I nod slowly, my gaze boring into the side of Lawson’s head. “I’ll be as nice as I can,” I tell him. “But I’m not sure I can be forgiving.”
Lawson’s whiskey eyes meet mine, something near to a smirk on his face. “I know, Oak. You understand now why I can’t excuse what Stevie did to you?”
I puff out a breath, my chest so dang tight. “Yeah, I guess I can.”
He nods once, satisfied.
“Do you need to head back to the ranch tonight?” I ask, stacking our empty dishes. “First day of school tomorrow.”
Lawson hums. “No. I’m not going back.”
I nearly drop the silverware in my hands. “You mean tonight?”
Those eyes meet mine again. “What do you think?”
“Lawson,” I breathe.
He twists in his chair, taking the forks from my grip and setting them back on the table. “Why do you think I never found my own place? The only place that felt like home was here. I didn’t want to settle for second best.”
My pulse skips frantically, Lawson’s thumb smoothing over the side of my neck like he can tell. His eyes hold mine as he pulls the ground swiftly out from under my feet.
“I don’t want to say goodbye to you at the end of the day anymore, Oak. I want you from saddle to sunup and every hour in between.”
“Fucking hell, Law. You’re not even gonna wait for me to ask you to move in?”
He shrugs one shoulder, his thumb running over my jaw now, as if he simply can’t stop himself from touching. “You would’ve gotten there eventually.”
I let out a hoarse laugh. “So we’re living together? Just like that?”
“I reckon so. Feels right, doesn’t it?”
I catch Lawson’s wandering thumb with my lips, kissing the pad of it. “When do you want to move your stuff over?”
“We’ll find time,” he says. “But not tonight. First day of school tomorrow and all. I need my beauty sleep.”
I huff a small laugh. “You do realize you’ll have to tell your family, right? You can’t just move out without saying a word to them.”
Lawson groans. “Would they even notice?”
“Uh, yes. They absolutely would. It’ll be fine. They’ll hug you and congratulate us, and your dad will probably cry.”
That has Lawson chuckling. “He is the crier of the family.”
“Mhm.”
“My brothers will throw a bonfire,” Lawson adds, a small smile on his face. “Wendy will threaten you.”
“Wait, what?”
“And we’ll need to tell Laura. So she knows where to find me if need be.”
Lawson ignores my grunt.
“It’ll be good, Oak,” he says, the late evening sun hitting his face in a way that causes my breath to hitch. I’ll be looking at that face for a long time to come. Years. Decades. The rest of our lives, quite possibly.
“Yeah,” I agree roughly. “It’ll be great.”
When Lawson and I get inside, we load our dishes and silverware into the dishwasher before getting ready for bed. We brush our teeth. Take care of other necessities. Lawson gives me a fond smile when I ask about his ass, assuring me all is well.
