22. #3
A yawn slipped out before I could stop it.
"Can we lay back down?" I asked, voice still a little rough from sleep.
A hint of a smile pulled at his mouth.
"Yeah."
We moved back toward the bedroom without rushing.
I tugged my sweater off as we walked, letting it fall somewhere behind me, leaving me in just my bra and leggings.
Before I could climb into bed, his hand came down against my ass in a quick, firm slap.
I jumped slightly, shooting him a look over my shoulder.
He didn't even try to hide the smirk.
"Go lay down," he said.
I rolled my eyes, but the corner of my mouth lifted anyway as I climbed into bed, pulling the covers up as he moved around to his side.
A second later, he was behind me.
Close.
Warm.
His arm slid around my waist, pulling me back into him like he had earlier. I settled into it easily this time.
For a minute, I let myself stay there.
Then his words from last night slipped back in—
I don't want to have to read your mind.
I swallowed.
"I wanna talk to you about something."
His arm tightened slightly around me. "Okay."
I shifted a little, turning my head just enough to hear him better.
"I feel like you know so much about me," I said slowly, "and I don't really know that much about you."
He was quiet for a second, letting me finish.
"Isabel said something to me the other day."
That got his attention.
"What'd she say?"
"She said you were moving to California."
A small pause.
"I'm not moving to California." He responded.
I turned slightly, enough to look back at him.
"But she said you're opening an office there."
"I am," he said. "But that's not the same thing."
His hand shifted, resting against my stomach now.
"It's expansion. Not relocation. Different staff, different doctors. I'll go out there when I need to, but I'm not leaving here."
I held his gaze for a second.
Then nodded slowly.
The tension I hadn't realized I was holding eased just a little.
Okay.
So that wasn't what I thought it was.
I turned back onto my side, facing away from him again, but I didn't pull away.
For a second, I just sat with it.
With how quickly my mind had gone there.
With how easily I had started building something that wasn't even real.
Overthinking is a bitch.
His thumb moved lightly against my side.
"Naomi," he said quietly. "If there's something you want to know, just ask me. I'm not trying to keep things from you."
"I know," I said.
And I did.
That wasn't the problem.
I hesitated.
"What do you think about me?"
The question sat there for a second after I said it.
I felt him shift slightly behind me.
"Honestly?"
I nodded, since he couldn't see my face.
He exhaled softly, like he was choosing his words.
"I think you're... a lot stronger than you let yourself believe," he said. "And I think you've spent a long time adjusting to things you shouldn't have had to."
Something in my chest tightened at that.
"I think you're figuring it out," he continued. "In real time."
His hand moved, sliding up slightly, resting just beneath my ribs.
"And I think you're not used to having space to do that without someone stepping in."
I didn't say anything.
Because he wasn't wrong.
"And what about... us?" I asked, quieter now.
There it was.
The real question.
He didn't answer right away.
Not because he didn't have one.
Because he was thinking.
"I think what we have is real," he said finally. "A real connection."
Simple.
No hesitation in that part.
"But I don't think it's fair to you to try to define it right now."
My brows pulled slightly.
"Why?"
"Because you're still in something," he said gently. "Whether you want to be or not."
I swallowed.
He continued, his tone still calm, still careful.
"And I don't want this to feel like another situation you're trying to navigate around."
His hand tightened slightly against me.
"I want you to have the space to choose what your life looks like without me influencing that while you're still in it."
Different response than I expected.
"I wouldn't feel that way," I said.
"I know you think that," he replied, softer. "And maybe you won't."
A small pause.
"But I'd rather we get to a place where you're free—fully—and then decide what this is from there."
"And until then?" I asked.
His arm tightened around me again, pulling me a little closer into him.
"Until then," he said, "we take it for what it is."
I let that sit.
It wasn't what I expected.
But it also wasn't nothing.
"How do you feel about that?" he asked.
I thought about it for a second.
About him.
About everything.
"I think..." I started, then paused, choosing my words more carefully this time. "I think I understand why you're saying that."
I shifted slightly, settling deeper into him.
"And I don't hate it."
That earned a small breath of a laugh against my shoulder.
"Good."
The room fell quiet again after that.
But it didn't feel uncertain.
Just unfinished in a way that didn't need to be rushed.
And for now that felt like enough.