Page 59 of Gage (Love Under the Lights 1)

“Um, good. Better once I told her that with the stalking threat over, we’ll be able to move home.”

I had to force myself not to cringe because of the way I blurted the whole moving back home thing. In my defense, I’d been thinking about it the entire way home from the hotel. The closer I got to Gage’s house, the more anxious I felt. The truth was that I didn’t want to move back to the condo, but in addition to not wanting Gage to feel trapped, I was also damn sure I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of him kindly trying to point me toward the door. Even the idea of him having to tell me it was time to go made me ill. Therefore, I decided to face it head-on.

He frowned down at me. “Move?”

“Well, now that Kerri is no longer an issue, I can get out of your hair and move back to the condo,” I answered, my voice soft.

The tension in his frame wasn’t an encouraging reaction.

“Dammit Morgan, what the hell?” he asked, his voice tight.

I stiffened and tried to step out of his arms, but he tightened his hold.

“What do you mean?

“I mean you came out of left field with that shit.”

“Oh,” I said, frowning because I could see his point. We hadn’t discussed my leaving at all, and suddenly, I was tossing it out there like a Frisbee in a dog park. “Sorry about that. It was at the front of my mind because Kerri got caught and I just saw Allie.”

He studied me for several seconds like he was searching my face for something. Finally, he nodded as though he’d gotten an answer to an unasked question. Letting go of me, he stepped back, went to the counter, and picked up his cell phone.

“When do you want to move?”

No sooner was the question out of his mouth than his thumbs were tapping something out on the phone.

“I hadn’t gotten that far,” I answered. “Maybe this weekend?”

He nodded but didn’t look up from the phone because he was still busy typing. To me, his reaction was confirmation of the fact that he preferred to live alone. I’d be sad to go, but at the end of the day what mattered was our relationship.

“It’s all set for Saturday,” he said before setting his phone back down on the counter. “I told Shawn to book movers for first thing in the morning.”

Damn, I thought, thank God Kerri got caught when she was because he clearly wanted me out.

“I don’t need movers,” I said. “I’ve only got four suitcases.”

“That’s true,” he agreed, “but I’ve got a lot more than four suitcases to take with me, so movers make sense. You need to tell Allie that I’ll need a corner of your living room to set up my computer.”

My eyes were wide, and my jaw hung open like it was a trap door. “I… what?”

“What, what?” he asked.

“Why do you need movers?”

He made a tsking sound as he pulled me into his arms again. “The past seven weeks have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that we belong together. My home is with you, beautiful. If that means moving into a two-bedroom condo and rooming with your bestie, then so be it. I just hope the walls are thick enough to muffle sound since you and I get a little loud in the bedroom.”

My head felt like it was working overtime. “You want to keep living with me?”

“Of course I do. Having you here with me has been amazing. I don’t want you to leave, but if you feel strongly about going back to the condo, I’ll go with you.”

“You’d really go from almost eight thousand square feet to twelve hundred for me?”

He inclined his head. “There’s nothing a man in love won’t do for his woman. Square footage is just a number. You’re what matters.”

My breath caught at the same moment my heart started galloping like a team of wild horses was chasing it across a field.

“Are you . . . did you just . . . are you saying that you love me?” I stuttered.

He brought his hands up so that he could cup my face. “That’s exactly what I’m saying, beautiful. I never thought I’d feel like this, but meeting you changed everything and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you.”

Between blinking back tears, I had to swallow twice before I could say a word. When I was finally able to speak, there was only one thing to say.

“I love you too.”

The expression on his face before he leaned in and kissed me was one I knew I’d never forget.Twenty-EightMorganI felt like the smile on my face was permanent. After Gage and I had declared our love for one another, he’d taken me upstairs and made love to me until we were both too spent to move. Thus, I was high on life and love.

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