The stack of moving boxes teetered, threatening to fall over. I adjusted the top box and grabbed another to unfold and tape. Gunner ran past me with something shiny in his mouth.
“Gunner, drop it,” Cade called from behind him.
The pup stopped and gently set the band of metal on the hardwood floor. I recognized the six thousand dollar watch that I’d bought Cade for Christmas to pay him back for Gunner’s surgery.
Cade strode into the room and snatched the watch, clipping it to his wrist. “Can’t turn my back on you for a second.” He scolded the dog.
I handed Gunner the monkey he’d gotten for Christmas, and he bounded away. Box assembled, I wrapped a photo frame in paper and put it on the bottom.
“Are you trying to kill someone?” Cade eyed my stack of boxes. “We have plenty of floor space to make more than one stack.”
“It’s a challenge.” I laughed. “Got to make it fun.”
Gunner galloped by again, doing laps in the house. In two weeks, he’d made a full recovery. The only way anyone would know that he’d nearly died and had surgery was his short, trimmed belly hair—and the still healing pink scar.
Cade leaned in to steal a kiss. I pulled him closer to get more of him. My phone buzzed in my pocket, breaking us apart with Cade mumbling something about timing.
Biting my bottom lip, I glanced at the screen—an email notification. The smile dropped from my lips.
“Hey, you okay?” Cade frowned. “Is it Mark again? I swear I’ll do a lot worse than a skunk—”
I held up a shaking hand to stop him and opened the email. Scanning to the good part, I gasped and nearly dropped to the floor on weak knees.
Cade caught me. “Remi, talk to me, babe.”
“I got it,” I whispered, and held the phone out for him to read.
His mouth gaped when he got to the job offer and he dropped the phone to pick me up and swing me in a circle. “I knew you would!”
I clung to him and laughed. The resumes I’d sent out the night I quit had gotten some attention. I’d had two other job offers in the last week, but I’d been holding out hope for the one I really wanted. Mr. Macintosh had come through. And not with just any offer.
Gunner dropped his toy to prance around us, joining in the merriment without a care as to the reason. He bounded in a circle at our feet.
“Did you see that signing bonus?” Cade asked after thoroughly kissing me. “It’s amazing.”
“I know.” I sucked in a breath, my head spinning.
Cade sobered. “You know…” he began, then paused.
His tone dampened some of my joy. “What is it?”
“Well, you could buy Mark out of the house with a bonus that size,” he said. “You wouldn’t have to move.”
I tilted my head back and considered the high ceilings, the vast windows, the layout that had once been my dream, then returned my gaze to Cade’s face. “I was actually thinking about something else.”
His brows pulled together. “Oh no. Thinking is dangerous.”
My expression grew serious. “I was thinking that I don’t want to be in a house I bought with Mark.” I forced myself to keep my gaze locked on Cade. “I was thinking it might be nice to find a place with you.”
He blinked. “You…really?”
My heart stuttered as I freaked out over pushing him too hard, too fast.
“Remi, that’s amazing,” he exclaimed. “I wanted to suggest the same thing.”
“You don’t think it’s too fast?” I asked.
He smoothed my hair back and cradled my cheek in his palm. “Too fast? I’ve known you for twenty years. If we kept up this pace, I won’t marry you until I’m nearly eighty.”
He leaned down to kiss me until a persistent wet nose and wiggling body pushed between us. “Besides,” Cade continued. “We kind of already have a kid together, so not much of a leap to move in.”
I barked out a laugh and pulled him to the floor so Gunner could get some snuggles. The pup leaned into me, his tongue lolling out in a huge doggy grin. This was family. This was love.