Page 177 of Knockin' Boats
“The B&B.”
I winced. “Shit. Is it because the resort is taking too much of his business?”
“I don’t know. Damn. Sky will feel so bad if he drove Declan out of business.” He frowned. “It doesn’t really make sense though. The resort had a soft launch. We haven’t been open long enough to havethatmuch impact on his bookings. Plus, the B&B is so awesome. It’s a totally different vibe, you know?”
“I guess?”
He shook his head. “I need to go talk sense to him.”
“You just want an excuse to go see him.”
“Yes, I do,” he admitted with a grin. “I’ll show him that we can coexist. I can beverypersuasive.”
“Uh-huh.”
I wasn’t entirely sure if he meanttheycould coexist, or the B&B and the resort could. For years, Cash and Declan had had a strange push-pull relationship. Mostly Cash pushed and Declan pulled away. But Cash wasn’t wrong. He was very persuasive. That was half the reason Declan’s disinterest drove him a little batty, I think. Cash was used to being liked by everyone.
Still, if anyone could reassure Declan that his B&B could survive the resort’s resurgence, it was him.
When we got back to my camper, Ash collapsed onto the bed. “Why do I feel so exhausted?”
I kicked off my shoes and joined him, raising my arm so he could cuddle in against me. “It was an emotional day.”
“I got everything I wanted, but I feel…”
“What?”
“Selfish,” he admitted. “I got my mom, but what does she get?”
“She gets you.” I smoothed his hair back and kissed his forehead. “I’m really proud of you, Ash. That took a lot of guts to confront Rick like that. You did the right thing.”
He worried his lip, eyes meeting mine. “I hope so. I hope she doesn’t regret it.”
I bent down to brush my lips over his. “She won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re worth it to her,” I said. “She made the right choice.” I kissed him again. “And so did I.”
“Yeah? No regrets?”
“None. In fact…”
He raised his eyebrows in question. I hesitated, unsure if this was the right time. Ash had been through a lot of family drama today. But then, maybe that made it the perfect time. Ash and his mom had lost a family today. But I wanted them to see that they had a new one.
“Will you move in with me?”
His lips parted. “Really?”
“Yeah. I want you here every night.”
A smile started to bloom across his face.
“I know it’s tiny, and we can’t shower together, which is a pain in the ass?—”
“Such a pain,” he agreed.
“But if we’re both going to be running new businesses, we can hardly afford anything bigger. You’d have to put up with me sleeping half on top of you, living out of like two drawers of space, and sharing the occasional skinny dip instead. What do you say?”
