Hooking Him (How to Catch an Alpha #3)(55)

“Online.” She shrugs. “You can find anything with the help of Google.”

“True.” I pour her a cup of coffee and add creamer and sugar, and then I pour myself a cup and take both to the bed. I hand hers over, then sit with my back to the headboard.

“I need a TV,” she says, sitting back and then taking a sip from her mug.

“You don’t.”

“Yeah, I do. I know you like to watch the news in the mornings. I should get one for when you’re here.”

“Anna, we love each other, and last night we spoke about having kids one day. I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking that means it’s time for us to talk about you moving in with me.”

“You want me to move in with you?”

“Yeah.” I frown. “You do realize we haven’t spent a night apart since the first night we spent together, and more often than not, you’re at my place. Plus, I like this place, but it’s not exactly where I see us living or raising a family. I can span the space in three steps.”

“Okay,” she says, taking another sip of coffee. “I’ll talk to Edie later today and see how much time she needs before I can break my lease without hurting her pocket.”

“That was surprisingly easy,” I mumble to myself, and she laughs.

“Do you want me to argue with you about it to make you feel better?”

“No, just talk to Edie and let me know what she says. Then we’ll get you completely moved in—not that you seem to have much.” I look around.

“None of this is mine. Well, besides the clothes in the closet, stuff in the bathroom, and the bedding.”

“You said you had a place in Chicago. You didn’t have house shit?”

“No, I did. I still have my stuff in storage there. But I’ll probably just let it go if I’m going to move in with you.”

“Why wouldn’t you keep it?”

“Well, none of it would exactly fit in with the theme you have going on at your house, and none of it holds any real sentimental value. Plus I have no real desire to go back to Chicago to get it all and then drive it back here.”

“If we live together, it will be our house. I want you to be comfortable there and add your touch.”

“I can do that.” She grins, with happiness filling her eyes.

“And I can see about getting a week off in the fall, and we can fly out to Chicago and drive your stuff back here,” I say, and I notice her expression dull immediately. “You really don’t want to go back to Chicago.”

“My life is here. My friends and the people who’ve become like family to me are here. Chicago is my past, and I don’t want to go back. I just want to keep going forward.”

“Don’t give up your storage unit. You might feel differently about going back there in a month or a year,” I tell her, and she studies me for a long moment before she nods. “All right, now . . . our plans for the day.”

“I didn’t know we had plans today.” She smiles as she takes a sip of coffee.

“Our plans involve a meeting with the kitchen designer, Amanda, who’s coming to my place at one. I need to sort that out before you officially move in. Otherwise, my mom will lose her shit.”

“I can’t imagine your mom losing her . . . you know.”

I grin. Over the last few months, I’ve learned Anna doesn’t cuss, which is adorable. Especially when I know she wants to. I’ve also noticed she never says anything when I cuss.

“She was on me about me fixing up my place before we got together. Now, anytime I talk to her, the first question she asks is when I’m going to make the house somewhere you might want to live.”

“I love your house.” I notice a hint of worry in her voice.

“I know, baby.”

“And you know it doesn’t matter to me how the kitchen looks or anything else, right?”

“I know why you’re with me, Anna. I’ve never second-guessed why I want to be with you or why you want to be with me.”

“Okay,” she says quietly, chewing the inside of her cheek—a tell that lets me know she’s not convinced, unlike the twitch she gets in her cheek when she’s getting angry or frustrated.

“I don’t have money, Anna, not much anyway, and the life we build, I want us to build it together. What’s mine is yours and vice versa.”

“I don’t want the stocks. I don’t want any of it, not even a few shares for any kids we might have. I don’t want any ties to the reason my parents are the way they are.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you do with it, Anna. Keep it, sell it—it doesn’t matter to me.”

I see the tension leave her shoulders and the worry leave her eyes. “Thank you.” I lean over and kiss her and then back away when there’s a knock on the door and Bane barks. “That’s probably Edie,” she says. Then she shouts toward the door, “Just a second!”

“Anna, is Calvin with you?” Herb’s voice rings loud, surprising me.

I see her frown as I call out, “I’m here, Herb.”

“Christ, man, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you!” he shouts back through the door, and I get up off the bed, searching the side table for my cell that isn’t there.