Page 136 of Open To Negotiation

“They aren’t from him, just to be clear,” Theo said with a smile while Oli moved forward and showed me his phone. It was a picture of the garden behind the house but there had been an addition. Hanging in the tree was a large hummingbird feeder. “So you can always see your favorite animal.” I looked up at Theo instead of the phone.

“Do you think I can be bought?” I asked it only because I didn’t want to give in too quickly. And I needed something, anything, to grasp onto.

“No, but I want you to know that I’ll remind you every day how well I know you, how much you mean to me. I’ll remind you every day how much I love you.” He took a step forward and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear, making my breath hitch. It was so natural for him, I’d missed it so much.

“Look at me quickly please, it’s fucking cold. I got the worst job,” Noah complained as he came into the room. I let out a laugh. He was carrying five ice cream containers. “There’s more in the freezer but my hands can only carry so much.”

“I promise to always have a freezer full of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I will continue to grumble about it but eat it right alongside you because of how much you love the stuff. I do, however, fully intend to show you how wrong you are when we travel the world. We’ll make our first stop Italy for the gelato and of course to see your mum.”

“I’m putting these back,” Noah muttered as he walked quickly from the room.

Jaxson came forward next, also handing me his phone. “These are the flight plans for Italy, we can schedule take off with the plane whenever you’re ready.” He winked and took a step back with the rest of the guys.

“Theo…”

“I’ve been going crazy without you. I miss waking up with you next to me in bed, I miss you cooking breakfast in my kitchen and coming home to you singing off key as you burn food. I miss sitting outside with you at night and having a stupid group chat with my friends that never shuts off. I miss having your hair products scattered around my bathroom and your perfume on the counter.

“I miss telling you that I love you as you nuzzle into my chest at night. I miss everything about you. I love you so much I can’t think straight sometimes. I know I messed up. I saw a problem that put you at risk and I acted without thinking. And since we’re being honest sometimes it scares me how much I care about you. I let the fear of losing you cloud my judgement. I promise I won’t make a decision about your safety without talking it out with you first.”

“Dude, not inspiring much confidence,” Oli muttered as he shoved Theo’s shoulder, but I could see Oli trying to hide a smile.

Theo rolled his eyes at his friends and looked back at me. “I will always be honest with you. I want to take care of you, and love you, and I want my family to be yours. I want everything with you.”

I took a breath and then shook my head at him. “Not good enough.” I took a step back as he reached for me, but his hand froze midair when I smiled a little. “Oli was right, you aren’t inspiring confidence. You can’t do anything like this again. Someone will always be able to use the people you care about against you but you can’t let them. If we do this, you have to trust that we can get through things together.”

He nodded seriously. “You’re the most important thing in my life, my instinct will always be to put you first, to protect you first. But I can work on it.”

“A little better,” Jaxson said with a smirk.

“Now, if I haven’t convinced you yet that I’m sorry and I love you and that you should come home…” Him calling this my home settled something in my chest. “I have one more thing.” He tilted his chin and I turned to see Asher walking into the room.

“Oh my god.” I gasped and moved over to Asher quickly, well more specifically to the puppy he was holding in his arms. “Hi,” I crooned as I reached out to scratch it behind the ears.

He started licking my hand, his tail wagging, his body wiggling in Asher’s arms. He passed me the puppy and I took him eagerly. I let out a laugh as he licked my face, letting out a little yap of excitement.

He had the most beautiful coloring, his body was black but all four of his legs were tan, so were the tips of his ears that were currently folded in half. His paws were too big for his little body.

“This is our new German Shepard, he’s eight weeks old. Asher and Jaxson had the breeder investigated, they were very reputable and this little man is very smart. I got him this morning and he can already sit.” I turned with the sweet puppy in my arms, who was happily licking my chin to see Theo looking at the dog like a proud dad.

“You bought a puppy.”

“I bought us a puppy,” he clarified. “I’m thinking since you don’t have an apartment anymore that you can live here.”

“You bought the puppy as a bribe to get me to move in?”

“No, I got one because I love dogs and I know you do too. I believe you once said that the yard would be perfect for one.”

“And what if I say no? Do I still get the puppy?”

Theo smirked at my question. “No, Love. Take us both or leave us both.”

I was dragging this out, I’d already made my decision before even walking in here, but he needed to grovel appropriately.

“Can we discuss shared custody?”

Will coughed to cover up his laugh.

“No.”