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Claire clears her throat and slides slowly across the couch. Too slowly. I wrap one arm around her waist and she lets out a little yelp as I jerk her over to my side. She slides her arms around Vivi’s body, holding her close, and then lets me hold the both of them in my arms.
I’m struck again with the feeling that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be, right here, right now. Three weeks ago, I would have laughed in someone’s face if they told me this is how I’d be spending a Saturday night.
Vivi passes out thirty minutes in, snoring softly against my chest, leaving me free to ignore the movie, although it is surprisingly entertaining. Disney did good.
“How long have you lived here?” I ask Claire, looking around her lived-in apartment.
“Three years,” she answers, curling her feet up under her butt.
“Do you like it here?”
“I love it as far as condos in Toronto go, I guess. I mean, I’m more of a country girl, or suburbs at the very least, but it is kinda fun to be in the middle of all the action. It’s so busy here. And loud,” she adds with an unimpressed face, nose scrunched up.
My hand trails along her shoulder, finding a loose strand that’s tumbled down her neck. I twirl it around my finger. “It is loud. I’ve lived here all my life, but in the suburbs with my family until I moved out for school. You get used to the noise eventually.”
“Yeah, I think I kinda already am.” She’s pensive for a minute. “I’ll miss this place though. It’s been a good home to me for the last three years.”
My fingers halt in her hair. “Miss it? Are you going somewhere?”
“No. Well, yes. Well…I don’t know. I think I’ll probably…have to. Soon, anyway.”
“What do you mean?” I don’t want her to leave.
“It’s just, I mean…this condo was kind of a gift. An incentive, I guess, from Dex. Part of him coaxing me here was that he paid the first year’s rent on this, and the security deposit. After the first year, Aaron moved in. But now…” She shrugs. “I just don’t know how much longer I can keep up the rent on my own, that’s all.”
“Maybe Charlee can move in?” I suggest.
Her brows rise. “Avery, there’s only one bedroom.”
“Oh. Right.” I flash a wicked grin. “Not that close, huh?”
Her eyes narrow and she pinches my shoulder, making me laugh.
“Well, I’ve got three bedrooms, two of them unused. You can use one of them. Or you can use mine.” I wag my brows.
“Very funny,” she murmurs, turning back to the TV.
I have to actually shake the idea from my head, because it doesn’t sound half bad. We’re not even dating. She won’t even admit she likes me.
When Vivi stirs a few minutes later, Claire scoops her up to take her to bed. I kiss the bleary-eyed redhead on the forehead and watch as Claire carts her off down the hallway.
She comes back ten minutes later and I’m sitting there awkwardly, wondering if she’ll want me to leave now that Vivi’s gone to bed. Truthfully, it’s the last thing I want to do. The time on my phone tells me we’ve been together for a little over twelve hours, and I’m not even close to being done with her.
She pauses to pat Sully on the belly and scratch behind his ear. He gives her a long, lazy lick up her arm and then drops his head back to the rug. Poor guy’s done in after all the dancing and rolling around with Vivi.
Claire lets out a tiny yawn and shakes her head as if to shake the sleep away as she walks over to the couch.
“Is that my cue to leave?” I ask her, but she sinks down to the cushion beside me.
“Not if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t want to,” I whisper.
Pulling her against my chest, I lie down on my side and curl my body around hers. My eyes are on the TV, but I don’t have a clue what’s happening with the talking snowman and the funny reindeer anymore. All I can concentrate on is the way beautiful woman I’m currently snuggling the shit out of feels in my arms.
“Are you even watching?” Claire asks after a few minutes, her body trembling under my fingers as they run a path up and down the outside of her thigh.
“Not even a bit,” I admit.
