Page 80 of The Best Friend Problem
“It’s a list of potential apartments we can afford.” She pressed on when he didn’t comment further. “You said you wanted to live together.”
Yeah. He also said he loved her, which was something people usually declared before they took the next step in a relationship.
He knew what Pru was trying to do—at least, he hoped he did—but he wasn’t letting her off easy. No. She had to fully admit what she felt if they were really going to do this thing.
Folding the list, he handed it back to her. She stared at the paper, refusing to take it, and left it hanging, suspended in his fingers in the air between them.
“You don’t like those places?” She tugged on her ponytail. “It wasn’t my most thorough research. I can find more places if you want. I was just trying to find locations close to the firehouse and—”
“It’s not about the location, Pru,” he interrupted. “Why?”
She shook her head. “Why what?”
Okay, looked like they were doing this the hard way. He held the paper up a bit higher. “Why did you make this list? Why do you suddenly want to live together?”
“Because you offered.”
He shook his head.
She scowled. “Because we’re having twins together, and you want to be involved.”
He took a step toward her. “Try again, Precious.”
Frustration pulling at her lips, she threw her hand up in the air. “Because I love you, you big, stupid jerk!”
Relief washed over him. He closed his eyes, savoring those words and the warmth they filled him with. A smile tugged up the corner of his lips. He opened his eyes and speared her with a teasing look. “Big, stupid jerk?”
She ripped the paper from his hand, lightly smacking it against his chest. “I was trying to apologize and prove to you that I love you by coming up with a plan for our future.”
He chuckled. “Without actually apologizing?”
Her eyes narrowed.
Pulling her into his arms, he laughed out loud. “I’m sorry. Did I ruin your grand plans?”
Crumpling up the paper, she tossed it over her shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Yes, you did.” She sighed, pulling back. “But it’s probably for the best. Lately my plans have been getting waylaid left and right, and the more I think about it, the happier I am, because as much as I try to plan out this perfect life, it’s not going to happen. Life is messy and complicated and unpredictable. I can try as hard as I want to steer it where I want it to go”—she rubbed a hand over her baby bump—“but it’s always going to surprise me with how things turn out. And I know some of those surprises will be bad, but some will be happy and…scary.”
“I scare you?”
She huffed out a small laugh. “You terrify me, Finn. You’re the only person who has seen me at my best and my worst. You’re the one I run to first when I have good news, bad news, any news. You’re the one I never get sick of spending time with and who always accepts that anything I’m feeling is okay. I can be myself around you one hundred percent of the time.”
“And that’s scary?”
“Yes!” Her teeth came out to worry her bottom lip. “Because it means losing you would be like losing a part of myself. You were right, Finn.”
His lips curved up into a full-blown grin. “I’m right? Bet that hurt to say.”
She smiled along with him. “Shut up, ass.”
“Ooooo, such sweet love names you give me.”
The teasing light left her eyes, replaced with something warmer, something deeper.
“I do love you, Finn. I’m in love with you, and I have been for a while now. I was just too afraid to admit it. I do want to live with you, raise our babies with you, build a life with you. I want to let you in, full partnership, to help with whatever I need.” Her nose scrunched up as she finished her statement. “Even if I’m too stubborn to ask for it.”
Weight dropped off his shoulders. The tension he’d been carrying melted away. Not only did she love him, but she just gave him a blanket acceptance for all future help. He smiled to himself, knowing he might need to remind the fiercely independent woman he loved that she’d agreed he could be her support system, something he knew was hard for her to admit needing and a task he was humbled and honored to accept.
