Page 140 of Keeper
“People can think whatever they want,” she said, staring up at me. “All that matters is that I’ve got you.”
“And I’m not going anywhere.”I pulled her close. “I promise we’re going to get through this.”
She sighed happily. “Thank you, Tanner. Really. Thank you for everything.”
Just as I leaned down and started to kiss her, the valet pulled up in Ainsley’s car and rolled a stop in front of us. I loaded her bags into her trunk.
“Boo,” Ainsley said. “I guess it’s time to say bye.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, a pit in my stomach.
I walked with her and opened the driver’s side door for her. She pressed herself against me for one last hug, the open car door goingding, ding, ding.
“I hate saying bye,” I said, squeezing her tight. “Not sure how many more of these I can do.”
She leaned back with a frown. “Well, Tanner, with me living in Kansas, we might have to do a few more of these. You know that, right?”
For the first time, I saw doubts—doubts aboutus—creepbehind her eyes. I could see her asking herself,is he cut out for a long distance thing?
“Yeah, I know,” I muttered. I slammed the car door shut to stop its chiming. “Butwhat if youtransferred schools to Dallas and moved in with me? Then we’d see each other a lot more. We’d only be apart when I’m on the road.”
“Oh, wow,” she murmured.
Lost in thought, she smoothed her palms against my pecs, back and forth. No doubt she was wondering why I hadn’t brought this up earlier, when we actually had time to talk about it. To be fair, I was asking myself the same thing.
“Transferring schools to Dallas is definitely an option next semester,” she said at last. “And I’m open to that. But moving in? Wow.”
“Hey, I know Cujo would love having you around,” I teased. I’d do anything to sweeten the pot.
“I’m sure he would,” she chuckled. She paused. “But Tanner, I hoped we could take some more time until we’resureabout things, because moving in with a guy is a pretty serious commitment to me. I take that seriously, you know?”
I guess it wasn’t a serious commitment to me because, in my mind, I was alreadythere.I was ready for it.
“Yeah,” I said, disappointed. “Yeah, it is serious, isn’t it.”
She frowned. “Yeah.”
Something came between us, some sort of barrier that made it harder for us to speak. I didn’t know what it was, butI knew I didn’t wantthisto be how we parted.
Suddenly, I found the courage to tell her what I was too afraid to say earlier.
“Hey. Listen. Honestly, if you want to wait longer, that’s fine,” I said. “It’ll suck not having you by my side, but I’ll deal with it. And I’ll wait as long as it takes before you’re ready. Because you’re worth waiting for. This past week proved that to me. I didn’t evenknowI was waiting, but our week together proved that you’re the girl I’ve been waiting for, Ainsley.”
She blinked. “Sorry, you saidwhat?”
I grinned. “You’re my forever-girl. So you can take as long as you want—it doesn’t matter to me, because I’m never gonna let you go.”
“Tanner. Wow.” Her eyes widened. “You really mean that?”
I stared deeply into her eyes.“I do.”
She jumped intomy arms, climbing me like a tree, and covered me in kisses. “Tanner, I love yousomuch.”
“I love you, too,” I said, holding her in my arms.
Her eyes glittered as she stared into mine.
“I’ll do it,” she whispered. “I have to finish out my semester in Kansas. But as soon as I’m done with school … I’ll do it. I’ll move in with you.”
