Save me.
Is it cruel that I’m snorting at his plight? After his shift, he arrives home with a harried glint in his eye. I try hard not to laugh.
He merely shakes his head. “No power. No gas. Water is undrinkable. Half the roads are un-drivable. There are boats in the streets. People are starting to loot.”
I ring my arms around him. “Have you heard from anyone else?”
“Yeah.” He kisses my cheek. “Everyone’s okay. I called your sister. She was freaking the fuck out.”
“I’ve been texting her all day. Did she think I was lying about being fine?”
“The pictures on the news are pretty bad. She said you can stay with her if you need.”
I smile. “Did you tell her I have somewhere to stay?”
“I told her I got you covered.” His lips move to my jaw, then my neck. “She had a lot of questions.”
“I’ll bet.”
When his tongue touches my pulse point, I lose focus on the conversation and speak with my hands instead.
A few days later, we drive to my house even though I already know nothing is salvageable. My landlord went by the day before, and according to him, “The place is trashed.”
Standing in my entryway is a surreal experience. A layer of sand coats the wood floors, and my furniture is thrown haphazardly around like a tornado blew through. The car in my garage is destroyed. The oak tree still rests in my bedroom, and my closet isn’t even accessible—not that I could wear any of the ruined clothes inside.
Asher leans on the jamb of the front door while I slowly peruse the destruction of my material assets. Good thing I’m not sentimental, or I’d be in tears. I have nothing left.
In the living room, I flop my hands out, dejected. “I need to find a new place.”
“Stay with me.”
I glance at where he’s still perched in the doorway. Always leaning. “Yeah. But I mean... I need to find a permanent solution.”
He nods and throws on an earnest expression. “Stay with me,” he says again.
The meaning behind his words trickles through my brain, lighting it on fire. I move closer to him, close enough to read the hope in his eyes. He wants me to live with him? “Don’t you think that’s too fast?”
He flashes a smile at the floor like I’ve said something funny, then looks at me through his lashes. “I’m going to be totally frank here, and I hope this doesn’t scare you off, but dear Lord, girl.Fast? It took three years of foreplay just for us to kiss. We are the slowest humans on the planet.”
“That’s... That’s not true.”
“True? You want something true?” He puts one finger beneath my chin, tilting my face up. “The truth is, I would have married you yesterday if I thought you’d let me.”
My stomach falls. Married?
“So, no,” he says. “I don’t think it’s too fast.”
“Wh-what?”
He chuckles and drops his hand. “Jocelyn. Is living together really such a stretch? We already know the worst parts about each other.”
I toss out a playful scowl. “There are no worst parts of me.”
“Right,” he says, choosing that moment to ignore me in favor of the destruction in my living room. “Because theobsession with HGTV and your deathly fear of attachment are absolute joys to deal with.”
“Hey! At least I don’t get a boner for ducks.”
He gives me the godforsaken puppy-dog face. So cute.
