My arm wraps around his neck. My fingers play with the back of his hair. He walks faster, once we reach the top of the stairs, his feet shuffling. I look at him, confused.
“I forgot to button my jeans,” he explains as he tries not to laugh.
My heart sinks when I look around his room. Boxes line the walls, ready to be moved back to Los Angeles. He sits me on his bed. I can’t look at him for fear he’ll see the heartbreak. Am I enough to keep him here?
Harrison uses his finger and thumb to lift my chin. His thumb caresses my lower lip. My tongue reaches out to taste him.
“Ask me,” he demands.
“Stay,” I say quietly. “Stay here and be with me. Stay and be a family.” I stand so were body to body. I take his hand in mine and press it to my heart. “Stay and love me, love us.”
He captures my lips with his with such urgency I have to grab onto his shoulders for fear I’m going to fall. He picks me up and lays me on the bed gracefully. He hovers over me, his eyes boring into mine.
“I love you.”
“I love you, Harrison.”
My skin pebbles as his fingers map out their destination. I think he’s touched every inch of my body, some places more than once. But who’s keeping track? I’m not. I lay in his bed, surrounded by him. His naked body is pressed to my side as he writes his name on my stomach.
“When did you know?” he asks.
“Know what?”
“That you loved me?”
“The night I came to pick up the girls, they were coloring on you and it’s what Peyton said and the way you were with them. I knew my heart was yours even if I was having a hard time letting it go.”
He pulls me closer to him, burying his face in my hair.
“The movers will be here soon,” he says in a whisper.
I roll over and face him, my hand cupping his cheek. “Move in with me.”
His grin grows as my words sink in. “Your house is too small and so is this one. I’ll buy us a new one.”
I shake my head. “My father-in-law he…” I take a deep breath. I know Harrison will never ask me to stop loving Mason. I respect him for that. But will he be able to live in a house where my husband grew up? That I don’t know. “He wants to travel and can’t take care of his house. It’s big enough for the five of us. The girls were born there and Mason grew up there. I know it might be difficult for you—“
“Do you want us there?”
“I do, so much and so does my father-in-law.”
“He does?”
“Yes, he thought… He knows about us and he thought we could live there as a family.”
Harrison pulls me to him and kisses me hard. “You’ll be okay with us living there, even though there’s a history?”
“I love that house, I always have. Wait until you see it. The basement is finished so you could put your drums down there or have a space to get away. The wrap around porch is perfect for sitting out on a hot summer night and watching the sun go down. There are four bedrooms so each of the kids can have their own space. I think you and Quinn will fit in just perfectly.”
“Can we talk about a few things first?”
“Sure,” I try to sound confident, but I’m not going to lie, my insides are shaking.
Harrison rests his head on his hand and looks at me. “Moving in is a big step toward a serious commitment and that’s something I’m ready and willing to do, but I want us on the same page. I spent so much time trying to woo you that I bypassed a lot of the getting to know you crap that a normal dating couple figures out early on; like do they want kids and what are their views on marriage.”
“Do you want more kids?”
Harrison shrugs. “I don’t know. I can see myself happy with our three and if another one came along, I’d be happy with that as well.”
A part of me feels relief, because having twins is a lot of work and I can’t imagine adding another one, but another part of me longs to give him a child. I just don’t know which part is stronger right now. “I can live with that.”
“Good.” He leans forward and brushes his lips against mine. “Now, marriage.”
I feel my heart drop.