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She struggles but I only stop smiling when I yank her into my body and crush my mouth to her. It’s a quick kiss but I savor that dark and sweet delicacy that is her and give her lower lip a quick bite.
“All these months, I learned some things. I didn’t love Josie. Not like I thought I did. We were together for a long time and even though I thought we would move on with our relationship, I didn’t care that she didn’t like or want this house. I loved it and that was that.”
She frowns and is about to say something but I beat her to it and keep talking.
“Then I met you and you loved this house and gave me advice on what to do to make it more beautiful. And you liked hanging here, even though you could afford and deserved so much more. That day at your house, Josie’s words from her last visit kept playing in my head, along with your mom’s. It wasn’t fair for me to hold you up. Instead of listening to you, I fucked it all up by listening to people who weren’t in our relationship.”
God, this is hard to say when I don’t know what she’s thinking. “I’ve been living in hell, where I learned another thing. I would do anything to get you back, even what I wouldn’t do to get back with Josie. Because I wouldn’t have ever given up this house for Josie, ever. But I don’t have to think twice about giving it up for you. Because…I loveyoua lot more Saona. More than this old house, more than my stupid pride, more than I thought I could.”
She sags back against the wall. Her mouth opens and it’s like she’s frozen but then she presses her hand to her stomach and releases a long, shaky breath.
“You love me?”
“I love you.” It’s not hard to say at all.
She stands there, like she’s digesting it but doesn’t get it. “But, why would you sell your house? Just to prove you love me?”
“I have to be in it to win it, Saona. I can’t convince you to give me a chance living down here while you live in New York.”
“Oh my Gawd, you’re going to move to New York? But you hate the traffic and the Yankees.”
“Yes, but I love you. I want to be with you. I’m thinking I can take the money from the sale and use it, along with my 401K, to open my own bar. I didn’t plan on being a bartender and a pencil pusher forever. I want to put the hard work into something that’s mine.Ours.”
She’s not saying anything. She’s just frowning and her eyes are darting from side to side. “So, let me get this straight. You love me. You’re willing to sell your house and move to New York to open a business so you can be near me.”
I stop her. “No. So I can be with you.”
“Oh. I stand corrected, so you can be with me. Because you love me.”
I nod.
She raises her chin in the air and squares me with a look. “You need to know I make more money than I did before. I just got a raise and a bonus.”
She’s staring in my eyes like she’s expecting me to act like I did months ago. It’s a test I would have failed harshly but I’ve come to know, like Juan once said, there ain’t shit out there worth even a strand of hair on Saona’s head. She’s smart, beautiful, and she’s earned everything she has through hard work. Only a damned fool would let her go.
I’m not a fool anymore.
I look straight in her eyes. “I’m proud of you. I know you deserve more than they gave you.”
She laughs. “You’re a work in progress, Jackson Alexander Hamilton. “First of all, you’re not selling this house. We both love it too much. Second of all, you don’t have to move to New York. We’ll work it out. Third of all, I love you too. I was going to tell you that night when it all went to hell but you turned dumb on me.”
I groan. “Fuck.”
But then I think about it. She loves me. She’s known all these months and she’s using the word we.Aweis what I want. We is what can make me look past everything else.
But she’s not done. “Fourth, don’t ever pull macho bullshit on me and don’t ever try to decide shit for me. I won’t take that from you or anyone. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I pull her against me again and kiss her. She wraps her arms around my neck and pushes her tongue into my mouth.
“I’m moving to New York, Saona. There’s no way I’m going to settle for tasting you every four months or every so many weekends.”
“You won’t have to. I think we can find a way around this. So, here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to take off these boots. We’re going to go downstairs and you’re going to make more drinks. Then you’re going to put out, downstairs, here in front of that mirror, and all night wherever the bed is. Tomorrow, I want to hear about your bar plans and we can decide how we’re going to make that happen.”
My chest is so big like it’s going to explode. “Whatever the boss wants. Except one thing. You’re not taking off those boots. At least not for a little while.”
