He’d seen my place when we’d FaceTimed, so he knew what it looked like, but I thought it was even cuter in person.
“Johnny sure knows what you like, huh?” He smiled as he pulled his blazer off and dropped it on the barstool in the kitchen.
“Yeah. And I’m fairly certain this is the only apartment in the city that looks like this. Everything is very modern here, typically.”
“Well, he knew how to make sure you’d be comfortable, and I appreciate that.” He paused to glance around at the cozy sofa covered in throw pillows and the charming white kitchen with natural wood accents.
I walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. “He left me this bottle of wine the day I arrived as a welcome gift, and I’ve never had any desire to drink it until now.”
I handed Cutler the bottle opener. After he’d filled both of our glasses, we took them to the couch.
We settled on the white sofa, which had views of the city through the large window on the wall in front of us.
“Where’s Meatball?” I asked.
“He’s at the firehouse with Phoenix.” He chuckled. “He didn’t look too thrilled when I dropped him off dressed as a big candy kiss.”
I fell forward with a laugh, imagining the grumpy Phoenix with this big dog dressed in a Halloween costume.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” I took a sip of wine and set my glass down on the table beside me.
“I wanted to surprise you,” he said, his gray hoodie stretched across his muscular chest, and it took everything in me not to slip my hands beneath the fabric and crawl onto his lap.
I wanted to touch him. To burrow into him and never let go.
But I needed to know why he’d shown up without telling me.
“And you said that you had something to talk to me about?”
He did that sexy slow nod as the corners of his lips turned up the slightest bit. He extended his arm and set his glass down on the coffee table. “I don’t like that we don’t have a plan.”
That wasn’t what I was expecting. “Since when do you like a plan regarding a relationship?”
“Since starting a relationship with you.”
“I’m guessing you want some form of closure, since we left things sort of in limbo. I get it. There’s more at risk, right? You don’t want to mess up our friendship. We can’t stay in this weird no-man’s-land. It makes sense, and I understand.” I cleared my throat, preparing myself for the blow to come.
“I’m not worried about our friendship. That’ll never change.”
“So, what are you worried about?”
“Well, your ‘no plan’ theory means we can date other people, right?”
“Sure. Are you dating other people? Is that what you came here to tell me?” I forced a smile, making an effort to keep mytone even and unaffected. “Because we didn’t have any rules about that, so you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Jeege.”
“Bear,” I said, keeping my voice light, even though I was freaking out on the inside.
“I am not dating other people. I don’t want to date other people. And I don’t want you to date other people.”
“You don’t?”
“I don’t.”
“If you change your mind, you just need to tell me first, so no one gets blindsided.” I blew out a breath.
“There is no changing my mind. I know what I want, and I came here to tell you exactly what that is.”
