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“That’s fair.” I set the tongs on the spoon rest and turn toward her. “If you want me to take some of my stuff back to Colston’s, I will.”
It’d kill me to do it, but I never want to pressure her into something she’s not ready for.
“No,” she answers immediately, stepping closer. “I don’t want you to do that. He can’t have you back.”
I brush a loose piece of hair back from her face and let my hand settle briefly at the side of her neck. “Okay.”
Goldie’s fingers curl into the front of my shirt before she looks up at me again. “So I guess what I’m asking is whether we’re making this official.”
“Living together?”
She nods.
“Yeah.” I rub my thumb once along the side of her neck, feeling how steady her pulse is. “I want to live here with you.”
Her expression softens. “You’re sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
She comes all the way into my space then, sliding her arms around my waist. “And you’re my boyfriend?”
I laugh quietly and settle my hands at her hips. “Until you give me an upgrade to husband.”
“Okay.” Her smile spreads, and when she shifts closer, her stomach bumps into me. “I like that.”
I slide one hand around her back. “Me too.”
Then I kiss her.
Her arms tighten around my waist as she kisses me back, and I let myself stay there for a few seconds, holding her in the middle of the kitchen with dinner cooking behind me.
I love her, and I’ve known it for a while.
I can’t point to one specific moment when it happened. By the time I realized it, Goldie was already worked into every part of my life. She gives my friends as much shit as I do, fits at the table with my dads like she’s been there a hundred times, and somehow turned this house into the place I can’t wait to come back to at the end of the day.
I’ve almost told her more than once.
The only reason I haven’t is because I know her well enough to know she’d hear a question after the words even if I never asked one.
Do you love me too?
Then she’d start wondering if I expected her to say it back.
I don’t want that. When I tell her I love her, I want to be able to say it without making her feel like she owes me anything in return.
When the kiss ends, I stay close enough that the tips of our noses almost touch. Goldie studies my face for a second.
“What?”
I rub my hand slowly over her back. “Nothing.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re looking at me weird.”
“Just thinking.” I brush my thumb over her hip.
Before she can ask me what about, the skillet spits behind me.
Goldie looks over my shoulder. “Your dinner’s burning, boyfriend.”
