Page 45 of Say I'm Yours, Firecracker

I didn’t want to leave. The couch wasn’t my ideal accommodations, but I’d make due. I had let my temper get the better of me the last time I was here, and I knew that wouldn’t earn me any brownie points.

I needed Ronnie on board for the house. She deserved it, so I committed to finally convincing her to move into the new house.

I must have passed out at some point because her coffee machine was brewing and the sun was streaming in through her windows.

“Good morning, pretty boy,” Ronnie said walking from the bathroom in only a towel.

I had to rearrange myself before getting up.

“Good morning.” I had to clear my throat a few times, morning thickness made me grumble. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stay the whole night, but I didn’t want to leave after carrying you to bed.”

Her slight shoulder hunch had me tripping over my next words. “No…what I meant,”

I sighed. “I meant, you fell asleep at the office, and I didn’t want to take a chance on anything happening if I left you alone.”

Her shoulders loosened, and I felt a sense of relief watching it happen. I was trying to learn the best way to speak to her. My parents had been helping. With all their therapy talk, sometimes I thought they were psychoanalyzing me.

Ronnie had left her hair down, the blonde waves shifted across her back as she moved. I sat back down, watching her gathering bits and pieces of clothing she deemed good enough to wear.

“Thank you.”

It was said so softly, almost like a whisper she didn’t want me to hear.

I nodded, but didn’t trust my words not to fuck up this fragile moment, so I got up and used the bathroom, making sure to take long enough so she could change.

“We need to talk about the house.” Finn said as he emerged from the bathroom.

I was glad he gave me time to sort through all of the emotions I had going through my head.

“The house you’ve already bought?” I snarked.

“I should have talked to you first,” he said, hands out beside his head, fingers splayed wide like a criminal caught in the spotlight. “But, I also wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Surprise!” I replied, waving my hands. “I bought a house for all of us to live in, but it’s okay because your best friend lives next door!”

He had the decency to recoil. “I admit, I didn’t think it through.”

I huffed and threw my hair over my shoulder before grabbing a mug and filling it with coffee.

“You can move into the house, and I can stay in the city. Or I can move in here, and we can take it slow.”

“You’re assuming there is a chance for a “we” at all.” I hated being so hot and cold with him. But I couldn’t bring myself to finally give into the feelings I had for Finn. Especially since he didn’t even know the deepest darkest parts of my soul.

His face crumpled, but he recovered quickly. He crossed the room in two powerful strides, his impressive form moved like liquid.

“I can wait, take all the time you need, Firecracker.”

His hands brushed my face, thumbs moving over my cheekbones before pulling away and heading toward the door.

“I’ll have the movers here to pack up your stuff today.”

I couldn’t process his words. Like his touch short circuited my brain.

As promised, movers knocked on my door around lunch, just as I was heading out to run some errands with Bell for the shop. They handed me a form with my name on it, and the new house address.

I hadn’t even seen the house yet!

“Hold on.” I said, stopping the guy in front before he could barrel though my door. “I need to make a call.”

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