous when it’s done, and you can live at Parker’s swanky condo until then.”
I chewed my lip. “I told him I didn’t want to move in with him.”
“Why, Sadie?” Jasmine pretended to collapse on the floor.
“We’ve been together, what, a few weeks?”
“You said you loved him!”
“I do…”
“Do you want to move in with him?”
