Page 29 of The Run Option

Willow drops her gaze to her plate, but acquiesces. “If you insist.”

“I do. Now, as for the living situation. I think you should move in with me. I have plenty of space. You can have whatever room in the house. You can have multiple for all I care. I just need a bed to sleep in.”

Her lips tip up in a small smile. “And if I said I wanted the room your TV was in?”

“Then I guess I’ll buy a second TV,” I reply and she laughs.

“Okay, that makes sense. Sharing my apartment would be silly when you have a mansion.”

“You keep calling it a mansion when you’ve never been there.”

She raises her head. “I guess that’s just what I’ve imagined you living in.”

“You spend time imagining me? Now, I thought you said you didn’t think of me enough for me to be an archnemesis.”

A blush stains her cheekbones. My grin widens.

“Tell me, when do you think of me? You’re thinking of me in my house, so I can only assume it’s while you’re in yours–”

Willow throws a piece of bread at me and a laugh bursts out of me.

“I can’t believe you just threw food at me. You’re going to get us kicked out.”

She huffs. “You get on my nerves so much that I can’t think.”

I’m grinning so big my face hurts. “Now you’re saying I make it hard for you to think straight? Wow, and here I was worried I’d have a wife who didn’t like me.”

She presses her lips together, holding in a smile I know is dying to break free. “We’re going to end up on one of those Investigation Discovery shows. The ones about the wives who snap on their husbands.”

I smirk. “I think they call that a crime of passion.”

She tips her head back in exasperation. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m beginning to think you like it.”

“In your dreams, Kingsley.”

“Oh,definitely, future Mrs. Kingsley.”

Willow’s blush intensifies, almost matching the faded wine color of her lips. Satisfaction rolls through me. If tonight is any indication, I think I’m going to enjoy being married.

Chapter fourteen

Willow Delmont

“Are you sure you want to be here for this? I can tell her while you wait outside,” I say to Jason as he pulls up to my granny’s little farmhouse.

After getting our story straight and our plans finalized during dinner, I figured it was best to tell Granny Mae tonight. I’ll call my parents first thing in the morning before they see any news, but I want to tell Granny in person. When I mentioned it to Jason, he said he’d come along for support. At first, I welcomed it, but now I’m wondering if it’s such a good idea.

Not just because Granny is liable to be madder than a hornet’s nest–her words, not mine–but because this home is a part of my heart. My apartment might be a makeshift sanctuary, but this place was and always will be a true haven for me. Memories are so ingrained into this land that the very air is laced with nostalgia and love. Jason coming here is like showing him my very soul. That’s not something I was prepared for.

“I think it would be good if I met her. Plus, you can blame me and I’ll be able to take any blows in the moment.”

I sigh and open the car door. “Brace yourself then, because she might actually throw something.”

“I’ve been hit by two hundred forty pounds of pure muscle before. I think I can handle this.”

I don’t tell him that I’d be more afraid of Granny than a linebacker. It’s probably not helpful, and he seems determined to stick by my side.

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