She was in love with Rylan’s house.
It was everything she had imagined herself having with Stuart.
Rylan’s voice cut into her thoughts. “Here you go.” Rylan held out a bottle.
Taking the drink, she said, “Thank you,” and turned to face the table and chairs arranged at the far end of the deck. “So, this is all new?”
“Yeah. I didn’t have a need for anything like this before now,” he explained, leading the way across the deck. “But look around, you can’t have a set up like this and not have a grill.”
“Or outdoor furniture.” She smiled as he pulled out a chair for her. “Thanks.”
“Exactly.” He pulled the chair beside her out and sat. “Hey, this isn’t bad, not bad at all,” he said with a bounce in his seat.
Smiling, she asked, “You didn’t try it before you bought it?”
“Nope. I bought this and the grill online. They were delivered Wednesday. Took all day Thursday to put everything together, and we worked yesterday.”
“Still. You could have taken a seat to try it out before now.”
Rylan stared at her for a long moment, and she was on the verge of squirming in her seat from the intensity of his gaze when he said, “It’s kind of nice to try it out with someone.”
Mazey could understand that. One of the things she’d liked about being with Stuart was doing things together. Not that she’d had much say in what they did. Or bought. And he’d hated her cooking, preferred to go out to the best restaurants. “Yeah, it is nice to do things with other people.”
“Thanks again for helping me with tomorrow. It’s the first time I’ve ever hosted something like this.” He frowned. “Actually, I’ve never hosted anything.”
“Really? Never had the guys over for drinks to watch a ball game? Isn’t that the quintessential guy thing?”
“I don’t know about that. I’ve only ever hung out at a bar or a club or on base.”
“Wow. That surprises me.” She took a sip of beer and debated whether to be honest with him. After a second drink, she decided she wanted nothing but honesty in any of her relationships from now on. “You strike me as the social type. I would have thought you’d have always had a large group of friends to get together with.”
He shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of friends, but the majority of my life has been spent on a base somewhere. Here or overseas. So, I guess most of them were in the army. Pretty much all of those have gone the way of my army career.”
“Oh.” The idea of Rylan overseas, in a war zone, being shot at . . . “If I haven’t said it before, thank you for your service.”
His smile was small, his eyes dipping to her chest where his dog tags rested beneath her shirt. She’d continued to wear them when she wasn’t at work, but even then, she kept them in her backpack. She hadn’t said anything, and he hadn’t asked. They were a silent connection between them. One she hadn’t wanted to let go of though she thought she should.
They didn’t talk about it then either. They just sat in the quiet afternoon enjoying the company and the cool drink. It felt natural, comfortable, and Mazey wondered if they could continue to remain friends without taking it further.
She wasn’t stupid, she wasn’t ready to be in a relationship, but she also couldn’t deny that whatever was between them was already far deeper than any other friendship she’d had with a man. It was more solid, stronger than anything she’d had with Stuart.
If she kept Rylan firmly in the friend zone, would she come to regret it?
20
Sweat dripped down his back, coated his torso and his face. Jeez. He was a wreck.
Mazey would be here in fifteen minutes, and you’d think he was expecting the president.
Surveying the living room, he nodded. It had taken him hours, but he’d cleaned every room of his house. Even the ones he planned to keep the door closed on. The empty ones.
Which were far too many considering he’d moved in seven weeks ago.
He really needed to get around to buying more furniture.
Something held him back though.
He didn’t want to set up the rest of the bedrooms because he hoped to fill those with kid’s furniture. He’d even decided which of the rooms upstairs would be best for a nursery.
