Chapter Forty-One
Declan
“This is the last box,” Trent said as he plopped a huge box on top of the others in our new living room. “Can we order that pizza now?”
I laughed at that. “I already ordered.”
“This is why I love you. You keep me well fed.”
I chuckled and pulled him in for a small kiss. “You ready to start unpacking all this stuff?”
“Ugh. No, not really. How do we have so much crap?”
“There’s four of us moving in here.”
“True.” He looked around the living room at all the boxes. “Are you sure everything made it to the right room?”
“I think so. I know everything in here says living room, dining room, or kitchen on it. I haven’t looked at the bedrooms yet.”
He looked around again. “Where’d everyone go?”
“Reese and Caleb are putting together the furniture in Evan’s room, Levi said he and Andy were going to work on the bookshelves in our office, and Kade and Evan went in the basement to work on Kade’s furniture. Everyone else had to leave.” I shrugged.
He nodded, then asked, “Where did you put Monster?”
“He’s in the carrier in the kitchen. I didn’t know where to put him, but that seemed to be out of the way since we told everyone to put the kitchen boxes in the living room so we can actually open the cabinets to put everything away.”
“Okay. I guess we should wait to let him out? I don’t know. He doesn’t like it in there. Maybe we can let him out after we eat? I think he’ll be okay to explore while we put everything together.”
“Sounds good.” I pulled him to me and wrapped my arms around him, burying my nose in his hair. “We own a house.”
“We do.” I could hear the smile in his voice as he hugged my waist.
I kissed the side of his head and held him against me for a few minutes. Then I took a deep breath and said, “Let’s get the shelves up in here, then put the dining table and all that back together.”
“Okay.” He kissed my chest through my shirt, then pecked my lips. “Let’s get this stuff done. Can we do the TV stand first so we can watch a movie or something later? I know I’m gonna be sore as crap by tonight.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I walked over to the TV stand and started looking at all the pieces. I glanced longingly at the couch I’d already put back together—we’d taken the cushions off for the truck ride over—I seriously wanted a break. I couldn’t wait for the pizza to get here.
While I was hooking up the TV, I smiled to myself when I looked out into our new back yard and saw Kade walk outside to set up Trent’s hammock for us. And I smiled again when I noticed Trent looking at it through the back door. My boyfriend gave Kade a huge hug when he came in, and I overheard the two of them planning an outdoor barbecue already. I was beyond happy that they got along so well and seemed to really care about each other.
We spent the rest of the day eating pizza with our friends and putting everything together. It was such a long day. A long but good day.
***
After everyone had left, and it was just Trent and me left in our half-unpacked living room, cuddled on the couch, I decided that I couldn’t possibly be happier than I was in that moment.
I nuzzled into the side of Trent’s neck—over top of Monster, since the cat basically lived on Trent’s lap—and he giggled since I was tickling him with my stubble. He pushed me off his neck, then kissed me with amusement dancing in his eyes.
“You’re stuck with me now,” he said while nudging me.
“Good. You’re the only one I want to be stuck with.” I kissed his cheeks and pulled him closer to me on the couch.
“You told me before not to turn into one of those sappy romantics, but I think you’re the one having that problem lately.”
I snorted. “Whatever.” I kissed his temple and he leaned against my side, bringing his legs up and resting his knees against my thigh. Monster managed to stay on his lap somehow—crazy cat. I gave him a scratch. “You think it’ll look okay in here?”
“I think it’s going to be perfect.” He yawned, which made me yawn. “Holy crap, I’m so worn out.”
“Me too.”
“Everything hurts.”
“Are you trying to get me to rub your feet?”
He laughed. “No.” He snuggled in closer. “I just don’t want to move ever again, which means that you have to stay right here since you make the perfect pillow.”
I kissed his hair. “Want to go to bed?”
“Nah, I want to just chill out for a while first. Is that okay?”
“Yep.”
A little while later, he said, “You’re my home, Declan. I’ve never really had one before, but you’re it. Not this place or anywhere else, just you. You’re all I need.”
My heart swelled and it took me a few seconds to answer around the lump in my throat. “Right back at ya, Jalapeno.”
He turned his head just enough to kiss me slowly before we made our way upstairs and decided to christen our new bedroom.