I woke up to the feeling of strong, muscular arms wrapped around me. I felt like I was in heaven. And the first thing I thought was...Harrison?

I opened my eyes to see Jon sleeping peacefully, his grip on me very strong as if he had no intention of letting me go.

My heart sank.

It wasn't the fact that I was sleeping with Jon and not Harrison...it was that I felt horrible that my first thought had been my deceased boyfriend when it should have been Jon and this new, budding relationship.

I reached up and brushed my fingers over his scruffy jaw. I hadn't gotten many opportunities to just look at him without him looking back. He was so handsome and I was very lucky that he even wanted anything to do with me at all, not to mention that he wanted to help me. I was the luckiest man in the world.

I sighed and rested my cheek on his slightly hairy chest, gently touching his stomach. I felt him tighten his arms around me, but he still didn't wake up.

I was okay with that...It was nice to just lay here with him. I felt nice to be in a man's arms again.

It felt amazing.

_____

When Jon started stirring, I ran a hand up and down his chest. He looked over at me sleepily and then the widest grin came over his face.

"Morning, baby," he said and then yawned.

"Morning," I answered with a pleased smile.

"Sleep okay?" he asked.

"Mmhmm. I slept wonderfully," I answered truthfully.

He smiled and it was one I had never seen on him before. I couldn't place it. His eyes looked so tremendously happy, but his smile was subdued.

I leaned forward and kissed his lips, a soft peck at first and then I licked his lips. He immediately growled sexily and I opened my mouth for him.

It was our first kiss with tongue and it made my body tingle. It got my dick interested too, but I kept that to myself. I was not ready for sex, even if my dick said it was.

Jon's phone started ringing and he grumbled, kissing me hard before pulling away. He reached over to the bedside table and looked at the caller ID. I wasn't able to see the name before he answered.

"Hey," he said in a pleasant tone. He was obviously happy to hear from whoever was calling. "Yeah, of course." He nodded. "I just have someone here..." I blushed. "Yes, he's the one I was telling you about." I gasped and hit his chest.

He was telling other people about me? Who could he be talking to?

Jon chuckled at me and then answered the person on the phone. "I'll be there soon. Okay, bye." He hung up the phone and wrapped me in his arms again. "I wanted to have breakfast with you, but I have to be somewhere, baby." He kissed my cheek.

"That's okay," I said. It was probably good if we didn't spend the whole day together after 'sleeping' together. I should probably have a little space today. I cleared my throat. "Thank you...for everything."

He smiled widely at me. "Of course, baby. Anything for you."

I blushed at that. Was there anything wrong with Jon? I guess he was overly possessive and that could a dealbreaker for some people, but that just made him all the more perfect to me.

"So how do you feel? Being away from home, I mean," he said. He looked at me curiously and I could tell he would be ready for answer I gave him.

"Do you think...it's okay...if I take it slow?" I asked carefully.

"Slow is perfectly fine, honey." He rubbed my back.

I smiled and sighed. "Maybe I could pack a box every few days. Is that too slow?"

"Nothing is too slow. You do everything in your own time. What do you want to work on first? The house or the bookstore?"

I liked that he thought it was best to focus on one first before moving onto the other. "Probably the house. I think it would be good to be living somewhere else and beginning letting go of Harrison before I take on the bookstore."

"That sounds great. I'm proud of you." He kissed my forehead.

I smiled once again. He could always get a smile out of me, even with the simplest words.

"Does it bother you?" I asked. "That...I'm having a hard time letting go?"

He looked at me with furrowed brows and shook his head. "Why would that bother me?"

I shrugged. "I guess it just makes sense to me that you would want me all to yourself...that you would want me to forget about Harrison."

"Baby," he said and his tone was not a pleased one. He obviously wasn't happy with the way I was thinking. "You are never going to forget about Harrison and I know that. And I'm never going to be happy that you lost him, but I will be happy that I get to be with you now. It doesn't matter to me that I came second. I'm just happy I get to be with you at all."

My lip trembled and I nodded, eyes filling with tears. "Me too."

He pulled me ever closer, holding me so tightly that I felt completely safe and loved.

Maybe Harrison was the best thing that ever happened to me.

But Jon wasn't far behind.

______

A month passed and I was taking my time packing up the house.

It was hard and more than a few tears were definitely shed, but I was doing it and I was proud of myself.

Jon had so kindly offered to pay for self-storage for me, so I could still hang onto Harrison's things. I wasn't ready to completely get rid of them and I was so grateful that he understood that.

Over the past month, I had stayed at Jon's a few more times. We never had sex, but we always slept in the same bed together. It was so nice to be close to someone without having to worry about sex. I wasn't sure if anyone would have understood my need to take it slow as much as Jon did.

I would never believe how lucky I was and I would never stop being happy and grateful that he had come into my life.

At the moment, I had tasked Jon with packing a few boxes in the guest room while I tackled the master bedroom. I didn't want Jon helping me in here because I saw this room as mine and Harrison's more than any other in the house.

I was just focusing on clothes today. I was just finishing up packing away most of the closet before I moved to the dresser.

"Are you a crafter?" Jon asked from across the hall in a curious tone.

