Page 100 of Almost Perfect
I huffed a laugh and rubbed my hands down her arms. “Me neither.”
Her hands were gentle as she caressed my cheek. “I’m making a lot of changes with my career. The time here has made that possible and essential. So I’m not sure what my life’s going to look like, but I want you in it.”
“Good. I want to support you while you make those changes. But what comes next, I’m not sure exactly.”
“Me neither.” Her brow furrowed. “Actually, no. I do. Because I love you. So we should date. And then get married. And I should have your babies, or we could adopt. Or, ideally both.”
My mouth fell open, but no words emerged.
She grinned and swiped at the tear tracks at the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks. “Okay, maybe I jumped ahead. But I want that. I at least want to try. And I know you want that—with someone, anyway. Maybe not actually with me, but—”
“Yes, with you. I love you, and trust me when I tell you, I tried not to. But you are it for me.” My heart did backflips in my chest.
She glared but gave me a playful kiss. “Your resistance was futile.”
“You have no idea.”
She tugged at my hand, and we sank down onto the couch in the sitting area—a formal living room in a hotel room was very fancy, though she’d probably seen much nicer. And that thought brought me back to the main issue. “What I don’t know is how we do this. I know your life is in LA, but I—”
“I’ve actually been thinking about buying a place here. I mean, like, I’ve always dreamed about a mountain home, and Grenier has that neighborhood so close to town, but not quite as far away from you as staying here.”
I nodded, trying to talk myself into that being reasonable. Trying to see a scenario in which her living somewhere and justvisitingme would satisfy.
She chuckled, evidently reading my mind.
“Okay, so we can figure that out. Because even saying that out loud, I hear how insane that is.” She ducked her head and closed the space between us. “If I’m here, I want to be right here. Not staying somewhere else, without you. So we’ll figure that out.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The pull overpowered my will, and I leaned in for a kiss, but retreated before we both got sucked in. “But what about when you’re not here? I understand you can’t be here full time.”
She pressed her lips together, thinking. I wanted to know every thought racing through that gorgeous head of hers.
“I can probably pull it off a lot of the time. Aside from touring, which I’ll need to do on the new album, I’m at a point where, even after the last few years, I’m not showing up places like I used to. We’ll get a jet and that way we can get to where we need to go whenever, and that’ll help.”
I coughed. “Did you say ‘get a jet’ like an airplane?”
“Mm, is this going to be a thing?” She gave me a humor-filled glare.
“What?”
“Is me being a millionaire—like, quite a few times over, not just a handful—going to be a thing? I know the women younormallygo out with are plain and poor and wear beige turtlenecks for their jobs—”
I pressed a kiss to her lips to cut her off. “You’ve been talking to Warrick.”
She just laughed.
“You’re a menace.”
“I’m Mayhem.” She quirked one brow in challenge.
I pinned her brown eyes with my gaze, every bit of me meaning my next words. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
EPILOGUE
Calla
