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“They can’t catch us doing what they already know about,” he says dryly.
I cock my head and wrinkle my brown in confusion. “What?”
"As soon as you ghosted out of here like a thief in the night I knew I needed to do whatever it took to move here permanently. I might've said it wrong, but the thought behind my words was right. Long distance relationships are hard, and I didn't want that for us. Two days after you left, I heard about Coach Adams from Sam's dad. Mr. Lewis is tight with President Rothstein, so he didn't hesitate to sit in as a consultant on some of the legal aspects of the separation between the university and the coach. He put my name forward as a candidate and Rothstein and Dean Pritchard were immediately interested because I'm alumni."
He’s ever so gently rubbing his hands up and down my sides as he speaks which is making it just a bit difficult to follow along.
“I stretched the truth a little during my interview and told the dean that you and I have been together for a long time. I kept to the truth when I told him it’s so serious that we own a home together.”
My eyes go wide with surprise. “You did?”
"I knew it was the only way to get them on board. They needed to be aware that we aren't having some tawdry affair, and that settled it for them. If you were anything other than a senior, or if I were your teacher or coach, it would've been a harder sell. In the end, they made the exception because the cache of having a former member of the NFL who also happens to be an alum was too damn perfect for them to pass up. Rothstein asks that we keep it respectful and not flaunt the relationship on campus, but otherwise we're good to go."
I can’t contain the shit-eating grin that is spreading across my face. Colin moved here for me—for us. Holy shit there's an us now. This is happening. We've said the words. We're in love, and now we're together.
“So we’ll get to see each other a lot now that you’re home,” I say happily.
"Hope so," he says with a strangled laugh, "since I'm thinking we'll be living together."
Holy crap. He’s really, really serious about this. No hesitation at all.
“Really?” I squeak, the excitement I’m feeling very apparent in my tone.
“Yes, really. When you love someone you want them with you all of the time. That’s how I feel for you, Leni. Our future starts now. In fact, I have something to show you.”
Lifting me from the counter, he carries me through the kitchen and the living room and then up the stairs. The scent I noticed when I first walked in gets stronger as he goes up the stairs. I’ve only ever smelled something like this in a new home. I open my mouth to ask him what it is only to lose the train of thought entirely as he crests the top of the stairs and I see the hall which has been freshly painted. The carpet is gone, replaced by beautiful espresso hardwood floor. The biggest shock is that where once there were two doors on the left side of the hall—one for his bedroom and one for mine—there’s now a set of double doors in the middle, where the wall for the bathroom used to be.
“What did you do?” I whisper.
He laughs as he comes to a stop in front of the double doors. “I made us a home, Little Bird. I knew neither of us was going to want to move into Nanny and Pop’s room—so I had some work done. This is our master and I turned what was their giant room into two smaller rooms. It worked out to be an even swap, space wise.”
When he turns the handle to our bedroom—holy shit, Colin and I have a bedroom—my jaw drops. It’s absolutely positively perfect. The espresso floors are accented with a giant area rug that sits under a black four post king-sized bed covered in the most gorgeous duvet set. The furniture and the linens are just some of the things I’ve been coveting at Pottery Barn for the last year. I sniffle at the same time I laugh because this tells me Lolo and Sam helped decorate. They know how much I love Pottery barn because I spent weeks shopping with them when they redid their house last year.
“It’s perfect,” I murmur, my voice thick with emotion. “You did all this in eight weeks?”
He snickers as he carries me through the room to a large barn-style door on the wall. When he slides it to the left, I find myself looking into the world's most stunning bathroom.
“Not eight weeks, baby. It was five from beginning to end up here. They’ll be here next week to run the hardwood all throughout the downstairs as well but all the furniture and décor down there is on you. I think Lolo and Sam were ready to fucking strangle me having to guide me through it up here.”
