“I know, but why change thirteen years of tradition?” Jagger replied easily. “I’ll have Grey home tonight.”

“Okay! Bye, you two! Have so much fun today—I mean, not too much fun. You know, don’t get yourselves in any position you’ll regret.”

“Mom!”

“Not that kind of position . . . but, yes, that too! Protect yourselves.”

Jagger busted up laughing, and I felt my face heat. “Oh my God. We’re leaving. Now. We’re going.” Grabbing the hand on my waist, I towed a still-laughing Jagger to the door and outside. “What the hell?” I whispered as we walked down the driveway.

“I have never seen your mom like that.”

I shot him a look as I slid into the passenger seat of his car. “And you think I have? I called her a Stepford wife when she came to tell me you were here.”

“Did she act like that yesterday when you came over?”

“No, she was shuffling around in her robe still.” I glanced down at my phone when it buzzed twice, and my jaw dropped and eyes widened in horror when I read the texts from my mom.

U have condiments just in case, right?

CONDOMS. I meant condoms! Y did it change what I wrote?

“What?”

Dropping my head, I shook it back and forth as I started laughing uncontrollably at the ridiculousness of this morning so far, and held my phone up for Jagger to see.

“Oh Christ,” he mumbled, and nudged my leg into the car before shutting my door. Once he was in the driver’s seat, he turned on the car and threw it in reverse, his face covered in shock until we hit the road. “Did she, uh . . . was she like this with you and Ben?”

“No, not at all.” I looked ahead and tried to find an explanation for her behavior. “This is the first time she’s seen you since that morning I found out how you felt about me, and she’s been rooting for you all along, I think she’s just overly excited by it right now.”

Jagger glanced at me and tapped on my phone. “I think that’s an understatement.”

“So embarrassing,” I groaned. “New subject, please. What are we doing today? Just hanging out like yesterday?”

“No, I have a few things in mind.”

“Oh really?” I reached over to place my hand on his leg, my chest warming when he switched hands on the steering wheel so he could grip my hand. “And what exactly do you have in mind?”

“Making you pancakes.”

“You can’t even make pancakes, Jag.”

“No, but the cooks at Mama’s Café can.”

I groaned in appreciation. “My favorite.”

Looking over at me, he sent me a lopsided smile and squeezed my hand. “I know.”

“And what after?”

With a subtle shrug, he looked back at the road. “I guess you’ll just have to find out when the time comes.”

“All right, then.” Settling back in my seat, I smiled to myself and got ready for a day of nothing but Jagger.

AFTER EATING PANCAKES and driving into the town next to ours to watch a movie, we spent a couple hours at the dock and were now walking around the touristy part of our town.

“I need to start looking for a job,” I mumbled as we exited a store where Jagger got more charcoals.

“Why?”

“Why?” I laughed softly and sank into his side when he pulled me close. “Um, it could have something to do with me needing money.”

“I’ll pay for something if you need it.”

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him. “I meant bills. I have to pay my student loan, and I want to get out of my parents’ house and get my own place.”

“You’re going to get your own place,” he stated dully. “Why?”

“Did you not see my mom this morning?” I teased. “Besides, I want to, and we’ve already talked about this. It’s weird living by yourself for two years, and being away from your parents for four, and then going back to living with them. If you didn’t have the warehouse, would you have moved back in with your mom?”

He gave me a look like I’d lost my mind. “No.”

“See? I’m just ready to get back out on my own.”

Jagger stopped walking, but kept me close to him. “Do you want to be alone, or do you just want to get away from your parents?”

“It’s not that I want to get away from my parents. I just want space. I don’t want my mom acting like she did today if you come to see me, I want some privacy sometimes.”

He looked at me for a few seconds before letting his eyes drift away. Just before I could ask what he was thinking, he said, “We have privacy at my place.”

“I know, but I’m not going to move in with you four days after we figured out that we want to be together.”

“No, um . . . I didn’t mean move in now. Not that you can’t, you’re welcome there whenever. If you want your own space, I can make up the extra room—it already has the stuff from your apartment in there.”

My eyebrows rose and I got even closer to him. “You really think if I moved in there that I would sleep in a different room?”

His green eyes flashed down to meet mine, the want in them clear. “What I’m saying is that I think you should save your money. Am I hoping that you’ll one day move in with me? Yeah, of course I am, but that’s up to you and can be tomorrow or years from now . . . if it does happen. But if you think that it’s a possibility, I don’t see a point in you getting a place where you’ll just waste your money and be stuck in a lease for however long. At the same time, if you want your own place, then you should get it.”