Feeling like the worst kind of jerk, since she’d only confessed to liking Vermont moments before, I sighed. “New York.”
“What?” Her question was quiet, but the pain in it was clear. “The one place I thought I’d never have to see again.”
“Brooklyn, actually,” I said to clarify, and this got me a reaction I didn’t expect.
Murphy tipped her head back and let out the loudest laugh I’d ever heard from her. “Brooklyn?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve already rented a place there. I’m going to mostly work on the app and nutrition stuff, but I’ll also see patients two or three days a week and operate one day a week. It’s a heavy schedule, but I’m young and up for it. Then I can decide which is the better match for my life, because I can’t keep up with both forever. But . . . I don’t get why you’re laughing.”
Her reaction had totally confused me. I didn’t know if she thought the idea of a country bumpkin like me living in New York wasn’t plausible or what.
Smiling at me as she pushed her hair behind her ear, she then ran her hand down my cheek again. “Because this is the cherry on top. My parents already find you below their standards, you know, being a doctor and all that, and the only thing worse to them than Brooklyn is Queens.”
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Are you saying you’d come with me? I’m sorry, that’s too much to hope for,” I said, more for myself than her. I’d take her with me in a heartbeat. “Would you at least visit me? I guess that’s a more appropriate suggestion, right? Is that what you meant?”
Murphy shook her head, giving me a small smile. “Well, I meant I would visit, but if you’re offering for me to come, um, I wanted to tell you that I was just offered a social media job for a nail polish company. I negotiated the job to be remote, to help build my portfolio, and since it’s freelance, I can do it anywhere. I was going to do it from here. Which is why I was prepared to tell you I’d move here, permanently, but now you’re off to Brooklyn.”
Unable to find the right words, I kissed her again, telling her what I wanted to say with my mouth and tongue, running my hand up and down her back as she leaned into me.
“I don’t want you to visit, Murph,” I murmured against her lips.
“You don’t?”
“Selfishly, I want you with me all the time. You could do marketing there, make a name for yourself on your own. Remember your Brooklyn romance book and how you thought you’d never have your own love story? You can—I mean, you are. You’re having it, and it could be in Brooklyn.” My words came out so jumbled, I clarified. “You won’t have any expenses because you can live with me.”
This made her pull away, and I cursed myself mentally. I’d come on too strong, suggesting too much, too soon.
“This is coming at me quick,” Murphy said, “and there’s no denying I love you back, Ben. But . . .”
The love of my life had finally said the words to me, and then they were followed with a but. Everyone knows nothing good comes after a but.
“But we have to be equals.,” she said. “I can’t mooch off you. I’ve mooched off my parents all my life. My plan was to make it on my own, and I still plan to do that, but with you by my side. And you have to get over this hang-up with where I came from. I’m leaving all that in my past, like Hunnie told me to.” Then Murphy gasped. “Oh! Hunnie.”
“Hunnie what?”
Murphy’s brow scrunched, and I could practically see the wheels turning inside her head. “She’s going to miss me. And Gigi. They’ve become my friends, my first real friends. And her wedding.”
“They’ll visit,” I told her. “And we’ll be back.”
“Ugh, I never wanted to go to New York again, but I’m going,” she said. “And this time I’m going on my own terms. For you. Plus, I’ve never lived in Brooklyn.”
Smart enough not to argue, I only nodded and smiled. I wanted to pinch myself at what was happening. If that made me a softie, I didn’t care. When it came to Murphy, all my caveman tendencies came out.
Finally, I stood and scooped Murphy in my arms, then kissed her all the way to my bedroom, where I laid her down on the bed and stripped off her clothes. Within a minute, she was on the edge of the bed and I was on my knees, my mouth on her most intimate spot.
“I want you,” she murmured, wanting for me to be inside her, but I had different plans.
“You have me,” I said into her core, the vibrations of my words setting off tiny waves inside her that I could feel all the way to my spine. I rode each one and continued to tease and bring her to the brink before slowing down and revving back up.
Only when she muttered, “Please, Ben, I can’t,” did I give in and let her climax. I wasn’t sure who liked it more, her or me.
Needless to say, we spent the rest of Saturday in bed, only stopping to order some Asian takeout. On our way to pick it up, Branson called. He said his mom told him about Brooklyn, and he was happy for me. I promised him we would spend holidays at the ski house, which I’d planned to keep, but would sell my current house in Montpelier.
“Brenna knew about Brooklyn?” Murphy asked over the Beethoven when I hung up.
“Of course. I wouldn’t keep that from her. My parents, on the other hand, I just told them. I think they’re genuinely happy and want me out of their hair. To be honest, these negotiations have been going on for a
