P.S. Check the bottom of the vase.
Ipickedthe clear glass up and found a key taped to the bottom of it with the wordsTo our homewritten on a piece of paper wrapped around it. Right as I was melting into a gushing, swoony mess with tears starting to flood my eyes, Chase’s ringtone started to blare on my phone.
“You are even more perfect than I could have imagined,” I exclaimed right as the line connected.
His gruff voice came through quickly. “I am glad you got the flowers. Where are you?”
“My place,” I answered.
“Damn.” His disappointment was palpable even with just one word. “I was hoping you’d already be at the apartment when I got there.”
I yawned. “Babe, it is so late and I have to be up ridiculously early in the morning.” I hated to think about spending a night away from Chase, but there was no way I wouldn’t fall asleep on the subway on my way to his place.
“I understand,” he stated. “But you only get one free pass. My place is closer to your work anyway.”
I couldn’t argue with facts. “We’ll see.”
“I think you should move in.”
I was so glad I wasn’t face to face with Chase in that moment. Even though we had spent every night together for two weeks, the idea of moving in that quickly scared the living daylights out of me.
“Can we talk about this later? I’m too tired to stand, let alone have you talk me into something that extreme.”
A deep, throaty chuckle came through. “How about we talk about it over dinner tomorrow night?”
“Deal.”
I hung up and barely made it to my bed. Even with how exhausted I was, I barely slept, tossing and turning throughout the better part of the night. It felt so wrong not having Chase loudly breathing next to me. Maybe moving in with him wasn’t the worst idea in the world, but that was a thought I needed to leave for another time.
Chapter 9
Chase
It tooka little bit of convincing, but finally I was moving the last of Nikki’s boxes into my tiny flat. I hadn’t realized how small my place actually was until all her crap was being shoved into it.
Nikki bounced around our home, excitedly putting her things away anywhere she could find the space.
“Babe! Help! Chase!” she yelled urgently from the living room.
I rushed in thinking something was wrong but just found her up on a chair, trying to hang frilly curtains over my window.
“Oh god,” I huffed, going over to help. “Do they really have to be lavender?”
She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Yes, yes they do. Aren’t they precious?”
“That’s one word for them,” I teased, rolling my eyes as I smoothed out the fabric. “I’d call them girly. Should I hand you my man card now, or do I get to hold on to it for a bit longer?”
“Oh stop. You’re the one that wanted me to move in.” She hopped down then pulled out matching sparkly throw pillows to put on the couch.
“I wouldn’t have this any other way—frilly, glittery, unmanly crap and all.” I smacked her toned bottom as she rushed over to the couch to continue decorating.
“I promise I will make up for this later, babe,” she cooed, fluffing a pillow.
I grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge. “I am going to hold you to that, babe.”
* * *
After a long dayfull of moving and organizing and reorganizing, a hot shower felt amazing. The steam overtook my entire bathroom as I sat in the bottom of the tub letting the scalding water relax my muscles.
