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“Then don’t.” He moves to the floor from his seat on the couch, and on his knees, he wraps his arms around my waist. “I want you here. With me. All the time. Please, move in with me.” He bats his long eyelashes, and I almost cave.
Almost.
“I’ll come back one night this week, and we can make dinner together.” That’s something I’ve discovered about Conrad. He’s hands-on. If we’re making dinner, he’s right there next to me.
“How about I come home with you, and we stay at your place tonight?” he offers.
“Con, it’s one night.”
“But I’ll miss you.”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“My heart is full as fuck with fondness for you, babe,” he says, sighing loudly. “Fine. Go home. I don’t want to pressure you. Well, I do want to pressure you because I want you here, but I get it. Will you call me when you get there?”
“Yes.” Bracing my hands on his face, I run my fingers through his beard. “I’ll call you when I get there, and I’ll call before I go to sleep.”
“Oh, God, I can’t sleep when you’re not here.”
“How do you know?” I counter. “You’ve never had to.”
“I know, trust me. I slept like shit without you after our time at the cabin, and I’ve had you here now for over a week. It’s going to suck.”
“You’ll be fine.” I kiss him softly. When I pull out of the kiss, he stands and leads me to his room so I can pack my clothes.
“You know you could just leave those here. I’ll toss them in the wash with mine. That way, you don’t have to pack them back and forth.” He sounds so hopeful I hate to disappoint him.
“Fine, but I still have a pile of laundry at home that needs to be done.”
“Come on. I’ll walk you out.” Hand in hand, he leads me to the garage. He hits the button on the wall to raise the door for the first bay, the one he declared as mine. “Drive safe,” he says, kissing me soundly.
“I’ll call you when I get there,” I assure him. He nods and closes my door, standing with his legs spread apart, arms crossed over his chest, watching me as I drive away.
I’m barely at the end of the road when my phone rings. Hitting Accept on my steering wheel, I answer, “Hello?”
“I miss you already.”
My smile is blinding. “I miss you too, but I can’t neglect my responsibilities.”
“You wouldn’t have to if you moved in with me. We could take care of all of it together.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I don’t like it. You’re supposed to be here with me. Not in that apartment all alone.”
“I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine.”
“You’d be better in my arms.” He pouts.
“Why don’t you call Marshall and see if he wants to hang out or go to the gym?”
“Yeah,” he agrees half-heartedly. “I need to set up the home gym here in the basement.”
“There you go. He can help you do that.”
“I need to order the equipment.”
“He can give you his opinion.”
“Fine,” he grumbles. “I’ll call Marsh.”
“See, you won’t even notice I’m gone.”
“You know that’s not true.”
I admit the fact he wants me there so badly warms my heart. I went from thinking the time we shared all those weeks ago was just a fling, when in fact, it’s turned into so much more. Conrad has proven to me that he’s in this for the long haul. This week with him has been incredible. It’s taken everything I have not to tell him that I’m going to pack up everything that will fit in my car and be back there later tonight, but I hold strong.
“I’m pulling into the bakery now. Call Marshall. Spend some time with your brother. I bet he misses you.”
“Yeah. Okay. Call me later?”
“I promise.”
“Aspen, I—” He stops. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Bye.” I end the call in time to unlock the bakery door, making sure I lock it behind me before heading up the stairs to the apartment.
Two hours later, I hear keys in the door. I freeze until I see Aurora step into the room. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Your boyfriend stole my husband.” She chuckles. “Poor guy, he called and sounded so sad. He recruited all of his brothers to come over and help him plan out the home gym in the basement.”
“All of them?”
“Yep. Sawyer and Layla both forced their husbands out of the house, and Marshall gave Conrad a hard time telling him that he felt neglected.”
“I can’t even imagine. I’m glad you’re here. I’ve missed you.”
“Me too. Conrad said you were doing laundry and cleaning, so I thought I’d stop by and help.”
“I’m all done. Well, I’m just waiting to swap out the washer and dryer.” I pat the couch next to me. “Sit. How’s married life?”
