“Wait a minute, the house is in both your names?” She shook her head. “No, but I’m his sole beneficiary.” Caleb’s eyebrows rose but when he didn’t comment, she continued, “I know it’s weird, but I’ve seen his will. I’m not sure why he wanted to leave me everything. Part of me thinks it’s because he had no one else, but in reality, he probably wanted to keep up pretenses even in death.”
“But then you’re coming back?”
“I planned on coming back here whether you liked it or not.”
“Oh really?”
“Mm-hmm. I figured if you didn’t let me back, your men would have your head if they had to put up with any more of your cooking.” He chuckled and let his hands drift to her waist. “You’re right about that. So…are you staying here permanently?”
“Well, I have a Master’s in social work and if there’s an opportunity to work part time somewhere around here, I’ll do that in addition to working for you.”
“You still didn’t answer my question.”
“What question would that be?” She pursed her lips into a thin line to keep from smiling.
“Are you going to stay here permanently? With me?” His grip tightened and he scowled at her.
“You mean permanently in Lake City?”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, I guess I can add difficult to the list.”
“What list?”
“The mental list I’ve been making of all your attributes. Bossy, difficult, sneaky—”
“Sneaky?” She’d been bossy all her life but sneaky was a new one.
“You did hide a few important facts about yourself. To be fair though, I guess I should add sexy, sweet—”
His words were muffled as she stood up and searched out his lips with her own.
Before they got too carried away, she pulled her head back and grinned. “By the way, I love you too.”
Chapter Eleven
Two Weeks Later
“That’s the last of it. I think we might need a new closet though.” Emma stared at the dresses, coats and shoes barely stuffed into their closet.
“Maybe if you got rid of some of your shoes, there wouldn’t be a problem.” He glanced at her, then back at the closet with raised eyebrows.
“I guess you should have thought about that before you asked me to move in and put this thing on my finger.” She half-swatted his shoulder and waggled her left hand in front of his face. Then she looked down at her hand and smiled. A two-carat marquis-cut engagement ring had seemed a little excessive but he hadn’t been willing to budge. And hey, she wasn’t going to argue too hard if he wanted to give her gorgeous jewelry. What sane woman would?
“Do you feel like going out tonight?” His deep voice brought her back to the present.
“Ugh, no. Let’s make it a movie night and stay in.” She’d been moving at warp speed for the past couple of weeks. Her feet and brain were threatening to overload.
“Okay, okay. How about I cook?” He chuckled and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“Sounds good to me.” She slipped her hand in his as they walked to the kitchen.
His idea of cooking was popping a pizza in the oven. Since all she wanted to do was curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, his style of cooking would be more than fine.
She poured two glasses of wine while he started working on dinner. Taking her glass, she retreated to the living room and turned on the television. When her picture flashed across the screen, she cringed. During her high-speed packing and moving mission in Miami, the media had been relentless in scrutinizing her every move. That is, until the FBI discovered a link between Mendez and Marcus Carrington, the stepson of presidential hopeful Thomas Carrington. Then all hell had broken loose and she was suddenly old news.
“Turn that crap off, honey. Haven’t you had enough?” Caleb dropped down next to her on the couch and took the remote from her hand, immediately switching it to ESPN.
She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine. That was another thing she was getting used to, apart from sharing a closet. Sharing the remote. Oh well, she supposed it was a fair trade for hot sex and the man who loved her.