He blinked. “You have to work.”
“Don’t you?”
“Yes. But you don’t want to.”
“Of course I do.” Mending wouldn’t be so bad. The hard part would be maintaining enough energy to move from sewing machine to sales floor to ring up customers as well as crunching this month’s numbers and paying bills. Little did she know pregnancy consumed brain cells. Last night at dinner, she’d forgotten the word “paisley” and described her new dress as “covered in teardroppy things.”
Landon reached over and touched her face. “No. You don’t. You want to lie here for another two hours. Eat breakfast in bed.” He rolled over and smiled softly. “And I want you to.”
Sigh. That sounded lovely.
A serious expression crossed his features. “I’ve thought a lot about you. About the baby.” His voice dropped to a low husk. “About us.”
She wound her fingertips in the hair on his chest, unable to stop touching him now that he’d mentioned the word “us.” Like she was afraid if she pulled her hand away, he’d say the best move was to end what they had. She wasn’t sure she could. Or maybe hormones were to blame for her worst-case-scenario thinking.
Although, her hormone theory had holes. She trailed her hands over his strong torso, down to the white sheet draped over the lower half of his body. The sheet jerked and she sent him a sneer.
“He likes you,” Landon quipped, making her laugh. He cupped her cheek and kissed her, and she thought about how nice it’d be to meld into him and hide in bed for the day.
But there were things to do. Things to discuss. “You were going to say…” Something she probably didn’t want to hear. Then again she didn’t know what she wanted to hear. It wasn’t like she wanted him to propose—heaven forbid. She didn’t want him to offer her a Cinderella story. Take her out of poverty and gift her with a new-and-improved, struggle-free life. She hoped he didn’t see her life as inferior to his. It’d taken her years, but she’d built a life with her own two hands, her own ideas, and yes, her own mistakes. That’s what made her life special. Because of those things, it was hers and no one else’s.
“I want you to move in.”
The comment was so far from what she’d expected him to say, she simply blinked at him. He hadn’t asked. More like made a decree.
“The baby can have the room down the hall.” He hitched an eyebrow. “We already have a baby monitor.”
She had no idea how to respond. What to say. “Move in?” she repeated, then grabbed on to the first objection she thought of. “I’d be so far from work.”
And her apartment. Her neighborhood.
“Yes. About that.” He was far too serious for her taste. A trickle of uncertainty flowed through her. Like when she hit her funny bone too hard… only her heart was the part of her tingling with pins and needles. She took her hand from his chest and sat up.
He leaned on an elbow and continued. “I found a building two blocks from here for lease. It’s bigger than Hobo Chic and has an office. Or, if you prefer, you could use the space to expand your storeroom and set up your office here.”
He’d found a building? For her store? “Were you planning on talking to me about this?”
“We are talking about it.”
“Mick owns half of Hobo Chic. I can’t just—”
“We’ll buy him out.”
“We?”
Landon rolled onto his back, an impatient sigh exiting his mouth. He slid on his glasses, sat up against the headboard, and pulled his hands through his hair. “Yes. We.”
Did he have any idea how loaded that two-letter word was? How she didn’t know if they were together? If they were a “we,” no one had told her.
“Neil and Ginny don’t live anywhere near here. Even with what I pay them, I doubt they could afford to commute—”
“That’s what the L is for. And if they can’t commute, we can hire a new staff. Probably best to replace Mick before you reopen.”
Reopen? She couldn’t keep up with the plans he was spouting off like they were no big deal. The move would be time consuming. She’d have to announce or she’d lose business. “We. There it is again,” she mumbled.
“I’ll cancel the billboard I ordered since the address will change,” he said, talking to himself now.
She blanched. “Billboard?”
His lips tipped into a smile. “I was going to surprise you. It’s going to be visible from the highway, but I can change the design for a fee. If we get the new location and info to them by—”