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She followed him, seeming to be deep in thought, and sat down when he indicated.
“Would you be willing to end your lease early?” she asked, giving him a direct gaze with no guile in it. There was no flirt, and there was no hint of the night they’d spent together.
He supposed it shouldn’t surprise him. After all, she’d lost her mother, and if the rumors that he had heard were correct, she’d found out that the woman who died wasn’t even her birth mother. Not only that, but her daughter had quit college and was in LA, constantly broke, if Todd were to be believed. She’d been divorced, gotten very little out of it, and was swindled out of the home that her mother had lived in by a family member.
Now, what looked to be like her last hope seemed to be fading in front of her eyes. He could see that almost as clearly as though it were happening to him.
There was something about Kim that made him feel compassion coupled with a deep desire to help.
But as much as he wanted to help her, he wasn’t going to end his lease. That was the only thing tying him to her.
“No.”
Her face fell at his answer, although she tried to hide her disappointment by pressing her lips together and nodding.
The answer was so simple, he almost didn’t need to think about it before his mouth opened and the words came out.
“But I’m only using one bedroom. The smallest. If you’d like to use one of the other two, you’re welcome to.”
Her mouth dropped, and she looked offended.
“You want me to move in with you?” Her eyes narrowed, and she began shaking her head immediately. “No. Absolutely not. That’s... That’s...” Still shaking her head, she stood from the stool. “Obviously, you got the exact wrong idea of me. I understand how you could have gotten confused.” She seemed to stumble, then caught herself. “Considering what happened the last time we were together.” She bit her lip. “That... That was a mistake. Sorry.”
“I’m the one who should be apologizing,” he said immediately with no hesitation. It was true. Maybe he should lead with that. “I wasn’t asking you to live with me. I wasn’t asking anything of the sort, just trying to figure out how we can get this squared away, without me losing my home and still enabling you to have one.”
“I think there was an apartment above the stable. That would be enough for me.” Her voice sounded thoughtful, like she was talking to herself and not necessarily to him. Like she had pushed the night they shared together under the rug, not wanting to think about it at all. And he could understand that. He was embarrassed about it too. He probably wouldn’t have said anything if it hadn’t been for her mentioning it. It wasn’t what he usually did, wasn’t the way he usually treated anyone, especially someone he thought so much of. But that night had been...magical.
“There is an apartment above the stable, but if anybody’s moving out to that, it will be me.” That was a no-brainer. At least he’d be close to her, if nothing else. And he couldn’t allow her to move while he stayed in the house. Moving would be the right thing to do, although it wasn’t the way he was raised; it was the way he wanted to treat her.
Of course there was one other solution.
Before he could think it through, the words came to his lips. “We could get married.” That would solve the problem of there being an issue with them living together. But from the look on her face, it wasn’t a solution she wanted to entertain, not even for a second.
“No.” She didn’t elaborate, and he felt a sharper sense of disappointment than he expected. “I’ll check the stable.”
“No. I’ll move there.”
“No. It was never my intention to make anyone move.”
“This is your home. It is the only one you have; you have every right to expect to live here. I’ll need a bit of time to move my things.”
He didn’t allow her to argue with him anymore but turned toward the hall that led to the stairway where the three small bedrooms were located.
“But—” Her voice came from behind him, but he didn’t stop walking. There was no way he was going to allow her to move into the stable while he stayed in the house. That had never been his intention. He hadn’t given much thought to his suggestions, especially living together, other than he didn’t want her to go, he wanted to see her again. Now that he had, he wanted to see her more, but even if he hadn’t felt like that, he couldn’t force a person to move out of their home, not when he had the penthouse in Chicago with a gorgeous view of Lake Michigan and a large estate south of Chicago.
He wasn’t quite sure how things were going to work out, but seeing Kim again had intensified all the feelings that he felt the last time he saw her at her mother’s funeral. He definitely needed to see what he could do to see if she could feel the same.
