She exhaled. “Because it takes an epic amount of love to want to spend every morning and evening with me. And to make the kind of offers that you have. My lease. My things. Gavin, you do realize how much that is, don’t you?”
“Money-wise, it’s nothing, I assure you.”
She glanced down at her plate, empty since the appetizers hadn’t come yet. When she finally looked up at me, I saw the answer in her eyes. “I want nothing more than to live with you. As for the other things, like my bed and bedroom furniture, I’m willing to put them in storage, but I don’t know that I’m willing to let you pay for it.”
“And your lease?”
Her shoulders slumped. “It would be thousands of dollars, Gavin—”
“Baby, please stop worrying about money when it comes to me. Do you have any idea how much I make at Worthington Enterprises? Or how much money I made in the NFL?” I knew she didn’t, so I didn’t bother waiting for an answer. “Let me put this in perspective. Paying off your lease wouldn’t even dent what I make in a day. I wouldn’t even notice the amount missing from my bank account. And what it would cost me, I probably spent that on custom suits last month.”
She held her chest. “Jesus Christ.”
“Emily, I’ve got you.”
She went silent, staring at me. “I love that you do. No one ever has before. But I’ve worked so hard, Gavin. Two jobs for so many years to provide the things I want and need—I can’t just forget all of that.” She went quiet. “I have too much pride.”
“What are you saying?”
“I need to contribute. Or I need to at least feel like I’m contributing. Utilities, groceries, the expense of your chef—whatever.” Shereached across the table, and I lifted my hand from my lap, setting it on the tablecloth, her fingers instantly covering mine. “It’s who I am and who I need to be, and I don’t want to lose that.”
“I hear you. It’s not going to be easy for me to let you pay for anything, but I respect that you want to contribute to our home. We’ll come up with a plan that works for you.” I kissed her hand. “Now that we have that out of the way, are you telling me that you’re moving in with Ben and me?”
She was trying to mask her smile. “Yes.” And then she gave it to me, full teeth, wide lips. A beauty like no other woman I’d ever seen. “I’ll move in with you and Ben.”
“Do you know how excited that’s going to make him?”
She clenched my fingers before she released them. “I can’t wait to see him tomorrow night at the engagement party. It was really nice of your parents to take him with them to New York and let us have a couple of days here by ourselves.”
I nodded at her. “What are you going to do about work?” I smiled, letting her know I was bringing the conversation right back to her. “Did you think I forgot that part of the equation?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“What do you want, Emily?”
She turned silent. “I have everything I want. That’s you and Ben.”
I pounded my heart with my fist. “Damn it, that was hot, but I was talking about work.”
“It’s funny, it was so easy to give Maya advice when it came to her situation with work. I even came up with the per diem idea that solved all her problems.” Her head briefly fell back. “But when it comes to me, I can’t make a decision to save my life. I know the amount of time I’m putting in is wild. I can’t maintain it forever.”
“What if I told you I already made an inquiry?”
Her brows rose. “What type of inquiry?”
“I spoke to Dr. Kaplan. He’s a family friend, as you know. He made it clear you could work as much or as little as you want. He loves you,Emily. He called you one of his top nurses. You just have to work with scheduling and communicate what you’re looking for, and they’ll give you whatever hours you want.” I laughed as I took in her expression. “Let me guess ... you don’t know if you just fell harder in love with me or if you want to strangle me. Am I right?”
“You’re right.”
“I spoke to him because I care. Because Dr. Kaplan and I have that kind of relationship where I can be honest with him. And I thought if I didn’t take the initiative to do something about your schedule, I didn’t know if you would.”
She flattened her hands against the table. “Honestly, I don’t know if I would either. I’m so used to going, going, going ...”
“But you don’t have to anymore.” I finished the rest of my scotch. “Working with only him, that would give you more time doing pediatrics, which is what you wanted anyway.”
She slowly nodded.
“One day, you’re going to have to tell me why you gave up labor and delivery at the hospital and went to work at the rehab center.”
