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“Yeah, but it’s different. Her parents are insanely strict, and they wouldn’t be okay with Mason. Or any other guy for that matter.”

Riggs nodded, and once he was done trimming his beard, he walked over to me and placed his hands on my hips. “Guess we’re lucky in a way. Your parents finding out could’ve ended far worse,” he said.

“Yeah, it could’ve. I’m glad we’re where we are now though. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

I reached up to wrap my arms around his shoulders, smiling up at my handsome man. “What’s wrong? You look like you want to tell me something. Is everything okay?” I asked, caressing the back of his head and wrapping his wavy hair around my fingers.

He kept looking at me, studying me closely until he finally spoke.

“Move in with me.”

I frowned. “I already live here, Riggs. Half of my clothes are here.”

“I’m not really giving you a choice here, Valley. Move in with me.”

He was dead serious, but how on earth could I move into his house?

“I’m literally here almost every single night. Besides…I don’t think—”

“As smart as you are, I want you to stop thinking for once. I want you here every day. Every night. I want to be able to come home and see your face. I wanna watch you do your homework and study, and later on I’ll fuck you so you can relax your brain. I want to go do all the shit couples do together. Groceries, shop for new furniture, change up a whole guest bedroom just for fun. I want you here, Valley. So move in with me.”

This side of him only shone through when he was desperate for something, and knowing him, that wasn’t often the case.

He really wanted me to live with him, share this house with him.

How could I ever say no to him when he was passively begging me, making it sound like an order?

I kept my eyes on his the whole time, making him suffer through my silence but I finally gave in.

“Okay,” I whispered. “But you have to promise me one thing…”

“Anything,” he replied, a smile already spreading across his face.

I leaned in closer, my lips brushing against his while my eyes closed. “Promise to love me forever.”

He chuckled, pressing my body against him with his hands on my lower back. “You should know I will by now, Valley. I’ve shown you every day how much I love you, and I will continue to do so.”

“Good, because no matter what…you’ll always be my man.”

And he could never get rid of me.

Not in five, ten, nor fifteen years.

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