Page 60

I’m a tad skeptical.

She smiles at me. “I do know. You worry so much about pushing me, Carter. Sometimes, I think you miss what I want.”

“I—”

“I don’t care about a job at the network. You know that’s true.”

“It’s a fabulous opportunity—”

“Yes. For someone it will be. That someone isn’t me.”

“And the job here in Connecticut?” I question.

Brooklyn takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “I know we’re just beginning,” she says. “And I know you still worry.” She holds up her hand. “Don’t try to make me feel better, Carter. I know you. I know that there is a part of you who thinks I’ll outgrow you.”

“That’s not—”

“It’s in the back of your brain—not your heart—your brain.”

I groan. I can’t fool her.

“But you seem to forget that you might outgrow me one day too. I know you don’t think that could happen. It could. It scares the hell out of me.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I assure her.

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know,” I tell her. “I feel it.”

“I keep telling myself that we need to take this slowly,” Brooklyn admits. “What’s the point? What does slowly look like?”

I have no idea.

“I’m not ready for everything I want with you. Not yet,” she confesses.

I feel my eyebrow raise an inch or so.

Brooklyn continues. “I’m not sure I know everything I do want. I know I want to discover what everything means with you. I don’t think New York is the place for us to do that.”

I claim her lips with mine. “Nothing would make me happier than for you to live here with me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Brooklyn, I knew the minute I saw you that you would be part of my life. I didn’t know that meant finding home.”

“Carter.”

“I need you to understand that you are the place I call home—not this house.”

“I feel the same way. But can I be honest?”

“Of course.”

“Being here with you—that feels like home to me.”

“Good. Then I guess it’s settled.”

Brooklyn calms and lays her head on my breast. “You know, Ali probably heard us.”