“What do you think about living together?”

It was two days after my conversation with Andrew and I hadn’t mentioned anything to Alex about it yet. I still hadn’t made up my own mind. Looking up from the paperwork I was doing in regards to one of my clients, I blinked in Alex’s direction. He was lounging on the floor of my living room on his back with his legs stretched out and his head propped on a couch pillow. “What?”

Those soul moving eyes watched me. “Living together.”

My pen was poised over the paper, frozen in its place. “Who?”

“The Pope and the Queen of England.”

I frowned, looking rather confused. “What? Why would they live together?”

He chuckled then pushed himself into a sitting position. “They wouldn’t-”

“Then how come you asked me about it?”

He laughed and joined me on the couch, taking the pen and papers and setting them on the coffee table, then he took my hands in his. “I was actually meaning, me and you.”

My eyes stretched. “Me and you? Us? Us living together? Like…in the same house?”

“Well, unless you know a way two people can live together, but in separate houses?”

I couldn’t decide if he was mocking me or not. “Are you serious?”

“Not really, that was a joke.”

I pulled my hand from his and frowned. “That was a very mean joke.”

“What?” He looked confused. “How was that mean?”

“Joking about us living together is very mean.”

He blinked and then shook his head and gave a laugh. “Ooh no, no, baby, that, I was serious about. I was joking about the whole…living together in separate houses thing.”

“Oh.” A blush spread to my cheeks.

“You are so adorable.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed the blush.

I cleared my throat. “So, you want us to live together?”

“I’ve been thinking about it.” He smoothed his hand along my arm and peered down at my face.

“How um…what…” I wasn’t exactly sure what to think, or say. Living together was a huge step, a huge one and it wasn’t one that should be taken lightly.

Alex brushed some hair from my face. “How um…what, what?”

I sat up straight and turned to face him, tucking my legs underneath me. “That’s…a really big step.”

“I know it is.”

“It’s a really serious step.”

He nodded. “I know that, too.”

“It’s…almost like being married.”

He chuckled and touched my cheek. “Does it freak you out?”

“Do you want to marry me?”

It was his turn to blink and look completely caught off guard. “….What?”

“Living together is almost like being married,” I explained again. “Do you want to marry me?”

He just stared at me. “Are you proposing?”

I jerked a little bit at the question. “What? No…no! I just…I was… well you wanted…no I…” I was tripping over my words.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He reached out and caught my hands, squeezing them and holding them to his chest. “I think we’re both getting confused. How ‘bout we start over?”

I nodded and calmed myself some.

“Alright,” he kissed both my palms, “I have been thinking about, maybe, us moving in together. And,” he quickly continued before I could interject, “I know it’s a serious step, but I’m ready for it. And I’d like to know your thoughts about it.”

I studied him, trying to get my brain to stop moving so fast and slow down so I could think more clearly. “You really want to live with me?”

He gave a nod. “I do. I hate that you leave, or I leave and we don’t spend every night together. Besides,” he shrugged, “lately, we’ve been staying with each other so much anyway.”

“True.” I nodded myself.

“Okay,” he kissed my fingers, “what is it you were trying to say about marriage?”

“Oh.” I pulled my hands from his and fiddled with the hem of my shirt. “Well, living together is so similar in ways to marriage. And…it just made me wonder if you were thinking that we were heading that way.” I hadn’t realized it would make me so nervous to talk about, but inside my chest, my heart was racing. I wanted to get married again and Alex was the only person I wanted to do that with. But I definitely think we needed more time before we even came close to taking that step.

Alex took my hands again and gave them a comforting squeeze. “I definitely want to get married, someday.” He reached up and cupped my cheek. “And you know how I feel about fate bringing us together; you’re the one for me.”

A little grin tugged at my lips. “Whose house would we live in?”

“I’ve been thinking about selling my place for the last year, or so.”

My eyes widened. “You would want to live here? But your place is so big and has so much stuff. This is like…a cottage compared to your house.”

“And one day I can have all that again, but right now I just want you.”

His words made my heart soar and I melted into his embrace. “I just want you, too.”

He kissed my head. “Under one roof?”

“Mmhmm, we could live in a cardboard box and I’d be content.”

“Ooh, I wouldn’t go that far.”

I chuckled. “Okay, not really, but I could make do anywhere as long as you were with me.”

“Look at you being all romantic.”

