CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

GWEN POV

"The second thing is that I'm sorry. I realized after you left that I was having a sense of déjà vu seeing you angry on my front step. I overreacted. You weren't mean to me. You doubted me, and that hurt, but it wasn't like before. I'm sorry that I didn't recognize how hard you've been working on your anger issues."

      "Thank you." And still, my words didn't seem to sway him. He looked at me like he'd given up on me. "You said there were three things."

      I nodded and stepped closer to him, glad that he didn't back away. "Perhaps I should've led with this. I love you too."

      He studied me, and I hoped he saw what he was looking for.

      “Do you still love me?” I asked. “Did I mess that up?”

 He closed his eyes and his head tilted upward, as if someone were pouring a balm over him. When he finally returned his gaze to me, the tender, sweet man I knew was back.

      His hand cupped my cheek. “I should be asking you that. Ah, Gwen, how much of all this craziness would I have saved us if I’d told you this earlier?"

      "I don't know that you would've saved any time. I’m not sure I would've heard it."

      "But you hear it now, don't you? You trust me now, don't you? I mean, I know I fucked up tonight, and I can't guarantee that I won't ever fuck up again. I know that’s why you’re wary of me. I love you, Gwen. What I said earlier is true. Anything you want from me is yours. But Fuck it, how I need you to love me back."

I cocked my head and gave him a sassy smile. "Didn't you just hear me tell you that I did?"

      He smiled, one of the rare wide, wondrous ones. "I have a surprise for you."

 "Okay, but first . . ." I reached up, gripping the collar of his shirt and tugging him down, plastering my lips over his. He groaned and pressed me up against the wall, taking the kiss deeper, not just with the heat, but with the love.

 When he finally tore his lips away, he said, "I'm really tempted to get to the makeup sex part, but I really want to show you my surprise." He took my hand and led me up the stairs and down a long hallway. "I made this for the baby." He opened the door to a room that was clearly a nursery.

 "Since we don't know if it's a boy or girl, I tried to do it with non-gendered colors.”

 I looked around at the pretty yellow walls and the jungle animal decor. If I hadn't already loved Nolan, I would have fallen for him right then and there.

 "I love it." But then I realized that I was thinking I would be in this house with him and the baby, but he hadn’t asked me to move in either.

"There's more. Follow me." He tugged me to another part of the house, opening a door to a room done in soft, muted gray with accents of white.

      "This is your room.”

I looked up at him, wondering what he meant. While the room was painted and had a desk, there was no bed. “Where do I sleep?”

 His brow furrowed and then he laughed, taking both of my hands in his. "I was going to wait until after graduation, but I found that I can't. I want you to move in with me. And not because of the baby. I want you to move in with me because I can't stand to be away from you."

      “And this is my bedroom?"

 "Hell no. Your bedroom is my bedroom." Then he stopped. "Unless you're not comfortable with that. If the only way to get you to live in my house with me is separate bedrooms, I’ll do that. But this room, I was thinking, could be an office or whatever you want it to be. It’s Gwen’s Room.”

      I smiled, giddiness filling me that he wanted me to have a place of my own in his house.

      “So, will you move in with me?”

      I launched my arms around him. "I want to see your room."

 “Ah, the best for last.” He carried me back toward the nursery and to the room next door. To be honest, except for the large, comfortable bed, I didn’t see much of the space because my attention was all on Nolan.

 We undressed, but this time, everything was different. There weren’t worries or questions. There was just love. Out in the open.

      “Do you think I’m a pervert?” he asked as he trailed kisses down my body.     

“What?”

      He looked up at me from where he’d been swirling his tongue in my belly button. “Mira says I’m a pervert for being with someone so young.”

      “Don’t ever think about anything that woman says.” I frowned. “Does the age thing bother you?”

“Bother? No. I mean, I’m a cliché, right? But my life is yours, Gwen. Whether you’re twenty or thirty, that doesn’t change. But when you’re my age, I’ll be in my sixties. A senior citizen.”

      “And I’ll still love you then.”

      His expression filled with tenderness and awe. “Thank you for giving me another chance.”

      “You can thank me by giving me a screaming orgasm.”

      Whatever you want, Gwen, whatever my mate wants she gets!”