Page 91 of Once Upon a Fall

He lets out a breath. “Would you let me help you with the balloon payment then?”

“What? No,” I tell him. “You do not need to help me with that.”

“Then let me pay for the room that I rented from you,” he says.

I open my mouth to object, but he keeps going.

“I stayed here for a month. I slept here, used your kitchen, your water, your electricity. You held the room for me when you could have rented it to someone else.”

“But—”

“And I wanted to help with the inn. You didn’t hire me. You didn’t ask me to do any of it.”

That shuts me up for a second.

“Those are two separate things,” he says. “I helped because I wanted to. I’m paying because I stayed here.”

I look down at my hands, which have been wringing the napkin while he’s been talking.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had prepared to talk about this.

I really hate that his argument makes sense.

“I don’t want to charge you,” I say, not wanting to give in.

“And I’ll figure out a way to pay you anyway.”

I widen my eyes. “Is that a threat?”

He smiles. “It doesn’t have to be. As long as you let me pay you for the room.”

I drop my head then, feeling tears behind my eyes. I swallow them back. His generosity is too much. I don’t know how I can accept it.

“Fine,” I finally say, looking up at him. “But I’m giving you a discount.”

“No,” he says.

“Dean.”

“Rosie.”

“Well, I can’t charge you for the night you gave your room to the Hendersons.”

The corner of his mouth quirks upward. “You mean the best night of sleep I had the entire month?”

Oh, wow. My stomach doesn’t drop so much as take a flying leap off a cliff.

The room suddenly feels warmer. The tension between us pulls tight. I briefly wonder if I should swipe the plates off the island like they do in the movies so I can make out with Dean on top of it.

Instead, I swallow. I’m pretty sure it was audible.

“At least let me give you a discount,” I say, sounding a little breathless.

“No,” he shakes his head slowly.

“Please?”

“I’m paying for the room.”