Anderson mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand him.
“What?”
“You don’t seem so happy to move now.”
I whipped my head toward him. “Hello. This is happening really fast, and it’s a bit overwhelming.”
He squeezed my hand. “I’d like you to stay on at the house.”
“Super. That doesn’t make it more overwhelming at all.” I rolled my eyes and stared out the window. The conversation evolved over the last forty-hours, from a mention here and there to a spontaneous list of positives for moving in until I finally agreed to think about his offer.
“I’m not really comfortable not paying my own way. Plus–”
“Jurnee, the house sits empty ninety-nine percent of the time. You know I’ve been living at my parents’ place. You should accept the offer.”
“Where would you and your friends go to have meaningless sex if I was at the house?”
Smooth, Jurnee. So, smooth.
Turning to look at his reaction, I was met with a big ass grin on his face. “What?”
“The only person I’m looking forward to having any kind of sex with is you, so that works out. The guys are fine with coming up with a new spot to enjoy the company of their friends, plus we all own other real estates in the city.”
“Whatever. ‘Enjoy the company of their friends.’”
“So, that’s the part of my statement that you are going to comment on? Are you totally ignoring the fact that I want to be with you?”
“Not ignoring, just analyzing.”
The volume of the music increased, and Anderson slid his hand onto my thigh. I knew he was giving me time to process, but I chose instead to get lost in the female’s voice singing about being hard to love.
Looking down, I examined his amazingly large hand and the contrast of his dark skin against my faded tanned skin. A serene sense of security swept through me as he intertwined his fingers with my left hand and placed our linked hands in his lap. At that moment, there was nowhere else I wanted to be. Driving down an unknown highway toward an unknown destination felt like the most normal thing I could do on a Sunday.
“Where are we going?”
He smiled at my question. “I don’t want you to leave New York.”
The words repeated in my head before I could figure out what to say. “The cos–”
“You can afford it if you agree to stay at the house. Look, I want to explore this with you,” He lifted our hands to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of my hand. “And we can’t do that if you move back to Michigan for a year.”
“We can’t?”
“How would we?”
“I don’t know, but people do it all the time.”
“I don’t.”
I yanked my hand out of his and placed it in my lap. Not quite sure why I was annoyed, but I was. A moment later, Anderson grabbed my hand again. When I tried to pull away, he growled.
“It’s scary.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“What? Exploring things with me or not returning to Michigan.”
“Isn’t it one and the same?”
“No. It’s not the same. You could be totally psyched about getting to know me, but terrified to move to New York. Or you could be excited to move to New York, but completely terrified about starting a relationship with me.”
The car exited the highway, and the autumn colored leaves surrounded the road like a colorful cave greeting visitors.
“Both. I can’t stress enough that I never thought Graham would be interested in working with me. And I never, in a million years, thought the asshole I met on a blind date would be interested in dating me.”
“Wow. Asshole. You’re not holding anything back.” He gave my hand a squeeze as he took a sharp left onto a dirt road.
“I mean, your two truths would have made the Asshole Hall of Fame wall.”
He laughed as the car came to a stop. He leaned over and pressed his lips on mine. “I enjoy everything about you, Jurnee Joplin Messer. Never change.”
The tree-lined driveway seemed to go on for a mile. From the protective guard of the trees, the road opened up to a precisely manicured large yard with a lovely mini barn with a thoughtful landscape and a fresh coat of traditional red barn paint.
“Where are we?”
“A farm.”
“Duh. Why?”
“Did you just ‘duh’ me? Stop asking so many questions and stay put,” Anderson stepped out of the car. I watched every confident step he took as he made