“What? No! Although, what I just heard was that I get a free pass to tie you up whenever I want, so expect that in the near future, big guy.” I nip at his throat.
“Any time, Trouble. Any time. What do you want to talk about?” He sets me down on the bed and pulls on a pair of boxers. Sad, but at least I’ll be less distracted this way.
“The apartment above Grind Time, do you rent it?”
“It was included when I bought the shop, so I don’t payrent on it, no.”
“How do you feel about a transfer of belongings from one space to another?”
He moves so he’s caging me in against the bed. “Are you asking me what I think you are?”
“If you think that I’m asking you to move in, then you’re right on the money.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking about this a lot too, but I didn’t want to push since we’ve had so much going on. Ever since we were locked in here for over a week, this is the only place that feels like home, and I want nothing more than to stop acting like I actually live in the apartment.” He chuckles.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. No reason to use it as a place to hold your shit,” I agree with a smile.
“Maybe we can turn it into a writing space for you.”
“The whole apartment?”
“Yeah. It’ll be like ‘bring your girlfriend to work’ day, every day.” The way he says it so earnestly makes me laugh.
“Will you promise to feed me all the food and lattes?”
He presses a kiss to my cheek. “Absolutely.”
“I think I can agree to that. Although, I may have to shift my deadlines because I have a feeling you’re going to be more than a little distracting.” I smirk before pressing a kiss to his jaw.
“What do you mean? A mid-day quickie wouldn’t be inspirational?”
“Hmm, definitely need to adjust my deadlines then.” I press a kiss to his lips, and this time, we don’t pull away. We kiss like we have all the time in the world. And it finally feels like we do. Sure, we have a lot to still work through, but we both know we’ll be there for each other through it all.
“I really want to take things slow tonight, but fuck, all this talk about cohabitation and deadlines is really doing it for me,” he murmurs.
Laughter bursts out of me as he trails kisses down my neck. I can feel him laughing as he does.
“Who knew it was that easy to get you going?”
“One look at you is all it takes,” he says as he nips at my collarbone. More laughter erupts from me, making it impossible for me to get any words out. “Too cheesy?” he murmurs. “Let me try again.”
He lifts up onto his elbows, hovering over me with a serious look in his eyes that stops my laughter in its tracks.
“I am so lucky to call you mine. I am grateful that I get to spend my life with you, going through every bump in the road with you right next to me. I am in awe of you, of your heart, and your mind. You amaze me with your brilliance every single day. I am wholly unworthy of being this lucky, but I’m damn sure going to run with it without looking back.”
“And I’m the writer.” I sniffle as a few tears fall.
“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.”
“You know, I think I had a crush on you since the moment you moved to town. That’s why I never came into Grind Time; I thought you would be too much of a distraction.” His eyes light up, listening to me. “I was correct in that assumption, but I also think in the last couple of months, I’ve become the best version of myself because of you. We are an unstoppable force together, and I can’t wait to see where the future takes us.”
He crushes his lips to mine, and I wrap my arms around him, holding him as tight to me as physically possible. Breaking the kiss a moment later, he rests his forehead against mine.
“I love you.”Kiss.“And I love our life.”Kiss.
“I love you too,” I whisper before he kisses me again.
We end up being late to open up Grind Time in the morning because he shows me in every way possible how much he loves me.
