“And why not?”
“Because we’ve only known each other a few weeks.”
“And?”
“And we aren’t ready to live together,” I argued. “It’s too soon.”
“Says who?”
“Says me, and you should be saying it too. Moving in together is a big step, and there’s no reason for us to rush into anything.” I reached over and placed my hand on his thigh. “I’m not going anywhere, Jared. I want to be with you, more than you know, but I’ve never been in a real relationship before, and I don’t want to mess up what we have by moving too fast.”
“I understand,” he said. I thought I’d already messed up everything by turning him down on his offer, but then he added, “How about this? You go back to Marlowe’s and stay there until the lease is up, and then we’ll see how things are between us and decide what to do from there. I mean, I already know what I want, but if you need the time to figure it out, I’m willing to give it to you.”
“You keep being sweet like that, and I won’t make it until the end of the lease.”
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
When we finally made it back to Nashville, Jared brought me to Marlowe’s old apartment and helped me carry my things inside. I thought he’d stay and take a break after our long drive, but as soon as he placed my bags in the bedroom, he headed for the front door. “I’ve gotta get over to the clubhouse.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I’ll swing by after work.”
“Wait... Shouldn’t I go to work too?”
“Just wait until tomorrow. Take the night and get settled in.” He stepped over to me and gave me a kiss. “I’ll have one of the guys bring you over a car.”
“A car? What happened to my car?”
“It’s gone,” he answered casually. “I wasn’t sure it couldn’t be tracked back to Peter and Sally, so I had the guys get rid of it.”
“Seriously?”
“Just covering all our bases, babe.”
While I didn’t like the idea of losing the car Peter had given me, I couldn’t really complain. Jared had gone above and beyond to make sure that I was safe, so I simply nodded and said, “Okay, I understand.”
“We’ll get you another car.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it.” I eased up on my tiptoes and gave him another kiss. “Now go take care of things at the clubhouse and at work, then get back here as soon as you can so we can get a little practice in on this whole living together thing.”
“I like the sound of that.”
He winked at me, then walked out of the apartment, leaving me alone to get unpacked. I spent the next few hours washing clothes and putting my things away. It was just starting to get dark out when I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, I found Marlowe standing on my doorstep with a big smile on her face. “Welcome home, stranger.”
“Hey, girl.” My heart started racing wildly in my chest. I kept thinking it was only a matter of time before she recognized me from the news. I feigned a smile and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you these.” She held up a set of keys in one hand and a large bag of Chinese food in the other. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“I’m starving.” She didn’t seem to be acting any differently than usual, so I motioned her inside and followed her into the kitchen. “You are so sweet to bring me dinner like this.”
“Well, I had my own self-interest at heart.” She laughed as she said, “I’ve been craving Chinese for days, so I got enough for both of us. I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”
“Are you kidding?” Relief washed over me when I realized she didn’t seem to know anything about Parker Weston. If she had, she would’ve already asked me about it, so I said, “I’d love the company.”
Marlowe dropped the bag on the table and started unloading all the food she’d bought. “So, how was your trip with Menace?”
“It was good.” I didn’t know how much she knew or what I was allowed to tell her, so I tried to be as vague as possible. “It was nice to have the chance to get to know him better.”
“So, you two hit it off?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“I’m not surprised.” She offered me a container of sweet and sour chicken, then said, “It was pretty clear he was into you from the start.”
“Oh, really?”
“Well, as I recall, you seemed pretty interested in him too.”
“I was. I am.”
“I thought so.” She was practically beaming as she started opening her box of fried rice. “I like it when I’m right.”
“Well, you definitely were. I’ve never felt like this with anyone.”