I giggled and it felt wonderful to be able to do that. I saw him stick his head out of guest room, holding up a whole bundle of knitted scarves.

I shook my head with a laugh. "Harrison made those. He was a bit stingy so he made Christmas presents for anyone who wasn't immediate family. He actually hated knitting, but he would have rather spent five dollars on yarn then ten or twenty on something he bought at a store."

Jon looked at the scarves with a wry smile. "Huh. What an interesting guy." I smiled at that. "These go in the box too then?"

"Yes. Thank you."

He nodded and went back into the guest room. I then focused on the dresser.

The first drawer I opened was Harrison's sock drawer. We each had our own drawer for everything, so I had never looked in here and my mouth dropped open a little.

"Jesus, Harrison. Why did you need so many freaking socks?" I shook my head at him and started putting them into the last box I was using for today.

I was grabbing two or three pairs at a time, but I stopped when I felt something inside one of the bundles that was definitely not a sock. I frowned and unfolded the pair and stuck my hand inside.

I pulled out a small black velvet jewelry box. I frowned even more before opening it.

I shook my head very rapidly when I saw the gold ring with three small diamonds in the center.

"No." I shook my head. "No."

I just kept shaking my head, looking at it and not believing what I was seeing.

"Man, there's a lot of fucking scarves! This guy was busy!" Jon called from the next room.

The tears started falling and there's no way to stop them. My legs gave out and I kneeled on the floor, clutching the small ring box to my chest.

I tried to keep my sobs quiet, covering my mouth with my hand. But soon my whole body was shaking and I couldn't hide the noises any longer.

"Beau?" I heard Jon ask and then I heard his footsteps as he crossed the hall. I wept, grasping the ring box in my hands like it might disappear. "Beau, honey, what's wrong?"

Jon came over to me and I just shook my head. I wouldn't be able to explain the despair I was in. He kneeled next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, tugging me close to him.

He noticed something in my hands and gently tried to get me to let go. I opened my hands and let him see.

"Oh, baby," he said when he saw the ring and wrapped his arms around my back.

"He said he never wanted to get married!" I wailed.

He didn't say anything, just held me as tight as he could and ran a soothing hand up and down my back. He didn't try to shush me or quiet me, he just let me let it all out.

I cried for a long time, my tears soaking into Jon's shirt. But eventually I couldn't cry any longer. It seemed as if I was out of tears and he slowly pulled away from me, putting his hands on my shoulders and looking at me. It wasn't a pitying look. He looked almost as devastated as I was. His eyes even looked a little wet.

"Why don't you put it on, honey?" He suggested.

"No. No." I shook my head quickly. "I couldn't. I couldn't."

"Come on," he said gently. "Just for a minute."

I took a deep, shuddering breath. I wiped my face with my sleeve and nodded. I slowly took the ring out of the box and placed it on my ring finger.

It fit my finger perfectly and I tilted my head, looking at it with a fond smile. A few tears seemed to be left because they fell down my cheeks.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" I asked Jon. I looked up at him and he nodded his head. "He never wanted to get married," I said again but much calmer.

"Did you?" He asked quietly.

I bit my lip and looked at the ring again. "Yeah, but I never told him. I was just happy to be with him. I didn't need him to prove that he loved me by getting married...but I did want to." I moved closer to Jon and he wrapped his arms around me again. "I just...don't know how I feel."

"That's okay." He rubbed a hand up and down my back again. "I think that is a perfectly normal reaction."

I sighed, resting my cheek on his chest. I just didn't understand...why would Harrison have bought this? He had said many times that he didn't want to get married and I knew he wasn't lying. I think what bothered me the most about the ring was that I would never know what went through his head when he bought it. I would never know why he chose this ring. I would never get to hear him grumble about spending money on me. I smiled at that thought because I knew he would've. He didn't really mind it, I knew. I knew that he happily spent money on me and I was the only one he did that for, but he still would've complained just to cover up how much he didn't mind at all.

It took a moment for me to ask, "Would you mind if I wore it for a little while?"

He moved his hand up to my head, weaving his fingers into my hair. "No, baby. Wear it as long as you need to."

I smiled and nuzzled against his chest. I moved my head slightly so I could look at my hand again.

Just because I wanted to wear the ring for a little while longer didn't mean that my feelings for Jon had changed at all. I was glad that he understood that.

"I think I'm done packing for today," I said quietly.

"Okay, baby. I think that's a good idea." He kissed the side of my head.

For the rest of the day we watched old movies and ate takeout. That seemed to be becoming one of the things we did most often together. I thought it was fantastic tradition to start.

And maybe I kept looking at my hand, wanting to see the beautiful ring that Harrison had never gotten a chance to give to me.

But Jon never seemed upset by it. He would smile just like I did and kiss my temple.

Was it wrong to be falling in love with a man when you had someone else's ring on your finger?

_____

So this chapter was really hard to write...considering that my vision was blurred by my tears. Haha! Yeah, I'm a big old sap that can make myself cry simply by writing my own story! I had been waiting to write this bit for quite awhile now, but I didn't know it would effect me so much! I'm glad I finally got to it though and I hoped you enjoyed it. This was another kind of short chapter, but I tried to get it up much quicker than the past ones :)

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!

Have a great day/night!