Aaron adjusts the brim of his ball cap. “Maybe it’s time for you to start moving some more stuff to my place. That way Danielle and your dad can have the apartment to themselves.”
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I’m half joking, since I already live with him more than 50 percent of the time.
He pulls into the town hall parking lot and puts the truck in park. He shifts to face me, looking nervous. “You don’t have to answer right now, but you stay at my place more than you stay at the apartment. I love you. I want you next to me every night and every morning. I don’t want to push you before you’re ready, though. You can think about it for as long as you need to, but this is my official invitation for you to move in with me. It’s open indefinitely.”
“I don’t need to think about it.”
“Seriously, Teagan, I know it’s a big deal, and I didn’t mean to spring it on you right before the first farmers’ market of the year. You can let it percolate for a while.” He brings my hand to his lips and kisses the back of it.
“Can I be honest with you?” I ask.
“Of course. Always.” His expression is earnest.
“I only have a handful of outfits left at the apartment.”
“Really?”
“And I haven’t slept at the apartment in over a week.”
His brows pull together. “That was last weekend, when we had dinner with your brother and Dillion.”
“And you stayed the night with me,” I remind him.
A slow smile spreads across his face. “That’s right. You were frisky.”
My cheeks heat with the memory, and his expression shifts back to serious. “Does that mean we’ve been living together for a while and we didn’t even realize it?”
I chuckle. “It seems that way.”
“So can we make it officially official?”
“We can.”
“And you’re not just saying yes because you feel like you have to?”
I arch a brow.
“Just checking.” His palm curves around the back of my neck, and he pulls me in for a kiss. One full of promise.
Aaron is my partner. My person. My rock.
And I know, in my heart, that we’ll love each other the most on those days when it’s hardest for us to love ourselves.