She glared at me. “I am not living with you, and I don’t take orders from you outside of the bedroom.”
The last part clued me in to the error of my ways. She was pissed because I didn’t ask her. “You don’t want to live with me, baby?”
“I didn’t say that,” she sighed, exasperated.
“I would like for us to live together. Will you move in with me, please?” I asked, trying to sound sincere. I did want us to live together and we would, but me asking her was total bullshit.
“I don’t know how I feel about living at your condo. I mean, we’ve stayed there from time to time, but I don’t want to make a home where you’ve had who knows how many whores in your bed.”
I couldn’t help it. I tried, I really did, but the laughter just wouldn’t be contained. “Is that your only issue with my place?”
She seemed caught off guard by my question. “Uh, yeah, I think so.”
“Baby, first of all, we’ve been together for a long time, and I haven’t fucked anyone except you since the night I met you. Secondly, I haven’t fucked anyone in my condo other than you. Ever. Club whores are just that, whores at the club. Any other pussy I picked up, I fucked at the club.”
“I don’t know if I should hug you or hit you right now!” she fumed.
“Why?”
She pointed her finger in my face. “You will get a new room at that clubhouse, and you will replace anything and everything that may have been fucked on.”
“Okay, baby. I can do that for you,” I said, wisely choosing to keep any details of fucking on the couches, pool tables, bar stools, etc. to myself. “So, is that a yes for living with me at my place?”
“Yes, it is. Now, call Ember so I can talk to her,” she demanded.
“Keep it up, Harper. You’re earning yourself one hell of a spanking later,” I said, right before Ember answered my call.
Ember and Harper stayed on the phone for almost two hours. Had my phone battery not died, they would have talked longer. I couldn’t complain though. Harper was excited about the new center and her new job which is exactly what I had hoped for.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“Great!” she beamed. “It will be at least a month before the center is ready for business. That will give me plenty of time to turn in my notice and transition my patients over to the other counselors. Now, I just have to tell my brother.”
“He knows.” I grinned at her stunned expression. “I talked to him about it before I brought it up to Ember. He was the one who suggested the horses as an alternative therapy method.”
“And he was okay with it?” she asked.
“Yes, why wouldn’t he be?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just remember the Duke who would have gladly placed me in a protective bubble if the option had been available,” she mumbled.
“You’re a grown woman now. He knows that. Speaking as an older brother, it is hard to accept, but little sisters do grow up. Besides, you can’t blame the man for being protective of you, especially after everything the two of you have been through.”
“Okay, we’ve ventured far enough down memory lane for me.” The tone of her voice changed, and she squealed, “Oh, my gosh, Chase! I’m moving to Croftridge, and we’re going to live together!” She threw both hands in the air, wiggling her fingers, and did some sort of little dance in a circle. Even Titan hopped around in a circle as best he could.
Her excitement was contagious. I laughed. “Yeah, baby, we are. Hell, if this is how you react from moving in together, what’s going to happen when I propose?” It was a foregone conclusion. We would be getting married, but I hadn’t intended on bringing it up just yet.
She froze, mid crazy dance. “What did you just say?”
Confused, I repeated what I had just said. She didn’t say anything for several long beats. Finally, she uttered, “You want to marry me?”
I rose to my feet and shook my finger in her direction. “That’s not how this works. I ask you. You do not ask me.”
“I wasn’t asking, caveman,” she sassed. “I just didn’t know you’d thought about it.”
“Of course, I have. I love you, Harper. You’re already my Old Lady, and now we’re moving in together. The next logical step is to get married,” I said, placing my hands on her hips. “Is that something you want?”
She blushed and cast her eyes toward her feet. “What little girl doesn’t dream of getting married to the man of her dreams?”