“Why?”
“I don’t want to impose on you if you’re there with him. I wanted to come for Christmas so badly, but the show is busiest around the holidays, since everyone is visiting the city. They don’t want the understudies performing during peak times. So, none of the leads are allowed to take time off. There was no way I could get out of it.”
“Damien wouldn’t mind if you stayed here, but I’m still under lease at the other place. We can just stay there together and have a girls’ week.”
“Maybe I should just stay with the hot brother instead,” she joked.
Jade didn’t even know what Tyler looked like. She was just basing her opinion on what I’d told her about his resemblance to Damien. She also knew that he, too, was an actor.
“I have no doubt that Tyler would love that. He’s apparently dating someone now, though. I’m supposed to meet her over Christmas.”
“Well, nix that plan, then.”
“Yeah, she might not appreciate a six-foot tall, gorgeous blonde who looks like a model shacking up with her boyfriend.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time I shacked up with a guy and girl,” Jade said. “Except I was the girlfriend getting screwed over in that scenario.”
“What an asshole.”
“I don’t want to talk about him. Change the subject.”
“Okay...well, back to my living with Damien, I don’t want to assume it’s official, so let’s plan on you staying with me at my place when you come visit.”
“Okay. Sounds like a plan.”
Three weeks later, Damien would finally make it known where things stood as far as my living at his place.
I’d been enjoying spending time there with no expectations for however long it lasted. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wake up in the morning with Damien’s face in between my legs. I loved rolling out of bed on weekends and having breakfast with him and the dogs. I loved everything about spending time with him, and it didn’t matter to me if he put a label on it.
One thing I learned over time about Damien was that when he did something important or made a big decision, he typically did it in a spontaneous way. Case in point, the first time we’d made love when I found him painting the wall.
So, when he finally decided to acknowledge our living situation, it also wasn’t in a way that I ever could have predicted.
One afternoon, I returned to his apartment after work to find a massive pile of rubble where his office used to be. Damien was with two other men and wore a mask covering his face. There was dust everywhere, and the wall separating our two apartments was completely gone. It was all just one huge open space.
“Damien? What did you do?”
“We’ll go get your stuff next week when the dust settles. I talked to your landlord—mentioned some more violations on his property that I happened to notice. He said he’d be happy to let you out of your lease.” He pulled down his mask, flashed a huge smile and gestured to the massive space around us. “I’m giving us a penthouse suite.”
And that was how Damien asked me to move in with him.CHAPTER TWENTYUNDER THE CAMEL TOEI had to wonder what I was thinking when I’d insisted on hosting a Christmas Eve get together at our place for a few of our closest friends and family members. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but with only three hours left to prepare, I was seriously kicking myself.
There was a lot to be thankful for this year, and that made me want to do something to celebrate. Everything seemed to be going our way. Damien’s most recent checkup turned out okay, and he was feeling well most days.
The apartment was looking spectacular—totally fit for a party. Damien had done most of the renovation work himself after the initial wall demolition. It was now basically one gigantic love nest. He’d removed my old kitchen altogether, and my former bedroom was now part of our living room. We kept the other bathroom as a spare, and he’d closed off an area into a small guest room. The dogs had more space to putz around the house, too.
The door swung ajar to reveal Damien shoving a freshly-cut Christmas tree through the opening. The scent of fresh pine filled the air. It definitely smelled like Christmas all of a sudden.
“It’s huge!”
“Why thank you. So, is this tree.”
“Seriously, that tree is massive!”
“Don’t you know by now that I do everything big, baby?”
“Yes, but we didn’t need one that big.”
“Actually, all the small ones were gone. Most people have their Christmas trees set up by now. This is what happens when you procrastinate until Christmas Eve.”
“That’s true. We’ve been bad. And I have to send you out to the store again, too, because I forgot a few things.”