Joey loved waking up to Pacey every morning and going to bed with him every night. Quitting the publishing house in New York and getting her new job in Boston had definitely been the best decision. She went into the office on the days that Pacey was busiest at the restaurant and worked from home on the days when he had more spare time. A month after she moved in, Pacey surprised her with big news. He'd bought the beach house he lived in with Gretchen during their senior year. While Joey was initially shocked, she knew it was a good move for them. They'd have way more room than they did in his little apartment since they would have both levels rather than just the first floor. Plus there was a big deck with a great view of the creek for entertaining. They worked together on some minor renovations they needed to do to create one house from the two smaller apartments and ended up with two big bedrooms and a master bath upstairs and a small office (formerly Gretchen's bedroom), guest bath, and living area downstairs.

Joey was working in their shared office when she heard the sliding door open. "Pace, is that you?" she called as entered the notes she'd made on one of her author's manuscripts into an email.

"Yeah, it's me," she heard Pacey shout from the living room. Joey heard the fridge open and close before Pacey appeared at the doorway, milk carton in hand. "I didn't mean to scare you," he said apologetically before taking a gulp.

Joey rolled her eyes. "Pace, we have glasses you know. It wouldn't kill you to use one once in a while."

He smirked. "Why would I use a glass when the carton works just fine?"

"Because it's gross, especially when other people want to drink out of it."

"Who else drinks our milk except you?" he asked as he walked toward her desk. When he reached it, he put the milk down and then leaned over her so his breath tickled her neck by her ear. "It's not like I have cooties. And if I did, you'd already have them by now with all the other things we share on a daily basis."

Determined to be unaffected by him, Joey kept typing as she spouted off a list of names: "Doug, Jack, Aimee, and Kristi - for starters."

He stood upright. "Fine. You win. Aimee's more important. So, I'll just get my own carton from now on."

"Or you could just use a glass, Pace," she said, not looking up from her email.

Pacey grabbed the carton, kissed her lightly on the cheek, and turned around to leave the room. "But what's the fun in that when this is much more annoying to you."

At that, Joey grabbed her stress ball, turned in her chair, and lobbed it at his departing head.

When it missed him, he laughed heartily. "You love me," he said.

"And you bug me," was her response.