And when we gather ourselves back together, everything falls into place. After we clean up, we finally find the cart and roll it out to the street. We talk and joke around as we unload the flowers, and people passing by stop and chat.
When Clay takes me in a kiss right there on the street, Harry cheers from down the block. “Now that’s what I call a good morning, Nicholas!” he hollers out, friendly.
Clay presses his forehead to mine with a chuckle. “This is my life now, isn’t it?”
“Afraid so.”
He half-smiles, eyeing me hard. “I’ll take it.” Rocking back on his heel, Clay turns his eyes up toward the second floor of the building. “Want to move in with me?”
I scoff as I pull the last box of flowers out. “Move in? We’ve only been dating two months.”
Clay frowns, and I snicker to myself as I walk back into the shop.
“Fuck. Are you kidding me? I haven’t done this boyfriend shit before, but don’t you move in with me now?” He pulls the door open for me. “Cost of rent alone.”
I laugh as Clay takes the box, carrying it the rest of the way himself.
“I’m madly in love with you,” I tell him, “and thrilled to be your boyfriend. And that is why you are going to be my boyfriend at least a year before I move in with you.” I wave a finger at him. “No skipping ahead!”
Clay furrows his brow at me. “A year.”
I grin. “I’ll still be all yours. Don’t worry.”
“What do I have to do, sweep you off your feet and carry you across the threshold?”
“That’s marriage,” I say with a laugh. “Do you want to get married now?”
“If it would mean you’d have to live with me? Then yes. I’ve decided I’m all about marriage.”
I kiss him, enjoying the rough scrape of his beard. “One year. It will be fun.”
“You’re the love expert,” he agrees. “And assuming I can find a graceful way out of the deal with Jacob, it gives me another year to renovate upstairs.”
“Oh yeah?”
He puts his arm around me. “I’ve got big plans for this building. It’s going to be the home I share with the man I love.”
