“Bring on the compromise,” I said. “I’m not scared of any of that, Larisa. The more time I spend with you, the more sure I am that you’re the one for me. I don’t want to waste any time. We could keep living at our apartments, sleeping over, and going our separate ways in the morning. If that’s what you want to do for now, it’s really not a problem. I just wanted you to know that the house is an option. It’s here, it’s ready for both of us, and it’s not going anywhere.”
“I’m not, either,” she said before taking a deep breath. “What I mean is that I’m not going anywhere, either. Living here with you would be incredible and I want to more than anything in the world, but I also want you to be sure. If we do this, going back would be difficult. Even if we keep our apartments for now, I’m not sure our relationship would survive if we moved in together too early and it doesn’t work out.”
I looked into her eyes, seeing the sincerity and the uncertainty shining from them as she looked back at me. Everything she was saying was spot on. I understood her concerns and I’d thought about them all before I’d brought her out here, but I just wasn’t worried.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life than I am about you,” I said. “About us. If you don’t feel the same way yet, I understand, but I love you. I love you, and I want to start building a life with you.”
Her brows rose. She pushed herself up on her tiptoes, looped her arms around my neck, and pulled my head down until my lips met hers. She kissed me wildly, her body pressed up against mine and her tongue licking at the seam of my mouth until I opened it and let her in.
I’d never said those three words to anyone other than my mother before, and maybe drunkenly to my friends. Certainly never to a woman. I was itching for her to respond and to tell me if she thought I was crazy or if she was just as crazy as I was, but in the meantime, I kissed her back and shoved all the rest of it out of my head.
Tightening my hold on her with one arm, I let my other hand travel into her hair to cup the back of her head. She hadn’t said yes to me yet, but she also hadn’t said no. The way she was kissing me felt like a yes, and I took it, glad that, at the very least, she didn’t seem pissed off at me anymore.
This girl was my future, and even if I was wrong about the kiss being a yes, I wouldn’t let it get me down. I’d keep fighting for her, keep proving to her that I wanted her and only her, and eventually, I’d make her believe me.
With that thought in mind, I picked her up without breaking the kiss and carried her to the bed—the one I hoped would be ours from now on. I laid her down on the mattress and crawled onto it after her, and I repeated the three words I’d never expected to say out loud and actually mean them.
“I love you, Larisa Ford,” I whispered against her lips. “I love you, and if you’ll let me, I’m going to keep loving you for the rest of my life. Move in with me. Just say yes, and I promise you we’ll figure everything else out together.”