I'd Rather Not (KPD Motorcycle Patrol 3)

“Well,” I said as I turned to Oakley and winked. “It started like this…”

***

I walked in the door of my house and grinned down at the dog that’d run up to meet me at the door.

Jagger licked my hands excitedly, and I gave him a good scratch behind the ear before I turned to find Oakley standing there waiting for her turn.

I smiled at her and reached for her hand, pulling her into my body and wrapping one arm around her middle.

“Hey,” I said as I dropped a kiss onto her upturned lips. “Everything okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Doctor’s appointment went super well. No problems. Also, I gave my statement at the station and they let me leave after that. I wasn’t there but for about twenty minutes max. I got home in time to get all of my work done, too.”

“Good news,” I said as I walked her backward and pressed in until her hips were pinned between my body and the couch. “Did you cook dinner?”

I could smell something that was mouthwatering, but I’d noticed that it smelled faint. As if it was old.

“Yes, and no,” she hedged, her voice hitching as I ground my erection into her hips. “I…Jesus.”

I grinned and pulled back from sucking on her neck, my eyes full of mirth as I said, “What?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You know what, Mr. Vineyard.”

She punctuated that statement by poking me in the chest.

“I’m sorry,” I lied. “I have no idea what the problem is.”

She pushed me gently. “I’ve been waiting for almost an hour and a half for you to get home, and I’m starving like Marvin. Let’s eat…then you can do what you want to do.”

I grinned as I allowed her to push me away and skirt her way into the kitchen.

I followed, as did Jagger, and came to a halt when she started to unearth Chinese food from the oven, which was on low.

My stomach rumbled at the sight.

“I thought you didn’t like Chinese food,” I said as I watched her pull box after box after box out.

“I don’t,” she paused. “At least, the food that I tried. So today I went and got one of almost everything on the menu. And these noodle things. I’m hoping that I find something that I like since you like it so much.”

I’d practically begged her to go with me to a Chinese buffet, but she’d shot me down plain and simple. See, she’d had one bad experience at a buffet when she was fifteen, and since then not only did she not eat at buffets, but she also refused to try Chinese food again.

Which was sad seeing as that was one of my favorite cuisines.

But she’d tried…for me.

My heart swelled in my chest as I stared at her.

Then, without thought to what I was saying or how I was saying it, I blurted out my inner thoughts.

“I think you should move in with me.”Chapter 14Please do not invite me to outside events. It’s hot and I’m fat.

-Oakley to Pace

Oakley

“I think you should move in with me.”

I blinked at Pace’s words.

My mind was currently elsewhere as I tried to make my brain compute with what he’d just said.

Then I stiffened.

“Pace…”

“We spend almost all of our free time together anyway,” he said. “Plus…the idea of having you in my house sounds exciting. Right.”

I couldn’t deny that it did.

But we’d literally started our new relationship—the one that involved sex—just a few weeks ago. This was still very new, and I knew that he might regret it down the road.

Then where would I be?

“Come on,” he urged. “At least you can stay at my place until you find something else.”

I’d spent all day trying to find something else.

There wasn’t anything to be had.

Which sucked because I really, really wanted to stay.

I liked where I was…or, at least, I liked who I was close to.

At least, now I did, anyway.

Before the surgery, I’d honestly planned on going back home once it was all said and done. After a year, and when my anti-rejection meds were finally settled, I’d planned on heading home to Benton. Home to where my family was.

But then Pace had happened. Ford had moved to Kilgore.

And I’d found a home I hadn’t realized that I’d wanted.

“Or you could stay forever,” Pace pushed. “You wouldn’t have to look for a house at all. You could stay here and never look, and I’d be happy as fuck because you gave me what I needed, not just what I wanted.”

I was starting to melt.

His words were exactly what I wanted and needed to hear.

“Can I give you an answer later?” I asked. “Let me think on it?”

Pace cupped my ass and pulled me in closer. “Of course, you can.”

We ate in silence after that.

I found that I did, indeed, like sweet and sour chicken. I also liked the lo mein noodles, as well as the steamed rice. I did not like their fried rice, though. I wasn’t a big fan of veggies in my rice, and the place that I’d bought from had carrots as well as peas in theirs.