Page 107 of Stay for Me
“Just you saying that makes you one.” A part of me knew his career would be difficult to handle. When I left California, I wanted to find a guy from a small town who wouldn’t be darting off all the time. I thought that, if I found normal, I could finally settle down and be happy. “You know, Cybil asked me if I really would be happy with someone mundane or simple. The thing is, I don’t think I would. I would be bored, and you, Jacob Arrowood, are not boring. You’re a good man with a big heart and you make me happy. I’ve dealt with separations before, and we’ll find a way through it when it comes to that. If anything, I think this shows how good we can be.”
“You do?” he asks dubiously.
“Of course. I like having space a bit here and there.”
He comes in close and gives me a kiss. “You’re really perfect, you know?”
“Now you’re delusional.”
“Maybe so, but I’m very happy in this fantasy—with you.”
I smile and move in. “Me too.”
“Good.”
“Now, let’s make out on the couch before I have to sneak you out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jacob
“Hey, Declan, what brings you here?” I ask as I step out of this tiny house that still smells like apples from Brenna’s hair products.
Tonight, we have a big date. I’ve gone all out. I want to make her feel special, and it’s taken a lot of ingenuity to come up with something when I can’t really go anywhere. Those plans require me to get my ass on the road.
“I just wanted to talk to you.”
“About?” I ask as I walk toward the car.
“Where are you going?”
“To the moon. Now, seriously, what’s up?”
Declan rubs the back of his neck. “I just came by to look at the tiny house. My lease is up on this bad boy a few days after your time is up, and I have to send the owner pictures so he can see what work it needs.”
My chest tightens, and I stare at him, not saying anything. The idea of leaving here in a few months suddenly makes me nauseated. I don’t want to leave, and I’m not expecting to move in with Brenna. I need a place, so I might as well keep this damn thing.
“I’ll buy it.”
His head jerks back. “And do what with it?”
“Own it.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Declan says with a huff. “I’m asking why the hell you want it? You leave soon and absolutely hate it.”
“And now I like it.”
That’s overstating it a bit, but it has very small perks. Like that sneaking a very sexy redhead in and out undetected is much easier than my sneaking in her window. And the fact that when she’s lying in my arms and we look out the floor-to-ceiling windows on the side, it reminds me of our date at the movies—before the torrential downpour.
Declan scratches the back of his head. “Okay, then. I’m not going to ask because I’m sure it has to do with Brenna.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you have that goofy grin on your face.”
“What goofy grin?”
He points. “That one. You’re all smiles, and you get that stupid look like you’ve been hit by Cupid’s arrow or maybe it’s another arrow who shot her with something else.”
