beams that are attached to the ceiling horizontally.
There is an old-fashioned looking industrial type ceiling fan in the center and that’s just the beginning. There are several large prints of old steam engines on the wall, framed in black simple frames.
The bed is a wrought iron style full-size bed, with a dark nightstand that matches and a navy-blue comforter with different shade and texture blue throw pillows and shams. Then in the center of the room is a thick, gray rug that matches the wall and a large rectangular wooden train table set up with wooden train tracks already built and ready to be played with.
That is exactly what Holden is doing too, playing with the tracks.
There is also a reading corner with a small library of books and a mini tee-pee set up and a large floor pillow so that he can sit and look at books. On the other side of that, there are bins hanging from the wall, they have LEGO blocks in some of them, Matchbox cars in a few of them, and action figures in the others.
Once I’ve surveyed the room, I turn back to face Landry. This is not the man who had a quick affair in his office with a woman that he doesn’t even particularly like. This is a man who is planning for a future, with me, for us.
Lifting my hand, I wrap my fingers around the side of his neck before I rise to my toes and I slant my head to the side and place my lips against his. The kiss isn’t particularly hard, but the moment my tongue slides across the seam of his lips, he takes over.
He doesn’t deepen it too much, fully aware that Holden is just a few feet away, even if he couldn't care less what we’re doing. Slowly, he breaks the kiss, his forehead resting against mine and he lets out a breath.
“I didn’t sleep with Susan,” he rasps. “I couldn’t, not with anyone but you, honey.”
“She looked…” I whimper through trembling lips, my first words since walking into this room.
He grunts. “She tried. She’s desperate. Not because she truly loves me or wants me, but because she thought me allowing her to take over was never going to really happen. She was bluffing and now she’s realizing she should have taken the cash that I had initially offered. She’s too fucking late though.”
“Landry,” I exhale.
He grunts. “No, I’m serious. She’s too late.”
Lifting my head, I look up at him. He’s not just telling me that she was too late for the business, but that she’s too late for everything. I have always been able to tell, every time he speaks of her that she’s just this memory he has. This woman that was part of his life.
He is tied to her by the children they have together and the marriage that they once had many years ago. That’s not what they have now and my heart starts to slam against my chest.
“Move in with me. You and Holden. Move in here and stay.”
“You can’t… you can’t mean that,” I stumble.
He grins. “I can and I do. You’re it, honey. My kids, you and Holden, you’re all my future and I don’t want to waste a second of it. I’m too goddamn old to do that shit.”
My lips turn up into a smile and I shake my head once. “Landry,” I breathe.
“Please.”
Flicking my eyes up to meet his, my lips part in awe. Please. I don’t think that’s a word I’ve ever heard him utter. Though he’s not rude, he’s never said that word and I can do nothing but stare at him, wondering if this moment is even real.
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I swallow the knot in my throat. “As long as Laurent, Lawrence, and Lucinda are okay with it. Then, yes.”
He arches a brow. “Why do they need to be okay with it?”
Shrugging a shoulder, I look over to Holden, then shift my gaze back to meet his. “I don’t know much about being in this situation. My father left before I could even remember what he looked like and my mother never had any serious boyfriends, so I’ve never been in this situation. But I would like to think that she would want my okay if she were going to move a man and his child into her house.”
Landry lifts his hand, his palm cups my cheek and his thumb slides beneath my eye as he watches