“I love you.” I blurt out, laughing. “Jeez, I wanted to say that for years now.”
Cooper laughs with me. “I love you too, Harley. Always.”
We kiss again and this time I really don’t want to stop but I know that I have to get back to work. Cooper pecks my lips once more before he pulls back, taking a step away from me for good measure.
“I’ll pick you up at 3, baby. You can get ready then.”
“Ready for what?” I ask, confused.
“For our first date.”
Eight
Cooper
Harleyand I have been officially dating for four days now and I’ve never been happier. I already want to ask her to move in with me. Is four days too soon to do that though? Harley and I have been spending every night together. I drop her off and pick her up once she was done with her shift. She would go grab a change of clothes before we headed back to my house where we would make love for the rest of the night.
She’s asleep in my bed now and I know that I’ll need to wake her up soon so that she can make it to the café in time for her to prep for today. Her and Peyton work too hard running their place and setting up the bakery. I’ve offered to help over the last couple of days but I’m a mess in the kitchen so there’s not much I can do for her there. I spent one night with Harley in the bakery, painting the walls. We’ll need to go back at some point and do another coat but it’s starting to come along and transform into the vision that Harley has in her head. I can already tell that it’s going to be a success with the locals and the tourists.
It’s crazy how prepared and driven both Harley and Peyton are. They’re both masters in the kitchen and it’s obvious that they love what they do but they’re also wiz’s with business. We ate dinner at the café with Peyton a couple of nights ago and they were throwing around new ideas and ways to drum up business.
They’re thinking about offering cooking classes once the bakery is open, maybe teach people how to make their own bread or cookies. They want to do a kid’s class once a month too, with cake or cookie decorating classes. They discussed the pros and cons of offering a newsletter too and maybe getting a food truck to park next to the beach.
I love how passionate they both are about their businesses. It’s obvious they love and respect each other and I know that Peyton will always be family to Harley and therefore, to me. I’m a little nervous about asking Harley to move in because they’re so close. I know Harley won’t want Peyton to live alone and they’ve sunk almost all of their money into their businesses. I’m not even sure that Peyton could afford the rent without Harley’s share. I would be happy to help cover anything that they needed or even for Peyton to move in with us. My house has the room for her too.
My house is a two-story bungalow right on the beach with four bedrooms and three and a half baths. I knew that it was bigger than I needed when I bought it, but I was hoping, even then, that one day Harley would be living here with me. Most of the rooms are bare since I never got around to decorating rooms that I wasn’t even using right now.
The only room beside my bedroom that I did bother getting furniture for was the living room. I have a nice leather couch and a big screen tv in there with some end tables to complete the room. I’m a terrible cook and all of my meals come in take out boxes so I didn’t need to do much in the kitchen. Besides, I’m sure that Harley has enough stuff to fill the kitchen up already. Now, I just need to get her to move in with me so we can make this empty house a home.
I just need to man up and ask her already. Harley shouldn’t be the one to always initiate things between us, although I will admit, having her take charge of things between us is hot as hell to me.
I finish pulling my uniform on before I sit down on the edge of the bed and watch as Harley starts to wake up. She blinks her eyes open, stretching her hands above her head before her eyes meet mine.
“Morning.” She says sleepily.
“Morning.” I say, leaning over to brush my lips against hers.
She sits up in bed scooting over until we’re sitting side by side, her feet dangling over the side. She rests her head on my shoulder and I wrap my arm around her waist.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“What do you think about maybe moving in with me?” I ask tentatively.
She surprises me when she starts to laugh.
“What do you think I’ve been doing?”
I take a moment to think about that, looking around our bedroom as I do. She’s right. The closet is stuffed full of her clothes and more spill out of the dresser. Her shoes are kicked into one of the bedroom corners and I can see her makeup and lotions littering the bathroom counter.
“Is Peyton ok with this?”
“Yeah. She wants me to be happy and she knows how long I’ve been waiting for you. Plus, I already told her I’d help with the rent on our place still.”
I nod as I kick some of her dirty clothes out from under the corner of the bed.
“You know, you are kind of a slob.”
She laughs as she looks around the room with me.