Chapter 7

Graham

Ever since I arrived home from San Antonio and Sam and I had our dinner date, I had continued to stay at his house. After a few days of solitude, the two of us had to go grocery shopping together out of necessity. We made meals together. We even cleaned together. It was all very domestic.

He went to work, while I stayed home and worked from his living room. When I felt the need to get out of the house, I always stopped at Whisk Me Away just to see him.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I lived there.

In the evenings he and I would watch television together or go for walks. The two of us planned out our blogs and talked about his plans for the bakery. I helped with inventory on the weekend. It was all so perfect.

I waited for the itch to leave to travel to hit me, but it never came. In fact, just knowing that I would have to travel next month because I had a ten-day trip planned overseas made my stomach clench. Usually, I was itching to get out of my hometown and hop to the next cool place on my list. This time I was content to stay. I didn't want to leave Sam for that long. Ten days seemed like an eternity to spend sleeping away from him.

It wasn't just the sex—though that was mind-blowingly hot and plentiful—I wanted to be wherever Sam was all the time. Even doing mundane things like the dishes and mowing the grass were enjoyable with Sam around.

I liked the idea of us being together all the time, and it worked out well that I took on more of the people side of the business so Gavin got a break.

In fact, he was planning his own trip so that he could take over some of the sponsorship spots that we had.

He was more than happy to leave town for a while, and so far, he hadn't really noticed that I wasn't staying in his basement. Or if he did notice, he hadn't said anything. He seemed to be taking the whole "dating his brother" thing in stride.

I arrived at the bakery just after the morning rush. I had learned to time it nicely so that I didn't distract Sam during his busy time, and I was able to get more attention from him.

He always smiled when I walked in the door and had a coffee ready for me. "Good morning, my sweet," I said.

He laughed. "Good morning."

I leaned across the counter, and he went on his tiptoes and leaned over to give me a kiss. I resisted the urge to grab a hold of his neck and drag him across the counter and into my arms.

I had more than one fantasy about dirty things we could do behind the counter or in the kitchen. Of course, Sam was opposed to all of them. Something about health code violations and keeping all the surfaces sanitary. That didn't mean we weren't getting down and dirty in our own personal kitchen at home.

I had made it my mission to taste every inch of his skin, just to see how much of him was sweet.

"Did you know that the building next to you is technically attached and has a connecting door?" I asked.

His brow furrowed. "Yes. I remember when we first opened up. The connecting door is in the office, right? I think we have the bookshelf up against the wall blocking it. Why do you mention that? And how did you know that?"

"Did you know that your brother is a little bit tired of me living in his basement? And also, he is tired of having all of our business paperwork in the house." Gavin and I had talked for the past few years about having a storefront rather than doing all the work from our home offices. Now was as good a time as any to make that a reality. When the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it.

It was a sign.

"I thought you guys have always liked working out of the house. It keeps your costs down."

"It does, but real estate is always a nice investment. And it just so happens that this building and the one next to it is up for sale." I watched his face closely for any sort of reaction. We hadn't talked much about the future. Hell, we had only been technically dating for two weeks. Perhaps I was way ahead of myself? Then again, Sam had professed his love for me in a blog post on the internet, so how could I move too fast?

Sam stilled. "I had known that it was going to go up for sale. I didn't realize it was already. Honestly, Andrew and I were planning on talking about it at some point just in case the new owners upped the rent. We do all right, but increased rent could really hurt our budget."

"Oh, I don't imagine the new owners will up the rent. You have a multi-year lease on here, right?"

He nodded. He chewed on his lower lip, and I was jealous that I couldn't do the same.

"Besides, I'm sure the new owner will take payments in the form of baked goods."

Sam narrowed his eyes at me. "Who is the new owner?"

I held out a set of keys. "I am. I started the paperwork a few days after I got home from San Antonio, and we finalized it this morning. These aren't the actual keys, I don't get those till later. These are actually keys to your house."

"You've bought my building?"

"Yes," I said. I held his hand in mine. "So you're going to have to move that bookshelf. The connecting door goes straight into what will be my office at the travel agency. And I thought… well, I think you can imagine what I thought." I winked at him.

"I don't know what to say."

"Say you're excited! Unless you aren't. Say what you're thinking. Be honest with me."

Sam's face lit up, and I was thankful there weren't any nosy customers in the shop right then. Our conversation would be the talk of the town. "That is awesome. I just… What does that have to do with not living in my brother's basement?"

"Well, that's the other thing. See, he's getting pretty serious about maybe settling down someday. Don't tell Jane. And I know I'm definitely serious about settling down with a certain someone. Unless… this is all too fast?" I was starting to rethink how this was all going. The fact that it had only been two weeks still weighed heavily on my mind. I cleared my throat. "But I can always find an apartment. It's not a big deal."

I straightened, but Sam gripped my hand. "It's not too soon. It's—I want that too. I want you to move in with me. But you're going to travel still, right? I don't want you to give that up. You love it."

"Of course I will. I like traveling, but most certainly not as much. I mean, I've liked being here, and your brother wants to start doing the traveling now."

"You're sure you'll be happy with that? I know how much you love to travel. It's been your whole life."

"I do love it. But maybe it's time for something else—someone else—to be my whole life. And you know what I'm also excited about? Going places with you."

Sam smiled. "You want to do that? You want to travel with me?"

I nodded. "More than anything, Sam. I'm in this for real. I love you."

He practically melted. "I love you, too."

I couldn't stand being separated from him. I put two hands on the counter and was just about to jump over when Jane spoke up.

"I love where this is going, but can you guys take it somewhere else, please? I'm going to get a cavity with how cute you are. Or I'm going to vomit. We'll see which happens first."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, Jane. I'm going to steal Sam for a while."

"Please do."