Rough Justice (Cainsville 5.5)

He glanced up. "It's for sale?"

"Not exactly. I made the owner a good offer, and he accepted."

He frowned. "I hope you didn't pay more than necessary."

I laughed. "Not exactly the point here, Gabriel, but don't worry--my offer was decent but fair. I made sure of that. Particularly because I expect you to pay half."

His brows rose.

"Yep, like I said, it's not really a gift. But you have your condo, and I have my house here, so what we need is a place that's ours. A vacation home. Because, of course, we require a third residence."

His lips twitched in a smile. "We do."

"I can certainly pay the full--"

"No." He set the photo aside. "This is what I would prefer. Joint ownership."

"Good. We'll consider it an investment if that makes us feel less indulgent. But the point, between the ring and the joint property, is that I'm not going anywhere. I'd love to say that's a guarantee, but nothing is. We just solved two cases of spousal homicide, so clearly, even marriage isn't a promise of happily ever after. Which isn't to say that I'm against that, at some point, but if we did get married now, my concern is that we'd be doing it to lock this in, rather than because we're ready."

"I don't want that." He paused. "I mean jumping to marriage. Marriage itself is fine, but you're right--at this point, I would want it as a guarantee. Which it isn't." He lifted the paper. "This says the same thing. That we're committed to making it work long term."

"Yes." I looked at him. "Is that what you want?"

He held my gaze. "It is definitely what I want."

"Good," I said.

As I leaned over to kiss him, something crumpled in his pocket and the smell of baked goods wafted out.

"Is that...?" I began.

He cleared his throat. "It's the anniversary of the day we met, so I, uh, got you..."

When he trailed off, I pulled the bag from his pocket and laughed. "It's a scone."

"Yes. Which, when compared to your gifts, seems..." Another throat clearing. "I will do better next time."

I threw my arms around his neck. "The fact that you remember the day we met is all the anniversary gift I need. Especially when..." I lifted up his ear. "I totally forgot." I took a bite of the scone, tossed the bag aside. "But if you want to give me a better gift, I have a few ideas in mind. Ones you can deliver right now. If you feel compelled to make amends."

He chuckled. "I do," he said, and lowered me onto the sofa.