Page 106 of Not Catching Love

“Yeah …” He glances over at Derek like he’s asking permission for how much to say.

Derek takes over. “I told him last week that as soon as I got back, I was going to make things official with you.”

“Cocky.” I narrow my eyes at him. “What if I’d said no?”

Derek sets down my coffee in front of me, then takes mychin and steers my face up. He leans in close, close enough to kiss me. “You really think you could have?”

“No.” I groan. He’s got me. There was no way I was ever saying no to him.

“Now we’ve got that cleared up, yes, I told Manny, and yes, I told him that I was planning to be occupied with you all night but that he could come over today.”

“I’m like a cockroach,” Manny says. “Can’t keep me away.”

“Lucky Derek likes bugs.”

Manny laughs. “I can’t believe that wasn’t a turnoff.”

“Ehh, he has enough good qualities to balance it out.”

“Anyway,” Manny says, glancing back over at Derek. “There is a reason I’m here. Other than to see your pretty face.”

“Shoot.”

“The subdivision is approved, and we’re ready to sell. I know you said no, but come on …” He waves a hand over the house. “You really want to pay someone else’s mortgage for the rest of your life? You’re gettingold.”

“He’s not old.”

Manny smirks. “He’sold, old.”

“You’re the one with a kid,” Derek throws back. He sounds distracted though, and when I glance over, he’s looking around the room. “I don’t think it’s the best time.”

“I love you, but we can’t sit on this thing forever.”

“Then sell it.”

“Derek.”

He shrugs. “It is what it is. I’m not ready to leave yet.”

“By the time you build something, you will be.”

“That’s the other thing.” Derek shifts his mug to his free hand and back again. “Getting the money for something like that won’t be easy, especially after I’ve taken time off work and spent a chunk of my savings to go overseas twice.”

“They didn’t pay you?” I ask.

His expression shifts to indulgence as he looks over at me. “I was volunteering. They covered a little, but mostly, I was on my own.”

I think he’d mentioned it at some point, but I guess it didn’t hit me that he was gone for four months … for free. No income. He had to have saved a bit to be able to do that.

“You’re selling land?” I ask Manny.

“I’m trying to.”

“For how much?”

His attention redirects to me. “Not sure yet. We have a number in mind, but we still need to get a sales agent out to look at it. That said, if Derek’s offer came in around what we’re happy with, it’d be his.”

“Can I see it?”

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