Six months. Six months and he couldn’t have come up with a better way to ask the question. “Excuse me?” Kate asked again. Rick’s grin just grew wider.
“Oh come on, Kate, like you haven’t been waiting for me to ask you.”
“Right, because I just hang on your every word.”
“The fact that I just found a signed copy of one of my Storm books tells me that you do in fact hang on my every word.” He waved Storm’s Break in front of her. “Why didn’t you tell me we’d met before now?”
“Rick, that’s not important right now. And just because I may, hypothetically, highly improbably hang on your written word, doesn’t mean I just wait for you to spring something like this on me.”
With an amused grin, Rick stepped closer to Kate, placed the book on the coffee table, and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve known you for over three years now, and we’ve been dating for the last six months. That’s a little over three years of loving you and knowing I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. That’s about, what, two or so years of you knowing the same thing? Come on, love, you don’t have to tell me you’ve been waiting for this.”
“It’s a big step.”
He nodded and looked deep into her eyes. She could see he wasn’t taking this lightly, that he knew exactly what he was asking of her. If they did this, then their intentions became real, not something they idly talked about or joked about. Rick’s eyes grew gentle, drawing her in, filling her with warmth and the feeling of security that Kate could only find in him. “We already share closet space and I have a drawer at your place. Toothbrushes, shampoos, and other miscellaneous items have made their way between our homes. You know where my dishes go and I know where to put all your take-out containers,” he told her, earning a grin at his last comment. “I’m not afraid of this. We’re already halfway there. Move in with me, Kate.”
“Rick, there are so many things to consider.” Kate halfway hated her brain for being so rational at times like these, but she also knew that the caution was warranted. Everything with him was new to her. Rick knew her so well. He knew when she was angry or upset just by the way her brow was furrowed or by the tightness of her mouth and eyes. He knew that his response should be to sit by her side, pinky entwined with hers, until her shoulders relaxed and she opened up. He knew, by the way she walked or held her head when she needed to be alone. He, ever patient and understanding, would take his computer and start writing until she sought him out. But he also knew when she secretly wanted him to find her. Even before she did. Those were the nights she would just lie in his arms, feeling him trace patters on her back, content to lie in silence until she let out a deep sigh and let him in a little more. She loved the intuition he seemed to have when it came to her and she adored the man all the more for it. But, all this was new to her. Never before had a man known her this well. Nor another person, for that matter. No one had stuck around long enough to find out. And because of that, moving in, sharing living space with another person, all of it was uncharted territory. And it scared her. Because Kate loved having space to call her own. Living with Rick…she wouldn’t get that. Would that bother her?
Plus, there was also the matter of Alexis and Martha to think about. How would they react to her taking the same address as them? Would Alexis think Kate was trying to take the role of her mother? Would she be stepping on toes or boundaries for these women? Kate knew Martha was hardly home most of the time now that she had her drama school starting up, but how would Kate fit into the mix with Martha still woman of the house?
And what did it mean exactly, them moving in? Kate meant it when she told Rick she was a one and done type. That in part extended to living under the same roof. And what if it didn’t work out? What if—
