I laughed. “Yes, I’ve been all yours since I knocked you on your ass in the market.”
She wrapped an arm behind my neck and kissed me like she never had before. It was desperate and hungry and grateful. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her back. We tilted backward and I braced us on the doorframe so we didn’t topple over.
Things had a way of working themselves out. I’d never really believed in that philosophy until recently. Buying this little homestead would have been years out of reach for me, but it turned out my father had left my brother and me a bit of money in the will. Neither of us expected it or even knew our old man had any savings left. We figured it was all going to paying for his assisted living. But it turned out he’d always had some stashed away for us in case either of us landed on hard times.
I’d used mine to buy a home so I could stay with my woman. Hopefully, Mike used his wisely, but it was his call to make.
Katie spun away from me into the bedroom. “I can see myself crashing at your house on weekends easily,” she said. “What a beautiful bed for you to bring me coffee in.”
I chuckled. “I have one more surprise.”
“Peter, I don’t know if my heart can take any more! This is plenty!”
I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a small blue velvet bag. It was tied off with a matching royal-blue cord. I dangled it in the air and Katie hurried over. She snatched it out of my hand and looked suspiciously from me to the little bag.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Open it.”
Katie couldn’t contain her smile as she untied the bow and pulled the bag open. She peered into the tiny bag and her brows drew together. Her eyes slid up to me. “Peter, is this what I think it is?
“Yes.”
She turned the bag upside down and poured the contents into her open palm. A silver key fell out.
I moved toward her and put my hand under hers. “I know it’s soon, and please don’t feel obligated to say yes, but I would love it if you moved in with me, Katie. Every step we’ve taken together has been better than the last and I can’t help but wonder if it was meant to be that you had to move. Maybe you were supposed to move closer to me.”
Katie ran her thumb over the silver key.
My nerves went into overdrive. “You don’t have to give me an answer right away. You can take some time to think it over. Maybe talk to Roman and Ginny if you need to or—”
“Peter.”
“I promise there’s no pressure, and if you don’t want this, it won’t change things between us. You can still keep the key so you can let yourself in whenever you need to—”
“Peter,” she said more firmly as she closed her fingers around the key. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
She nodded. “Yes, I want to move in with you.”
My heart swelled in my chest. “You do?”
Katie laughed. “I absolutely do. Are you kidding me? Look at this place! I can’t believe how much work you put in for me—for us! I love it, Peter. And I love you. There is nowhere I’d rather be than right here with you.”
“You’re sure?” I asked. “Because I’ve heard those digs of yours at the El Cartana were pretty slick.”
She cupped my face in her hands. “They were, but they weren’t nearly as slick as you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You know how to get my blood pumping.”
Katie laughed and pushed past me as she started inspecting the house. “We could live here for a long time, Peter. It’s truly perfect. Of course, I might need a bigger closet in the future.”
“I can make that happen.”
“And if we wanted to start a family, we’d have to push out this back section and add on another bedroom. Or two.”
I smiled. “Naturally.”
She turned to me. “And we’ll probably have to push out the deck, too. You know, for a little more space and such.”
I reached for her and pulled her close. “Your wish is my command.”
She ran her thumb along my jaw and gazed into my eyes. “How did I get so lucky?”
“Tell me if you still feel lucky after living with me for a month. I never put my laundry away and I have a chronic obsession with letting