"I've always loved being close to the water.
My mother's second husband had a lake house.
I remember walking along the shore like this with her and thinking I'd buy something on the water for myself one day."
He released my hand and draped his arm around my shoulders instead.
"So let's do it.
How about this place? You like it?" I glanced up at him, loving the sight of the wind sifting through his hair.
"Is it for sale?" He looked down the stretch of beach in front of us.
"Everything's for sale at the right price."
"Do you like it?" "The interior's a little cold with all that white, although I like the master bedroom the way it is.
We could change all the rest.
Make it more us."
"Us," I repeated, wondering what that would be.
I loved his apartment with its old world elegance.
I think he felt comfortable at my place, which was more modern traditional.
Combining the two .
"Big step, buying a property together."
"Inevitable step," he corrected.
"You told Dr.
Petersen failure isn't an option."
"Yep, I did."
We walked a little farther in silence.
I tried to figure out how I felt about Gideon wanting to have a more tangible tie between us.
I also wondered why he'd choose joint property ownership as the way to achieve it.
"So I take it you like it here, too?" "I like the beach."
He brushed his hair back from his face.
"There's a picture of me and my father building a sand castle on a beach."
It was a miracle my steps didn't falter.
Gideon volunteered so little information about his past that when he did, it was nearly an earthshaking event.
"I'd like to see it."
"My mother has it."