I appreciate her change of topics, and the fact that I’m no longer staring at bare breasts, though I wouldn’t complain if they were Addy’s. “Yeah, there’s a few I’m looking at but Noosma’s place isn’t listed yet so that’s not one of them we’ll look at.”
“What? Then how did you know he was selling?”
“Insider information,” I say, which isn’t a lie. I do have inside information — she just doesn’t know how I have it or who gave it to me.
“So secretive. Anyway, show me the houses you’re looking at.”
She’ll know soon enough that I’ve already made my decision, but I reach for my phone on the end table and pull up the listings to show her before handing it over to her. She looks through each of them carefully, pointing out the pros and cons of each. There are only three, but she examines each one as if it’s one of the biggest decisions of her life.
“This one has a lot of potential but you know, I just don’t know that any of these are your house.”
My heart thumps against my chest. “What do you mean?”
“Honestly? I don’t really know. It’s hard to explain.”
She doesn’t need to because she’s right — none of them are meant for me. When I walked into Richard Noosma’s house, I felt at home immediately. Just like she says it’s hard to explain, it’s the same for me. Just like being around Addy and Zoey, my parents or Max, I felt at peace in that big old farmhouse. As if it’s where I’m supposed to live. I can picture my future laid out before me so perfectly there.
The only thing is, in my dreams, Addy and Zoey are with me. And that makes me an awful person. I can’t take over Chris’s life, or the life that he wanted. I can’t step in as if I deserve to have Addy and Zoey as my own and pretend that any of this is okay.
“I’m inclined to agree with you, but I haven’t seen inside any of them so I’m not sure what to think. It’s not like I need to buy something immediately.”
She laughs. “Oh, right. I’m sure you’re eager to move back in with your parents.” She pauses for a second then, “Wait. What are you going to do here?”
“What do you mean?”
“For work.”
I didn’t realize I hadn’t even told her my news yet. We’ve been so busy skirting around any subject that doesn’t revolve around Zoey that we’ve forgotten we have lives as well.
“I didn’t tell you?”
She turns her head to the side, eyes alight with eagerness. They sparkle and shine, and for the first time in weeks, it’s not because of the tears that are building there. “Tell me what?”
I rub a hand over my face to try to smother my enormous grin over the idea of running my own business, even if it’s with someone else. It just feels right. “Grant is expanding his business and I’m going to run the operation here.”
“Beau! That’s great!”
“There’s more. As a partner.”
Her eyes widen and she launches herself into my arms, the force of it causing me to fall backward a little bit. “Are you serious?!” she cries out excitedly, the sound slightly muffled against my neck. “This is amazing!” She leans back and cups my face in her soft hands. “So perfect. I’m so happy for you!”
She’s wrong. Perfect and amazing is what it feels like to have her body over top of mine, the feel of her breath against my skin, her face buried in the space between my neck and shoulder. Her hands on my face as her beautiful eyes stare down at me. No, perfect and amazing doesn’t even scratch the surface. The adjective hasn’t been invented yet.
I clear my throat and grip her waist, pushing her back a little bit as gently as possible so she doesn’t think I’m pushing her away but I also don’t want her to feel the effect she’s having on me. I swallow hard, hoping to produce some moisture in my mouth, and she follows the movement in my neck. I know she’s staring at my mouth, my own eyes darting between hers and her mouth as well.
Her lips look plump and so damn tempting. When she wets them, her pink tongue snaking out, I almost groan. Our chests are heaving and I can’t think of a moment in my life that I haven’t wanted her. Sure, I was an idiot