Happily Ever After Collection - Melanie Moreland Page 0,103

the time. But I also knew I had been one step ahead of her our whole relationship. I wanted this…more than anything.

She answered immediately, and I could hear the background noise. “Hey, Wren.”

“Connor? Are you okay?”

“Can you find a quiet corner and we could do a video chat?”

“Give me five minutes.”

“Okay.”

I hung up and paced the room.

I looked at her shocked face on my screen.

“You want us to move in together?”

“Yes.”

“Take over Luc’s lease?”

“Yes.”

“And you want me to decide—right now.”

My fingers clutched my hair. “I know it’s fast, Jenny, but it works so well. It all lines up.”

“So, we’d save money, you wouldn’t have to sell your car, and you’d stay in the building?”

“Yes.” I nodded emphatically.

She’d been shocked when I’d told her my original plan once I knew I couldn’t get as much for my car as I’d hoped. I could see she disliked the idea of me moving as much as I did. I also knew she was surprised at the solution I offered. I hated doing it over the phone, but Luc had to have an answer soon. If I told him no, he needed to find someone else.

I didn’t want to tell him no.

“So, this is a convenience, Connor? We’d be roomies?”

I gaped at her.

That was what she thought?

Fuck’s sake, of course she did. I’d called her up unexpectedly, told her I had a great apartment we could share, then expounded on the fact of all the money we would save. I made it sound like a budgeting thing. Not one word about the fact that even if I still had to sell my car and take a part-time job for it to happen, I wanted to live with her.

I sat back and smiled into the screen.

“Jenny Wren, listen to me. Listen well. Do you know why moving in together would be such a great thing?”

“You can keep your car?”

“No. I don’t care about the damned car. It’s so great because it means I don’t have to leave you. The thought of being far away from you was killing me.” I ran a hand over my face, scrubbing my cheeks roughly. “It means that every morning I can wake up with you. The last thing I will see every night is your sweet face. When I get home, I know you’ll be there. I want that. More than anything.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And while getting to keep my car is a bonus, getting you—living with you, is my dream.” I paused and closed my eyes for a moment. “I love you, Jenny. And I want this for us.”

“It’s so fast.”

I sighed. “I know, and if you don’t want it—one hundred percent want it—I understand. I still love you, and I hope one day I get my dream.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll wait, Jenny. I’ll wait for you.” Then I winked at her, so she knew it was okay. I was asking too much of her, expecting an answer immediately to a decision so large. “You’ll just have to get used to being at my beck and call.” I chuckled. “Or the bus.”

I could see the tears on her cheeks. I wanted to kiss them away.

“Connor?”

I traced the screen with my finger, wishing she were in front of me for real. “Yeah, Wren?”

“I want it, too.”

I paced around, constantly glancing at my watch. Jenny would be home soon.

Our home.

I had done it. I took over Luc’s lease, Joe had taken my apartment, and, within a day, management had a new tenant for Jenny’s place, one who would move in next week. With the help of my fellow officers and some firefighter friends, we had moved both apartments in the span of two evenings. Nothing was packed; we simply carried everything from the old apartments into the new one, in one long conga line. I put the furniture in the right rooms but knew Jenny would rearrange things once she arrived. She would make the space a home for us. For now, our dishes, pans, and linens were mingled together in the various cupboards, and I grinned every time I opened a door and saw them.

Jenny had no idea the entire move had happened. She thought we would be doing it when she got home, and I kept that information to myself. However, she wouldn’t have to do a thing except settle into her new place—our new place.

I had dinner in the oven and plenty of bottles of wine in the refrigerator. I fully expected lots of tipsy comments and hot sex as we