That made me giggle and I sat up, leaning to his ear and nipping at that spot just below it. “Wanna go upstairs and see just how romantic I can get?”

He shivered at the tone in my voice and smoothed his hands over my thighs. “Mm, hell yeah.”

I smirked then pulled back and rose to my feet. “C’mon, loverboy.” Tugging him up, I started for the stairs.

The sudden sound of the doorbell stopped me and I turned towards the front.

“Who’s that?” Alex questioned, looking towards the entry way as well.

I chuckled. “I don’t know; my x-ray vision isn’t working right at the moment.” Pulling away from him, I started for the door. “Hold on.”

But he followed behind and I reached the front, peeking out to find a delivery man holding a bouquet of orange and yellow roses.

Lifting a brow, I pulled the door open and greeted him, “Yes?”

He was just a kid; couldn’t have been older than nineteen, with sandy blond hair and round green eyes. A spatter of freckles covered his nose and he wore a blue hat with Rose’s Roses embroidered on the front. His matching work shirt said the same and he had worn jeans with a tear at the left knee. “Ms. Weston?” He checked his clipboard to make sure he had the name correct.

I gave a nod, wondering who had sent me flowers and why. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Delivery, these are for you.” Then he was thrusting the clipboard into my hands. “Please sign at the ex.”

I did so and thanked him then took the flowers and stepped back inside; closing the door once the kid had sauntered back towards the delivery van.

“Well, that’s interesting.” Alex was leaning against the wall.

“I know right.” I peered the beautiful arrangement over, taking in the six yellow and six orange roses mixed together to create an eye catching display. “I have no idea who sent them.”

“Is there a card?”

Pushing aside some leaves, I spied one tucked into a plastic pronged holder. “Yeah, lemme set ‘em down.” Then I carried them into the kitchen, Alex following.

Once there, I placed them in the middle of the counter and took out the envelope, untucking the flap and pulling out the card.

I know I already apologized, but nothing says ‘I’m sorry’ better than flowers. Hope you’ll reconsider our friendship. And it was signed, Andrew.

Great, now he was sending me flowers; roses at that. I sighed and tucked the card back into the envelope, looking the display over then meeting Alex’s gaze. He watched me with a curious expression and I know he wanted to ask who they were from, but wasn’t sure if it’d be appropriate. I told him anyway, “They’re from Andrew.”

His brows furrowed. “Andrew? Why is he sending you roses?”

I sighed and sagged against the counter. “To apologize for what happened in Connecticut.”

“He’s got to send you flowers for that?” His frown deepened.

“I guess.” I pushed away from the counter and moved to the cupboard, taking out a glass. “He showed up here Wednesday night apologizing and asking if we could be friends again.”

“And you told him, no.”

“I told him, I’d have to think about it.” I began to fill the glass with ice from the dispenser in the door of the fridge.

Alex was quiet a moment. “I don’t understand. Why, if he’s the one angry at you, is he apologizing and sending flowers? Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be the other way around?”

Then I remembered I hadn’t told anyone about his unwanted advances and gave an inward groan. “Um…not exactly.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

I turned to face him, forgoing the water and setting the glass on the counter. “Sort of.”

He was watching me with a confused and on guard expression. “What’s that? What’s going on?”

“Um…you know how I told you about how he yelled at me and called you a punk?”

He nodded, but didn’t respond and I continued.

“Well, he also grabbed me,” I wet my bottom lip, “and made some comments about showing me how ‘bad’ he could be.”

Alex’s brows shot so far up his forehead if he’d been a cartoon they would have been in the air. “He what?!”

I winced a little. “Yeah, he was saying stuff about how you seemed like a punk and that he could show me how he could be a bad boy.”

“And he grabbed you?”

I nodded.

“And he would have…” he trailed off.

“He probably would have tried.”

“That son of a bitch!” His fists clenched and his entire body tensed.

I wet my bottom lip. “But nothing happened. I pushed him away and made him leave. And totally forgot about it until he showed up Wednesday.”

Alex rose to his full height. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Alex!”

His eyes met mine and I saw a flash of anger. “He put his hands on you, Morgan.”

“Well, yeah, but…he apologized. He’s even dating someone new.”

“Who the fuck cares? He touched you and God knows what he might have done.”

“But it didn’t happen. He immediately realized and apologized and I made him leave. And now he’s apologizing again. I think he feels really bad. People make mistakes.”

“Yes,” he nodded his head, “people make mistakes. And one of your mistakes would be to become his friend again.”

