After You (Because of You 2)

I snuggle closer, running my hand along his jaw, then threading my fingers through his hair.

Without opening his eyes, he murmurs, “You can keep doing that.”

Smiling, I lean in and brush my lips against his. “We need to get up.”

“Don’t say because you’re kicking me out so you can work,” he says. “My two weeks of not being able to complain about your job have passed, and I am ready to make up for all the missed opportunities.”

Rolling my eyes lightly, I say, “No, not because I have to work.” Then, poking him, I say, “You probably stopped talking to me for two weeks just because you knew you weren’t allowed to bitch at me.”

Now he grins, opening his eyes. “No, that was just a happy coincidence.”

“You’re a cheater. I want a rematch, and if I win again, you have to give me another two weeks.”

Locking his arm around my waist and drawing me close, he says, “Or we could not do that, because I’ve already won everything I want.”

“I see how you play,” I tell him with playful disapproval.

“Yep,” he murmurs, kissing the side of my neck. “Dirty as fuck.”

His lips send shivers down my spine, but I resist the urge to turn into a puddle of goo. There’s still too much to figure out to spend the whole morning the way we spent the whole night. “Well, you don’t have everything you want. We still live three hours away from each other, and I can’t imagine things can stay that way if I’m going to adopt Cassidy. Someone is going to have to move.”

Nodding his head, he says, “Someone will.”

Sighing, I fix my eyes on his. “I imagine you want it to be me.”

“It’s a discussion we need to have,” he tells me. “I’m not going to unilaterally decide who has to pick up and move their whole life. It would be harder for me, though. I have a job there; Cassidy already has friends and family, a home, a bedroom she’s used to. It’s already going to be a lot of change for her—good change, but still change. Making her move here would be…”

“Unfair,” I realize, my gaze dropping to his chest.

He nods his head reluctantly, probably still expecting my resistance. “It would be hard.”

It would be easier for me to move, there are no two ways about it. Right now Nadia and Louise come to my house to work, but they could easily do the same work from home. If they don’t have good enough machines, I could buy them each a work computer. “I guess I won’t have to fix that roof after all,” I tell him.

Trailing his fingers along my shoulder, he smiles. “Yeah? Just like that?”

I shrug one shoulder, looking up at him. “Everything I like is at your house, anyway. You only have three bedrooms, though. Before you put a baby in me, we need to move to a bigger house, because I need an office. There’s no way I’ll hold onto my sanity without an office I can shut myself inside when I need to work, because you and Cassidy both clearly want us to be hobos.”

Smiling faintly, Derek shakes his he

ad. “We wouldn’t be hobos. I could support us on my pay.”

I shake my head. “Don’t push your luck. I’ve already agreed to move in with you, but full dependence is out of the question.”

“I wasn’t suggesting you should stop working, I was just telling you we wouldn’t be hobos. I can turn the third bedroom into your office though, that won’t be a problem. We mostly use it for storage now anyway. Maybe next summer we can look into buying a bigger house. We’ll save up for a down payment throughout the fall and winter months.”

“I can cover the down payment. We don’t have to save up for that. Dreamcatcher released well, plus I’ll be selling my house to move, so… in two months, we’re going to have some money coming in.”

“Well, yeah, but this adoption thing is going to be a few thousand dollars, too. Plus, I actually think we should replace your roof and spruce this place up before you sell it, that way we can make a little more on it. I noticed your bathroom faucet is leaky, too. You really should’ve told me about that.”

Shrugging, I tell him, “I forgot. I never have time to notice things.”

Now he rolls his eyes, but as soon as he opens his mouth to undoubtedly complain about my job, I interrupt.

“I am going to hire a proofreader, like you suggested. I have some interested applicants already. And I will talk to Louise and see if she’d like to go full-time, that way I can start taking a day or two off every week. I’ll try to make a more Noble-friendly work schedule so I have some time off in the evenings once you guys get home from work and school.”

“Thank you,” he says, leaning in to kiss me.

“You made many valid points. I mean, if I’m going to have the life of my dreams, I should make some time to live it.”