“Your rooms are beside each other?” I asked.
“Technically, yes, but there’s also a linen closet between our rooms as well,” he said. “So, I never hear him or his loud ass music, and he never hears me, not like I’m ever even in my room because the work never ends here.” He added a little eye roll.
“So, you wanna move in with me immediately?” I asked. I wanted him to move in; I wanted him to be close to me at all times. I took his hand and held it, caressing my thumb across the back of it. “I hope you do.”
“Phew, I thought you were going to say something else.” He let out a chuckle and wiped his brow with his free hand. “They’re going to have a lot of questions as well, so just know, you don’t have to answer any of them.”
“The only question and answer I think they deserve is, do I like you, the answer being yes, and then, what are my plans with you, of which, I don’t think they’ll want to hear about all that.”
His hand clenched mine. “But I would.”
“Ok, well, then you’ll hear all about it. But not yet. You’ve got to wait as well.”
“Until when?”
“Until this is all official, I can’t let you in on all the things I want to do with you before we’re officially together.”
He clung to me, desperate to know all the little ideas I had. All the things that I was trying to explore in my mind, he wanted in on it. And I couldn’t blame him one bit, it was teasing at its finest, and to feel the way he wanted desperately to almost be part of me was something my soul had craved. Human touch. And he gave me every single skin-to-skin feel I’d ever dreamed about from those books I’d read, almost on a loop.
“You like me, right?” he asked.
“Like you?” I asked, wrapping an arm around his back. “Let’s not get carried away.”
He gasped, pulling away. “Rude.”
I grabbed his hand, pulled him back into my chest and squeezed him in an embrace. “Of course, I like you, and I like you even more when you’re so close to me like this. I don’t want to let go of you, ever.”
As he moved around, our hats collided, almost knocking each other away. He giggled, slowly raising his head to mine and kissing me. “You don’t have to, except, when we’ve got to work.”
Mushing my lips back to his, I let out a slight vibrational hum letting our facial hair tickle against each other. If there was ever a case to be made for us becoming one, it would’ve been through something like this. The way our entire bodies reacted to one and other, like magnets, suctioned together through no outward force but the attraction we had.
And yet, it felt like it was too soon to saylove, even if my heart and stomach were screaming it.
23. JACE
I didn’t know what to make for the big lunch I’d forced everyone to attend. Max was at school so he wasn’t going to be there for the announcement, and he definitely wouldn’t have care anyway, so it just removed his snarky comments from the equation.
After milking the goats, collecting chicken eggs, and feeding all the animals, I still had no clue what I was going to make. It had to please everyone and help ease into the news that I was in a relationship with Lorenzo. I used make family lunches and dinners when I was in my early twenties, back when my father took on most of the responsibility of the ranch work.
Everyone was busy, and I had my time in the family kitchen alone. I knew Olivia had gone out to see the horses where Lorenzo trying to get them all used to the saddles and bridles. I still didn’t know how to properly equip a horse, even if he had shown me. I knew horse riding wasnotin my future, regardless of how much he loved it.
It wasn’t until I was in the kitchen when I knew what the perfect meal would be to break the news about the relationship. And as much as I knew it wasn’t serious, it would definitely dampen some other people’s plans, and I wanted them all to know he was off the market, and even if he wasn’t, he didn’t bat for their team.
Chicken pie with a signature gravy of mine, the signature was using the butter that the chicken was cooked in, it was something my mom’s mom taught me, and it worked for a whole bunch of different meats as well. I part-boiled carrots and potatoes, preparing them for the chicken stew portion of the pot pie itself. Some of the potatoes would be kept behind tobe roasted in the oven with some herbs to give them a fragrant taste.
“Smells amazing in here,” my mom said as she walked into the kitchen and sighed.
“Good, because I want to make sure we properly welcome Lorenzo in,” I said.
“You know, he’s welcome here, we’ve tried inviting him for dinners,” she said before a little gasp. “Has he said something to you?” she asked, approaching me at the stove. “Does he not feel welcome? Oh god, I knew this would happen. He probably thinks we’re some high and mighty family just pushing him aside at the help.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” I said. “He’s just probably doing what he’s always done and turned down the invite to keep that divide. I think they do things vastly different in Texas.”
She hummed and nodded. “You’re probably right. I keep trying to extend the olive branch, and I hoped with yesterday, that conversation we had about things to get from town would’ve told him that we think of him as family.”
I could only nod and turn my head, trying not to show her the big grin on my face. I didn’t want her to get any other ideas before I told her what was going on, and since everyone in this family enjoyed jumping to conclusions, myself included, it was best to wait until we were all together before I let anyone see just how happy I was.
“I best get back out, just needed to drop off some old folders for your sister to look through,” she said.
