to Seattle with you.”
“Why not? You just said it’s a cool city.”
“It is, but you don’t have a job. I don’t have a job.”
Gage’s mouth quirked, and damned if it wasn’t sexy. “So? We’ll get some.”
“That’s . . . it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Because it’s not in your plan?”
Ellery stared at him like he was crazy. “That and I . . . I have a lease and a job . . .”
“Sublease your place and quit your job.” He gave her a shrug. “You’re young, probably too young for me even, but that’s the best reason to roll the dice. Why let life happen to you? Come with me to Seattle. You can sleep on my couch, put out some résumés, and start over.”
Let life happen to you.
Those words might as well have slapped her in the face.
She’d been letting life happen to her. What had she done to change her situation? Not much. She still hadn’t sent in the internship applications and had been avoiding everything that was difficult in life. Her life here in Shreveport was pathetic and safe. But moving to Seattle on a whim? That seemed extreme.
And somehow . . . exciting.
Gage was right—she was young, and if she were going to make mistakes, now was the time to make them. There was nothing left for her here . . . outside of parents she wasn’t talking to. Maybe a crazy, out-of-the-blue Seattle move was exactly what she needed. Maybe this was the break she’d been waiting on. No, it wasn’t a break. It was an opportunity. If things didn’t work out in Seattle, she could come back home. Or find a new opportunity. She didn’t have to have a plan. Ellery could create her life as she went.
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Twenty-nine,” he said.
“That’s not too old for me,” she said.
His answer was a small smile.
“Are you flying to Seattle or going on your motorcycle?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Well, I sold my bike to Evan, so I thought I would rent a car. I’ve already shipped my computer and most of my clothes to the one-bedroom loft that’s costing an arm and a leg.”
“If I come, I can bring my car, so we have transportation. Once I get a job, I can help with rent and stuff.”
“We can figure it out,” he said.
“Are you sure you want me to come with you?” she asked, wondering if she had lost her mind. Because she was seriously considering going to Seattle. With a man she barely knew. With no job. She was crazy, but this kind of crazy felt good.
It felt right.
Everything about Gage had felt right. The first time she’d met him, she knew he could see through her outside veneer. He challenged her on every level, and he was a hell of a good kisser.
When Gage smiled at her, she felt something inside her snap into place. “Weirdly enough, I do want you to come with me. We met for a reason—fate, kismet, whatever the world puts out there that makes things happen. That’s why I came here last night. Because I can’t seem to get you out of my head. When I said I wanted all of you, I meant it. Thing is, Ellery, you have to decide if you want to take a chance on Seattle. And on me.”
His words were like magic. He wanted all of her—the good, the bad, the Ellery who threw up in the bushes. This man who she knew next to nothing about, had too many tattoos, wore concert T-shirts, and kissed her like the devil could never be planned for. Didn’t matter. She wanted him. She wanted a new life with him in it.
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay, what?”
“I’m going with you to Seattle.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Daphne stared at the email on her computer and tried not to scream and dissolve into a puddle beneath her desk.
Her daughter had lost her effin’ mind.
Skipping Thanksgiving? No Christmas? And Ellery was resigning as her assistant?
“What in the hell is wrong with this girl?” Daphne said, releasing the mouse and spinning her chair toward the large window that framed November leaves whirling against the gray sky. Thanksgiving was two days away, and she’d given her daughter plenty of space to absorb her mother’s transgression and come to her senses. Of course, Daphne wasn’t sure Ellery would, in fact, come to her senses. Or ever be accepting of what her mother had done, but as Clay had been so fond of