Page 122 of Only Ever You

“And now that I know about the move,” he began as their bodies entwined, “tell me all about it.”

“I’m excited.” Faye settled into his arm curled around her. “I’ll be moving in mid-January, which is why I’ve not really cared about fixing my heating. I’m only going to be in that flat for another couple of weeks.”

Another couple of weeks.Bash hoped she couldn’t feel how his heart picked up at the fact thatanother couple of weekswas all the time they had before their lives would shift again.

“What are you going to do with all of your stuff when you go?” he asked to distract himself from the sadness crawling into his chest.

“I was just going to sell everything that I can’t logistically take. Moving up the length of the country costs a lot, or so I’ve found.”

“Don’t sell stuff,” Bash said without thinking.

Faye lifted her head up off of his chest. “Huh?”

“Don’t sell what you can’t take. I’ll keep it for you at my house.”

“But … where?”

He tipped his chin down to look at her. “Faye, I’ve got an entire basement that I don’t know what to do with and I’m one minute away from turning it into a man cave.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have one of those already, to be honest,” she said.

Bash chuckled beneath a couple of breaths and drew himself back to seriousness with a smile. “Please, let me do this for you?”

Faye fluttered her eyelashes at him but he held his nerve until she caved. “Okay. But I’m paying you for the storage.”

“No you won’t.” Bash slung his other arm around her. “The last thing I need is more money.”

“Show off.” She playfully batted his chest. Why did he love her little innocent teases so much?

“I prefer the term ‘down to earth’. Anyway, if you’d let me have my way then you’d have been living with me for years. Your stuff wouldn’t need to be moving anywhere.”

Bash couldn’t quite believe where he was. When the time came for him to let out everything he’d held back for a decade – he’d surprised himself that all of the words he’d ever wanted to say to Faye had left him in the right order. He’d just never planned for it to be so spontaneous on a chilled winter night, worn out from travelling, and in a hallway.

You never look at me like that.

Like what?

Like you’re in love with me or something.

Well, maybe I am.

There was nomaybeabout it. Bash usually cursed his impulsive tongue, but he didn’t this time.

Faye’d been so riled up because of the television, of all things, and maybe from how he’d pretended they were dating in front of Mrs Papplewick – don’t ask him why, Bash didn’t know either. Seeing those sparks of fire she’d let off had captured him so fiercely, he couldn’t look away.

For some reason, a frustrated Faye turned him on. Made him crave to sink his fingers inside of her so that she could unwind. Bash supposed that doing just that had done the trick since she snuggled up to him and sighed happily.

He hadn’t lied; bringing Faye with him to his family’s Christmas had been a mistake, because all it showed him was what he was missing out on, and how much he wanted those extra pieces to be filled in by her. If she hadn't come, he’d simply have gone about the days like normal and returned home without anything having changed.

But they had.

All of their friends were right: they’d found love right under their noses and not known it for a decade.

Matt had been right too. It didn’t matter when or where or how he told Faye that he loved her; she’d wanted to hear those words. And hearing them from him at the foot of a staircase had been, if anything, better than any plan Bash could’ve put together.

This holiday had shifted their relationship towards something that’d confused him for days, and the words “Well, maybe I am”had just slipped right out of him and surprised them both, leaving no choice but to let everything come from his unprepared heart.

And to hear Faye say that she’d belonged to him since that first moment where fate had made her run into him? Well that’d just sent Bash up to the moon.

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