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From the phone, her dad says, “Whoo-wee, Marcy baby. You may have started something.”
Tennessee looks at them. “Ya think? Let me call y’all back.” She hangs up her phone and looks over her shoulder at me. “I should have told you that, but I forgot.”
“Between when I told you I kicked his ass and now? You totally forgot about him living in the same building as you?”
She holds up her palms to me. “I did because I don’t care about him.”
“Baby, he’s got fucking stalker vibes. But I can’t stay in this apartment. For one, I’m about to start road trips—”
“You are?”
My heart goes cold in my chest. “Yeah. I leave next week for a four-day trip.”
She presses her lips together. “Well, that blows.”
“I know,” I agree, holding her anxious gaze. “But that’s what I mean. I have to leave you, and you think I can do that when he’s in your building?”
“I wouldn’t cheat on you.”
I laugh at that. “Baby doll,” I say, taking her hips in my hands. “I’d never think that.” I bring her in close. “For me, it’s that I’m not here to protect you.”
She leans into my chest, tracing the UT on my shirt. “You don’t have to worry about him. He won’t do anything.”
I cup her jaw, squeezing her as I tip her face up to look at me. “I would kill for you. You don’t know what you do to me, and we don’t know what he is capable of.”
Her eyes swirl with desire. “You really are passionate, huh?”
“Especially for the ones I love.” I trail my thumb along her bottom lip before dragging it down, loving how full her lip is. As much as I want to kiss her, get lost in these insanely plump, gorgeous lips, I have to say something. I can’t hold it back. I won’t. “Tennessee?”
“Yes, D’Artagnan?” she purrs, running her tongue along my thumb, sending chills down my spine.
As I gaze down at her, my heart pounding in my chest, I say what I’ve wanted to say since the moment I saw her in my bed. “Move in with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tennessee
Lordy, he is so intense.
His jaw is taut.
His body is hard against mine, but it’s those eyes that have me breathless. I know instantly he’s not joking. He means what he is asking. He wants it. Needs it, maybe, and his gaze leaves me winded.
“With you looking at me like that, I’m having a hard time saying no.”
“Then don’t,” he announces, snaking his arm around me so our bodies are flush. “Why fight what we both want?”
He’s not wrong. “Are we crazy?”
A smirk comes over his lips. “Am I crazy for you? Yes, but I don’t know if I’d say we’re crazy.”
“Dart, moving in together is a huge step in a relationship. We’ve been dating—”
“We’re not dating.”
“What?”
“Dating is trivial. What we are doing is building a life, because for me, there will be no one else but you. I don’t just want to get my fill of you and move on. I want to build a life. Us, Tennessee. What we want.”
Come the hell on! He’s basically laying it out for me. Offering me everything I’ve ever wanted. A man and a life I could love. The possibility of a future. Happiness. “You’re killing me,” I tell him, gazing up at him. “It just feels so right.”
He nods. “Because it is. Tennessee, I’ve never lived with anyone but teammates. But before I even found out about that dickhead living here, I wanted you to live with me.” My breath catches as he holds my gaze. “I love you in my kitchen, how you lie in my lap, how good you look in my bed, and I swear, we can hang up some orange shit if that’s what you want. I just want my home to be yours.”
Oh, heart be still, and brain shut the hell up. Those two never agree on shit! My heart is screaming, fuck yes! And my brain is saying, what if he gets bored with me? But even that doesn’t feel right. Those are my insecurities talking. Because Dart does nothing that doesn’t reflect his true intentions. His passion.
Still, I can’t help but tell him, “I’m messy.”
“So am I.”
“I like to snack at night.”
“We’ll make sure we have enough for both of us.”
“Sometimes even breathing is hard, and I just want to identify as a sloth.”
“That sounds like a damn good time.”
“You’ll have to commit to the orange.”
“No issue as long as you commit to me.”
“Are you sure?”
He only nods, his eyes burning into mine. “I’ve never been as sure of something in my life until I fell in love with you.”
I have to be insane. That’s the only reason why my response comes so easily. “I’m yours, D’Artagnan.”
“I know,” he murmurs as his mouth drops to mine. “I’ve always known that.”
