Page 75 of Undeniable You

“My new lease is supposed to start on the first of September. But I don’t think it makes sense to keep my place if I’m always here. I know we’ve never talked about me moving in, but…I kind of did.” She gestured around. The apartment had changed a bit since she’d started staying here. Most of the shifts were so gradual that I didn’t even notice. Her clothes in my dresser, her skincare on the sink. But then her books had come here, and some of her cookware was in the kitchen and her favorite things were in the pantry and the fridge. She’d folded herself into our lives so seamlessly we didn’t even realize it had happened.

“I know it’s a lot to ask but…” she trailed off.

“Yes. Move in with me. Officially.” She didn’t need to beg or dither or worry she was taking things too fast. We were past that already. “I would love to have you here with us all the time.”

She smiled and hugged me tight.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you, Josephine.”

She kissed me with so much passion that I wasn’t even thinking about my sore arms anymore.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I found us a dining table. Or a potential one. This woman in my building is moving out and I just happened to run into her and she asked if I wanted it.” She showed me a picture of a lovely simple wooden table. It was round and had matching chairs. Very mid-century modernwhich wasn’t exactly my taste, but I wasn’t going to turn down free furniture.

“Looks good to me,” I said. “Do you need help moving it?”

“I’ll just send her a message and let her know we can pick it up in the next few days. She and I can put it in my place for now.”

She sighed and rested against me.

“Do you want to bring any of your other furniture here?” I asked. I wasn’t that attached to my things.

Jo looked around. “Not particularly. There are a few things, but most of my stuff just came from the sidewalk or thrift stores. None of it’s anything special.” Her fingers moved through my hair as they always did.

“We can go over to your place and see what you might want to bring with you. I’m not married to anything here.”

Jo sat up. “You’re not married to any of your furniture? So that means you’re available. For marriage?”

Oh. We hadn’t had this conversation either.

“I think I am available for marriage. If the right person came along. And probably after we had dated for more than six months.”

Her smile was slow. “But after six months you’re open?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’m open.”

“That’s good to know. Just so you’re aware, I am also open to marriage.”

I exhaled a long breath. “Good to know. Good to know.”

Jo kissed me again. “I think I’d like being married to you, Larison.”

I kissed her back, in total agreement.

“Hypothetically,if we got married, would you want a big wedding or a small one?” Jo asked me as we lay in bed together that night. Even though our arms were sore, we’d still fucked slowly, and I’d used my new harness to make her lose her mind twice.

“I think my moms would demand something that they can make a fuss about,” I said. “So no eloping. They’d never forgive me. Marriage is a big deal to them because it was out of reach for them for so long.” They’d had a ceremony at the city hall as soon as it had been legalized. I’d been the flower girl and had never seen them happier. Mom wore a white dress from her closet and Mama found a tan suit and we all cried and laughed the entire time with all the other couples who were also getting married. It had been amazing.

Jo thought about that while we held each other. “Do we even know that many people? My family isn’t big. There’re our friends and your parents and who else is there?”

We looked at each other at the same time. “Juniper.” We said her name in unison.

“Still. Not that many people.”

She was right. I had a few extended family members, cousins and aunts and uncles. But not enough to make a big hundred-plus person wedding.

“I mean, we could probably fit everyone in the bookstore,” Jo said, and I think she meant it as a joke, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, I sat up.

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