It was my turn to frown. “Are you telling me I can’t be his friend?”

He sighed and ran a hand over his face, trying to calm himself down. “No, I’m not trying to tell you what to do. But I don’t trust him one bit. He’s already made advances at you, he’s hit on you numerous times knowing that you didn’t want to be anything but friends with him and he’s grabbed you. Do you not realize how that sounds?”

“No, I do realize.” I rubbed a spot above my right eye that was beginning to throb. “That’s why I told him, I didn’t know if we could be friends again.”

“And I don’t think you should be. That’s setting yourself up for something potentially dangerous.”

He was right; Andrew had already scared me bad enough that I had never wanted to talk to him again. And now, just because he was apologizing and dating someone else, I thought it might be okay? Had I lost it? “Gah, you’re right.” I raked my fingers through my hair then tucked it behind my ears. “I don’t want to be friends with him again.”

“I think that’s a very smart decision.” His eyes drifted to the flowers then back to me.

“Yeah.” I looked at them also. “So, what do I do with those?”

“Allow me.” He grabbed them up then headed for the back door.

I followed and stopped in the doorway as he strolled outside and across the yard to the beach. He stopped at the top of the stairs then, with all his might, drew back and hurled the entire arrangement, vase and all, over the side and down onto the beach.

When he got back inside and closed the door, I was giggling.

“What?”

“You are so cute.” I took his face in mine and pulled his head down, kissing his mouth gently.

He chuckled against my lips and wrapped an arm around my waist, drawing my body to his, nibbling at my lower lip.

We kissed for a few minutes and then I pulled back as a thought entered my head. “What if someone hurts themselves on the glass from that vase?”

“What?” He looked like that had been the last thing on his mind.

I chuckled and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry, but I just realized that the vase is probably broken and glass is scattered all over that beach. Someone might hurt themselves, or the dogs may get into it.”

“Shit.”

I chuckled and smoothed my hand on his chest. “It was a very valiant effort.”

“But we should clean the glass up.” He looked towards the backyard. “I don’t want a lawsuit, or someone to hurt themselves.”

“Me either.” I pulled from his grasp completely. “Okay, lemme get a trash bag and some shoes on and we can go do that.”

“I’m sorry, baby.”

I shook my head and caught his hand, giving it a squeeze. “Hey, it’s no problem. I really appreciated it. And it was so cute seeing you all chivalrous and protective.”

“Cute?” He got a little half grin. “I’d prefer sexy, strong or hot to cute.”

I giggled and headed off to towards the kitchen. “Nope, you were cute.”

~*~*~*~*~

On Saturday, I sent Andrew a text telling him I thought it’d be best if we didn’t become friends again, then I wished him luck with everything and left my house with Daisy to go meet Alex at the park. We played Frisbee and catch with the dogs, strolled along the lake, fed the ducks, chased the dogs who were chasing the ducks, then finally collapsed, exhausted, on the grass.

Glancing over to my left, I saw Ozzy chasing a butterfly, Daisy sniffing at some flowers and Bernie trying to get her attention. “Good Lord, do they ever tire out?”

Alex chuckled and rubbed his eyes. “No, they just tire us out.”

I laughed at that and had to nod in agreement. “I think they’re doing it on purpose.”

“You think so?” He turned his head in my direction.

“Ooh, totally. They think if they wear us out…we’ll be too tired to keep up on them and they can go cavorting off to their heart’s content.”

He laughed. “Maybe so.”

“I’m totally right.”

He chuckled then pulled himself into a seating position. “Well, I think it’s working. When we get back to your place all I want to do is shower then lie in bed naked with you.” A beat. “Okay, that might not be all I want to do.”

I giggled. “You are a dirty boy.”

“Whom you love very much.”

“Very true.” I sat up as well and smoothed a hand over his cheek. “And I think showering and lying in bed sound like marvelous ideas.”

“Naked.”

“Hm?”

“Lie together in bed, naked.”

I pushed myself to my feet and gathered my dog’s leash from where I had tied it around a tree stump. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go. That shower sounds so good right now”

He laughed then gathered his own dogs’ leashes. “Is that the only thing?”

I couldn’t help the giggle, casting him a teasing sideways glance. “Maybe.”

“Maybe.” He reached over and pinched my butt. “You little tease.”

“You love it.” Then I smirked and slipped my arm around his and, together, we headed for the parking lot.