“Ava.”
He sounded so serious.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re clueless about how many people care about you. I don’t know if I should find it adorable or concerning. Or both.”
I tensed but shook my head. He was being his crazy self right now.
“How about it?” His hand went to the back of my neck, and as he pulled my head toward his, his hand slid up into my hair. He cupped the back of my head. “Wanna be my roommate?”
My breath caught and held in my chest. That was nuts. Me in Zeke’s huge mansion? “You bought that place?”
He nodded, leaning even farther. “Yep. With my own money. No inheritance, nothing from my folks. I think it drove my dad crazy but made him hella proud at the same time. My house is almost as big as theirs.”
“What do you do for a job? We’ve actually never had this conversation.”
“I do stocks. I’m a math genius, but no one knows that, and I’m really good at stocks.”
I remembered his place.
He was grinning again, eyeing my mouth. “How about it? Roommate?”
I groaned, but I must’ve made the decision because the resistance was gone.
I’d lived my life a certain way for so long. Living with Zeke, no matter what came, was going to be something so different, I was thinking I was desperate for that change.
“This is insane.”
“But?” He looked up, his eyes were dancing. “We can even give the house a name. Aveke. Ava and Zeke together. How about it?”
“But.” Oh God. Ijustmoved in. “You have to help me move my stuff.”
“I know some people.” And as soon as he said those words, his mouth was on mine.
My eyes opened.3:33 a.m. Zeke had fallen asleep next to me.
I had absolutely no idea what we were doing. I curled up next to Zeke, and he reached for me in his sleep. He tucked me into his side. Sex? Roommates? Were we dating? I hadn’t a clue, but I smiled, and my chest felt lighter, and for the first time in a while, I felt the first stirrings of being okay.
I could start to like this a whole lot. I’d worry later if this was either going to shatter me or heal me.
13
AVA
The next morning, he was gone, and I suddenly needed to do something. Anything. I half contemplated running, but I wasn’t an exerciser. I was a worker. I worked. That’s almost all I did, which was very, very sad now that I was thinking about it.
Getting up, showering, I got ready for the day and headed to the kitchen.
The door was on, and it looked attached, but there was definite damage to it. Zeke had said he’d take care of it, so I wasn’t going to stress about it. Yet. Instead, I was going to stress about how he said he wanted me to move in with him.
I couldn’t believe he actually meant it. He hadn’t. He’d been lying. Just saying things.
God.
Zeke hadn’t been lying. He hadn’t been saying things. He meant it.
I was going to move in with him.