Yay to past Molly for paying the little extra for tuition insurance in case her kid changed his mind. Or got the stomach flu. Or broke his ankle on the way to stunt camp.
Gavin pulled into the driveway, and Kellan and Brady hopped out of his SUV. They barely waited for him to get the car in park before bailing. Some things changed—like falling in love and moving to Minnesota. While some things didn’t, like constantly worrying one twin would eventually get their tootsies run over.
Ollie bolted to them and Molly followed him outside.
The boys did the boy thing where they came together as a unit in order to wreak havoc on her little patch of a front yard.
“You look happy.” Gavin pulled his sunglasses from his eyes, tucking them into his shirt pocket.
Molly licked at her lips. “Ollie changed his mind.”
“Just like his mom.” Gavin leaned in for a peck of a kiss, like nothing had been wrong between them. The kiss. The intimacy. The ease. They were all so right. “What did he change his mind about this time?”
“Stunt camp.” Molly linked her arm with his as they wandered into the house. “He decided not to go. He wants to visit Charlie and Agnes in Minnesota instead.”
“That sounds remarkably cheaper.” Gavin grinned down at her.
“I can go, too, and it’ll still be cheaper.” Molly moved through the door to the house, Gavin on her heels. “Plus, now, that part of the down payment is back in my checking account for when another house comes up for sale.”
“So it all worked out?” Gavin asked.
It did. She wasn’t even waiting for the next shoe to drop. They’d all dropped, and she’d ended up okay. Things were good. Great, even.
“Thankfully we Princetons like to change our minds.” This was said as she walked her fingertips along the line of buttons at his chest.
She’d missed him. A lot. In all the ways.
“I guess it’s genetic.” She shrugged.
Gavin leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. Not in a way that was starting anything, just in that way that meant she mattered. “Or maybe it just means you’re both human.”
“Maybe.” Probably.
“I know it’s still early for us,” Gavin said, halting. Drinking her in. “I know you probably don’t want to do anything to make Oliver confused. But if you need a place to live, I have a kitchen that doesn’t get much use. You’re welcome to it.” He traced his fingertip along her jawline before tucking a curl behind her ear.
She wanted that. But she also didn’t know how to have that. “You’re asking me to move in with you?”
“I’m saying that I’m ready when you are.” He pulled her closer. “If it takes a while for you to be ready, then I’ll keep waiting.”
She looked around her small kitchen. The kitchen that would likely be someone else’s soon. “I’ll get to cook in your kitchen?”
“No.” He shook his head. “You’ll get to cook inyourkitchen.”
“While you knit me a scarf?” Well, she couldn’t take everything seriously all the time. She was Molly, after all.
“I’ll knit you a whole sweater.” He gave her a nose nuzzle that curled her toes.
“You’re getting cocky, you know that?”
“Tell me when you’re ready, Molly.” He traced the line of her neck with his lips. “Just tell me when.”
“When,” she whispered.
He stilled all his movements. She swore he wasn’t even breathing for a few beats.
“When,” she said again, just in case he missed her meaning.
He gave her that soft look of awed longing that she recognized as pure Gavin.
