Stronger Together (bxb) ✔

Chapter - 77 - Chase

Chase's POV

"Shall we, little lamb?" Diego asks, holding out his hand for me to take.

"I don't know how to dance," I mumble. Even though I adore dancing, I barely know how to dance, let alone ballroom dance. My eyes flicker to the couples moving gracefully on the dance floor, Shawn and Dean included, before drifting to Bryan and Jesse a few tables over, talking to another group of people.

Gentle hands cup my face and I refocus on Diego. "Just follow my lead."

I pout. "It's not that easy," I mumble again, but take Diego's hand and get to my feet.

Diego presses a kiss to my hand before grinning and leading me to a corner of the dance floor, where we are concealed, by the other dancers, from the prying eyes of the people still seated.

He positions our arms and gently rubs his nose against mine. "Focus on me and we'll take two steps to the left first."

I try to follow his slow movements for the next few minutes but all I manage is to turn his toes into dust with the amount of times I've crushed them. "I'm sorry! Let's just sit back down," I say sulkily, trying to escape back to the safety of the table.

"How about we just sway?" Diego flashes me a dazzling smile and bats his eyelashes.

Being unable to resist his charm I mumble, "fine." A pout is still on my lips, but I remain on the dance floor. Diego presses light kisses to my lips until a smile graces my face then rests his head against mine.

We're swaying to the music, arms wrapped around each other and ignoring everyone around us, as we soak up the harmonies coming from the string quartet.

"DiDi?" I murmur and Diego hums a response, lifting his head. "Did you really never bring a date to these events?" I ask, remembering Dr. Bentley's earlier comment.

He releases a soft chuckle and shakes his head, "I was going to ask Liam to come with me to the first one, but we broke up before I asked him." He gently strokes my cheek and smiles. "There is no one I'd rather be here with, and I'm really happy that you came," he whispers, pecking my lips and causing a wide smile to spread across my face.

"Do you want to take a walk?" Diego inquires, after a few more minutes of us swaying and staring into each other's eyes, occasionally sharing soft kisses.

I grin and nod, and Diego and I sneak outside, trying to avoid conversations with the people who are, for the most part, getting drunker by the second.

Diego talks to a member of staff at the hotel front desk for a few minutes before he is handed some keys. "Ready?" He asks, wearing a goofy grin.

My eyes narrow in suspension, but I take his outstretched hand and follow him. He leads us out the back of the hotel where the event is being held and down a path paved with red bricks. We walk hand in hand, in comfortable silence, enjoying the slightly nippy wind that swirls around us, until we reach three large greenhouses.

He guides me towards the middle one. Through its glass walls, I can see rows of lush, green, potted plants, bathed in a soft orange light. He releases my hand to unlock the door before giving me an air kiss and gesturing for me to enter. We close the door and stop at their complete hygiene station before fully entering the green house, and Diego's hand slips back into mine.

I was already grinning before, but when we reach the back of the greenhouse and I see the colourful array of flowers, my face lights up like a Christmas tree. Bright pink and yellow flowers spill out of the pots hanging from the ceiling, red, yellow, white and purple flowers are clustered under them, all surrounding a wooden, two seater, garden swing chair.

"This is beautiful!" I exclaim, releasing Diego to sniff the flowers and caress their soft petals. When I've finally had enough of enjoying the flowers, I join Diego, who is sitting on the chair, and snuggle into his arms. "Thank you for bringing me here," I murmur.

It has been a long event, and while I'm not as drained as I was the last time I went to a large social gathering, I really appreciate the serenity of the gorgeous plants and flowers, and the fact that I can snuggle with Diego without worrying about the stray eyes that might have been watching us.

"You're welcome, honeybee," he responds, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. We sit in silence for a few minutes, swinging in the chair while listening to the quiet buzz of the lights.

"Do you want to move in with me," Diego asks quietly, so quietly that I barely hear him.

I gasp and my lips immediately curve upwards as my head springs up from nestling against Diego's chest. "Yes!" I squeal. We've been sleeping at his house, or mine and Jesse's, at least three or four nights every week, and I absolutely love waking up in his arms. It fills me with energy and leaves a lingering feeling of happiness which I carry with me throughout the day.

The only downside to moving in with Diego is that I won't see Jesse as often, but I'll just have to plan better, because, looking into Diego's deep, brown eyes which are glowing with love, and gazing upon his dimple adorned face, I know that I'm ready to take that next step in our relationship.

"It wouldn't be immediately though," he adds. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, and his smile remains plastered on his face when he continues. "I wanted to check with you first, but I bought the house next to Bryan's and we're thinking of making a few adjustments; we'll be adding a pool to the back and an enclosed walkway between the two houses so you two can visit whenever you'd like. Would you like that?"

I can't contain the high pitched squeal that I elicit and I immediately tackle Diego into a hug causing us to swing wildly at my sudden movement. Diego's arms wrap around me in a tight hug and he kisses my neck. "I love it so much!" I release him and cup his face. "It's perfect!"

Diego's face lights up at my response. "You can do the inside however you'd like," he rubs the back of his neck and gives me a sheepish smile, "is it okay if I transfer my soft toy room to the new house? If you don't-"

"Of course it's okay! Don't be silly, DiDi!" I exclaim cutting him off. I know how important that room is to him. I've been in it a few more times since he first showed it to me. He's also told me the stories behind the photos on the walls and I never tire of hearing them.

"Thank you," he says, relief flooding his face, and I tenderly stroke his cheek. "We can move in once everything is finished."

I giggle and nod, excited to start this new chapter with him. "Bryan already asked Jesse to move in?" I ask, after a moment.

Diego nods. "Jesse is excited as well. It should take a few months to complete the construction, then we can move in together!" The excitement is clear in Diego's voice and I know the same excitement is evident on my face.

We spend the next hour mostly cuddling on the chair and talking about moving in together before we decide that we should head back to the party, which should be wrapping up by now.

"Chaaaaase!" Shawn squeals, rushing towards me and squishing me into a hug. I giggle and hug him back. "I had so much fun! We were looking for you, where did you go? Did you get laid?"

I squeak and rapidly shake my head. There was some heavy making out but the greenhouse had glass walls! I'd die if we were caught. "No, but Diego asked me to move in with him!" I say excitedly and Shawn claps his hands, grinning wider and hugging me again.

"You said yes!" Jesse exclaims, joining in on the hugging. "I'm so excited! Did he tell you the plans for the houses?"

"He did!" I squeal before Jesse and I fill Shawn in on the planned construction, which will be starting soon, and he's just as excited as we are.

We leave once our boyfriends have said goodbye to the remaining people, gushing about how much fun we had that night, thoughts of the case in the farthest corner of my mind. 

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