“Yeah, I guess it’s not an exact fit. Told you I was probably thinking too much.” He lifts his shoulders in a little half shrug as his cheeks flush with color.God, he’s cute.
“Speaking of, if you do take Axel up on this job opportunity, would you move your trailer up here?”
“Permanently? No.” I fight to keep my smile from fading when he adds, “I’d freeze if I tried to live outta that thing in the winter.”
“So, you’d need a house or something? Have you thought about where?”
“Not really. I’m sure Axel would offer a room, but I don’t want to crowd him and Lennon. And while his plan is to have some bunks to accommodate campers that I’d probably have to chaperone, I wouldn’t want to live in the bunk house full-time. I’ll probably just find a room to rent.”
“I have a room.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop myself.
Jace blinks at me. “Room here? That’s…”
“Too much. Sorry.” I scrub a hand over my face. “I’m already making a mess of the figuring stuff out as we go thing, huh?”
“Actually—” he rubs his finger along the bridge of his nose “—I was thinking that’d be sort of perfect. “We could hide in plain sight if people think I’m your roommate.”
“This isn’t moving too fast?”
“Probably.” His shoulders shake as he stifles a laugh. “But I don’t see how else we can figure this out if we’re going to keep it quiet. I mean, I’m good with going at your pace and all, but I sure as shit don’t want to be sneaking out in the middle of the night just to avoid questions you aren’t ready to answer.”
“No offense, but I can’t tell if that’s a really thoughtful gesture or a polite insult.”
“A little of both maybe?” Jace has the decency to wince with that admission. “Look, I can’t pretend to understand your fears when I see how the town has accepted the other queer couples here, but I also know everyone’s path is different, so even if I don’t get it, I’ll respect it.”
“That’s not very convincing.”
“All I’m saying is, if this thing between us has to stay between these four walls—” Jace points to each wall in turn “—it’d be a hell of a lot easier to see where things go if we’re not constantly worrying about whether I’m spending too much time inside them. If I live here, that worry goes away.” He resumes fiddling with his beer can, almost as if he’s worried he offended me.
He sort of did, although at least I get where he’s coming from. I know I’m likely making a bigger deal out of my sexuality than I need to, I just wasn’t expecting to be confronted with it yet. Or ever. And since I do have lingering fears about what coming out will mean, I just want to be fully prepared before I do it.
“You’re right. If you live here there are fewer questions, that’s why I made the offer.” I pull his hand off his beer and thread our fingers together. “It’s self-serving and maybe a little unfair, but I think it makes the most sense.”
“I get it.” Jace rubs his thumb along my finger. “It was self-serving of me to help you with a job, too.”
“How do you figure?”
“I’d rather have you working close to me than at the spa.”
I drop his hand like a hot potato. “You wouldn’t trust me to work there?”
He snatches my hand back and tugs it to his chest, bringing our faces closer together. “I don’t trust other people not to hit onyou—you’re too hot. But I didn’t say I don’t want you working at the spa. I said I want you working closer to me. If that’s an option.”
My heart thumps heavily inside my chest.Damn this is moving fast, but I kind of like it.
“So, you’re the possessive type?” I’m helpless to stop the grin from spreading across my face.
“Apparently.” He grabs the back of my head with his free hand and presses his lips to mine. “Now, show me where I’m gonna be sleeping.”
Chapter nine
Jace
“This is it.” Axel beams proudly as I pull up to the address he gave me and step out of the truck.
Eyes hidden behind my shades, I spin around taking in the property. A large house sits directly in front of me, and there's a massive barn off to the side, slightly behind it. It's situated in a way that I doubt you can even see it from the house, since the attached garage would block the view, and the back of the house is angled away from the barn. Not that the giant horse house is an eyesore. It might be the general shape of a barn, with a pointy roofline that tapers down the further you get from the center, but it’s elongated rather than being strictly triangular, and it’s not painted bright red. It’s more of a modern-looking dark wood with even darker trim, same as the house. Not quite contemporary, but not full-on country either.
The land itself is sprawling, with wild grass growing over gently rolling hills until it meets the tree line at the edge of the property. It’s sort of ideal as far as location goes, because bikes are loud as fuck, and there’s not another house in sight. I wonder if there are any trails in the trees. And the barn looks sizeable enough from the outside, but that’s not exactly a green light.
