California Dreamin'

He’s right.

Just because we’re together doesn’t mean he’s become an easy man. He’s a workaholic. He’s a control freak. He can be emotionally detached sometimes and I have to get in there and break his walls.

He’s very much like my father in that sense.

But I never once doubted that he loves me. I know he does. I see it every day in his eyes when he wakes up beside me or when he comes home from a long day of work and his face relaxes just at the sight of me on our couch with my textbooks around.

I know he loves me and he definitely makes me happy.

“You know, I thought you were going to come up with a nice proposal,” I tease.

Some tension drains out of him. “I tried. But the one a three-year-old girl came up with was pretty fucking amazing.”

I smile. “It was, wasn’t it?”

“Fuck yeah.”

I’m about to say yes and kiss him when he tells me something else. “And we’ll move back to the east coast once you’re done. I’ve been looking into it and I have a job offer—”

“But you just got promoted here.”

Last year, Dean was made the Assistant DA and I don’t know anything about this lawyer stuff but I’ve seen enough movies and I’ve seen Dean really happy to know that it is a big fucking deal.

“Yeah, but I don’t care.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I don’t wanna move to the east coast.”

He frowns, blinking. “But that was the plan, right? You said you wanted to finish college before you moved and now you’re done.”

I did say that.

I never liked California. I never liked the sunshine, the beaches, the one-season kind of weather. And I knew I had the option of moving back with Dean, if I wanted to.

But then I thought maybe I should wait and see.

Besides, once I found out that Dean actually likes it here, he likes his job, his office—he even has a couple of friends here—I decided that for him, I could at least stay here until I finished college.

But I think it’s starting to grow on me.

The very things that I didn’t like, I think I like them now.

I like the wide roads, the straw hats, my surfboard that I will never use, drinks by the pool, flip flops, bikini tops, palm trees, open blue skies.

Blue oceans and my boyfriend—well, soon-to-be husband—emerging out of them with his velvety skin and dripping muscles.

I smile at him. “I know what I said but I like it here now.”

“You like L.A.”

“Yes.” I rub my nose against his. “You showed me so many things here. So many new sights. You had me tolerating the sun. The beach. I even tried to surf. Hello? How awesome am I? I guess I was just waiting for you to make me fall in love with it all.”

He studies me to see if I’m kidding. “You sure about this?”

“Yup. I always dreamed about you, you know. About being with you, spending my life with you. But now you also got me dreaming about California.”

“I did, huh?”

I nod, placing a soft kiss on his warm, touched by the ocean and the sun lips. “You’ve got me California dreamin’.”

THE END