I’d even called my parents one day and left a message to see if they could convince him to go home – where he’d be arrested by the police, but still – but they hadn’t called back. Not that I’d really expected them to, but I’d explained what he’d done to me and I guess a part of me wanted them to care.
Seeing that Levi was still watching me, I pointed out, “But once he’s caught, I will.”
Chewing on his lip for a second, he mulled that over. “Do you want to go back?”
Did I? The simple answer was no. I didn’t want to go back to not having him around, not having his family there to laugh with. I loved being around them, and I’d discovered that I really loved playing with the kids. I still wasn’t sure what babies did exactly, but I was a pro at holding them now.
Initially Jamie had been wary of me, like she thought I was going to take her uncle away, but that had all changed now. Shaw was a little flirt and had immediately decided that I was his property. As soon as he heard me talking he started crying, and the second they passed him to me he stopped.
Out of all of them, Rebel was the easiest seeing as how she just slept and on the occasions when she was awake, she just wanted to look around the room and be nosy. But I was getting better with tiny humans, and I loved being around them all.
And I didn’t want to not be able to see Levi like I could now.
Deciding to go with honesty, I sighed, “Not really, but it’s where I live.”
His reply was said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear it. “Move in here.”
“You want me to move in here?”
“I really want you to move in here,” he corrected, picking up Rambo and holding him up in front of his face. “We all do.”
Doggy blackmail… it was totally unnecessary. “Isn’t it too soon?”
I already knew what his answer was going to be before he even said it. “Not even slightly.”
My heart was racing as I thought about actually living with Levi officially. Nothing that he owned was of any significance to me, I didn’t care about material things. What I cared about was sitting right in front of me, offering me the chance to make it official. Only a crazy person would be able to say no to that, and I definitely wasn’t crazy.
“How would it work?”
Getting up, he walked over to me and stopped when there were only a matter of inches between us, meaning that I had to tip my head all the way back to look at his eyes.
“We’ll sort that out when the time comes,” he whispered, pulling me up onto my feet in front of him. “Now, are you moving in with me?”
Like he has to ask me twice. Not even thinking about it, I threw my arms around his neck. “Yes, I’ll make honest puppies out of them.”
Bursting out laughing, he picked me up and spun me through the air, making Red and Rambo start yapping at us.
“I’m fairly certain this isn’t an appropriate time to be laughing, but I couldn’t care less.”
Grinning down at him, I warned him, “I’m fairly certain what I do next isn’t a standard response either, but I don’t give a damn!” And threw my arms up in the air, making him laugh even harder.
Somehow, through his stomach bouncing me as he laughed, me being a dork, and two tiny dogs now yanking at the hems of his pants, he managed to lower me without dropping me until I had my legs wrapped around his waist and we were face to face. Slowly the smile disappeared as he watched me, like he wanted to say something, making me tense up.
“If we’re going to go on certainties, I’m definitely certain I don’t like that look on your face right now,” I mumbled, hoping he’d go back to smiling, but he didn’t. In all the time that I’d known him, I’d never seen him looking like this, and it worried me.
“I know I want to say something, but I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to say.”
Taking a deep breath in, I tried to lighten the mood. “I know,” I pointed at myself, “that you know,” I shifted so that my finger was now pointing at him instead, “that you can say anything you need to, to me. You know?”
Chewing on his lip for a second, he shifted his eyes to the side, and then looked back at me. “I’m definitely certain that I love you, Lottie.”
I’d been bracing myself for him saying he’d changed his mind or that he’d been hiding a sixth toe, so initially the words didn’t register but the relief sure as hell did.