“Hmm… I was going to bring you breakfast in bed,” I say as I lean back against him.
“If we go back to bed, we won’t be ready to leave for work on time,” he says, nuzzling into my neck.
“I guess…” I couldn’t give a toss about work right now though.
He chuckles against my skin, and then he moves away and slaps my arse before going over to the table and sitting down, with a smirk firmly in place. I roll my eyes at him, and he chuckles behind me as I finish buttering the toast and making the coffees. I take everything over to the table and take a seat. I’m about to take a bite of toast when I realise that Caleb is just staring at me, and I pause with the toast just in front of my mouth.
“Everything okay over there?” I ask, wondering if I’ve got something on my face or if I’ve suddenly sprouted two heads.
Caleb reaches across the table, and I drop the toast back onto the plate just before he takes my hand in his.
“Move in with me,” he says, and thank fuck I didn’t take a bite of the damn food because I’d be bloody choking on it.
“What?” I ask, my eyebrows shooting up.
“Move in with me,” he repeats, like it’s no big deal.
“Caleb… come on, do you realise what you’re saying?”
“Absolutely,” he says, not missing a beat. Silence ensues again as I try to wrap my head around what he is saying.
“Um, isn’t that a little too fast?” I question.
“Who says?”
“People. People will say,” I answer.
“So? Who cares what they think? I’ve waited my whole life to find you, and then I waited again because of my actions, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to wait any longer because people might deem it too fast,” he says, and my heart flutters a little at his words. “I love you, Cameron, and I even waited too fucking long to tell you that, but so help me, I will not take another second with you for granted.
“I like you being here. I love walking into the kitchen and seeing you here, treating the place as if it were your own. I want to wake up with you every morning and go to bed with you every night… I want it all, with you. It’s only ever been you…”
And there goes my heart. But let’s be real, it was never going to take much for him to work his way back in there, not when I never shut him out completely.
“You really want to do this?” I ask, biting my bottom lip to stop the smile from spreading across my face just yet.
“I really want to do this,” he confirms. “But only if you want to. I don’t want you to feel like you have to say yes because I’m absolutely putting you on the spot here—” I lift my hand up and place my finger on his mouth as I lean on the table, getting as close to him as possible, which is fairly close because it’s only a small table.
“I’d love to move in, Caleb,” I tell him, and the smile that breaks out on his face has my heart thumping so fucking hard. His hand goes to the back of my neck as he kisses me, hungrily, possessively.
And when he breaks away, he says, “Today is going to be a fucking good day.”
I couldn’t agree more.
* * *
“Gran,” I shout as I enter the house after finishing work. Caleb dropped me off when we had clocked off for the day, and I told him that I’d see him tomorrow as I wanted to tell Gran about moving out and spend the evening with her.
“In here, child,” she says, her voice coming from the kitchen, which is no surprise. The smell of her baking wafts through the house, and I instantly feel like I miss it, even though I haven’t moved out yet.
“Something smells good,” I say as I walk into the kitchen and go and place a kiss on her cheek.
“I wanted to make your favourite, seeing as I haven’t seen you much recently,” she comments, and I feel a little pang of guilt, but I know she doesn’t mean to make me feel guilty, I just do. It’s just been me and Gran for so long, and I worry that it will upset her that I’ll be leaving her on her own.
“Chocolate fudge brownies?” I ask, my mouth watering at the thought.
“What else?” she says with a chuckle as she goes and puts the kettle on. “Come, sit, tell me about what’s been going to make you so scarce around here lately.” She takes my hand and leads me to the table, and we both sit in our usual seats, with her facing the worktops and me facing the double doors that lead onto the garden. “I hope it’s to do with that devilishly handsome man you brought here a few nights ago.”
“Gran,” I grumble with an eye roll.