“I realize that now.” I sighed, taking in the siding of the two-story home. He must have hired someone to maintain the grounds, because the grass was lush despite the heatwave. It wasn’t a small home, but it lacked the extravagance some of the other players favored. Comfortable, perfect for a growing family. “We’re in this together, Jace, and I just want to make sure I’m pulling my weight. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
He shook his head. “We’re both learning how to be a team. I might overstep sometimes, but it’s only because I love you, Kins. It kills me that there are parts of your life making you unhappy. But yeah, we’re always going to be in this together, and if you want to stay at the firm, I support you. Every step of the way. And if there’s a day when you decide you want to go back to school, I’ll make sure that happens too.”
I smiled tightly at him, unable to voice the right words. “One step at a time. That’s all I can promise right now. And if the time comes…you’ll be the first one to know.” I squeezed his hand before moving toward the car door. “Now, show me the house.”
Jace laughed as he followed me down the path to the front door. He’d replaced it since my last visit, now a glass-paneled, antique wood that stood out against the slate gray of the siding. I ran my hand along the grooves. “This is beautiful.”
“Salvaged it from this place downtown. There’s a great guy who salvages from some of the more historic homes before they tear them down. I’d like to get some more pieces for the inside, if you like it.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.” Jace smirked as he fit the key into the handle. “There’s a lot to be done on the inside, but I hoped…” He cleared his throat. “I hoped that when I moved in here, it would be all three of us, so I wanted it to be your call on the final design.”
God, I did not deserve this man. When I’d been wavering, letting the doubts fill me to the point of self-destruction, he’dbeen making strides to secure our future. After Jace opened the door, we stepped inside the entryway, and my cheeks heated. “The last time we were here…”
“I pressed you up against the door and almost took you right here.” He leaned in and kissed my temple. “Going to do that many,manymore times.”
“Not right now.”
“Not yet,” he answered, taking my hand and tugging me down the hall. “There’s still too much to see.”
THIRTY-NINE
As Kinsley stepped through the entryway into the living room, I shoved my shaking hands into my pockets, trying not to stare too hard at her. Nausea swirled in my stomach with each of her steps, taking in the mess the crew had left behind. Not that it would have helped—I’d poured so much time and money into this place over the past month, trying to get it back to working order, but it was still a disaster zone.
Kinsley walked through the room, her pace unhurried, taking in the demolished walls and the half-finished flooring. What the fuck was I thinking, bringing her here? But when Kinsley said she wanted to live together, this place was the only place I wanted to go. We’d started here—where I’d clung to Kinsley’s memory even on the worst days.
What did she think about it? God, she probably hated it. Here I was, asking her to start a life with me, and my home barely had plumbing. It would take weeks—if not months—to get this home ready for us, especially Anna. It didn’t look like much work had been done, but the room had transformed. The remnants of the walls we’d ripped out were gone, a giant steel beam now supported the roof of the house, all to make the space more open. Instead of a wall greeting you when you walked inside,your eye went to the double glass sliding doors along the back wall, the yard visible from the entire first floor.
But she wouldn’t know any of that, wouldn’t know that this mess was progress, one step closer to making it our home. She hummed as she walked through the room, into what I hoped would become the dining room. We’d need a large table, one big enough to fit the rest of the team and their partners. Right now, there were only dust and paint samples, all in different shades of blue.
“Nothing is final,” I stammered. “Those were just ideas.”
Again, that noncommittal hum.
Past the dining room, the kitchen had started to come together. Well, it at least had flooring and white, shaker style cabinets. A large island sat in the middle of the room, capped wires hanging from the ceiling where pendant lights would eventually go. Kinsley stood at the island, surveying the space without a single word. Her eyes snagged on the double doors at the back of the house, the ones that led to the spacious backyard. The property was less than an acre, but most of it was behind us, a wide patch of grass that led to the edge of the surrounding forest.
When my realtor first showed me the house, I’d fallen in love with the property, the sense of solitude inside a bustling neighborhood. The sight was so different from where I’d grown up, with the high fences and forced waves to neighbors. It was comfortable and peaceful, a place I’d happily hang my hat at the end of the day.
My pulse raced as Kinsley stepped toward the doors, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared out at the yard. “We should get a swing set.”
“What?”
She beamed back at me. “A swing set. Anna would love it once she’s old enough.”
“Does that—do you like it?”
She shook her head but couldn’t hide her grin. “I love it here, Jace. I always have. And you’ve done so much to it…” Kinsley stepped toward me, and I welcomed her into my arms. “You made us a home.”
“Not yet,” I grumbled. “There’s still so much to do. The design needs to be finalized, order paint?—”
Kinsley silenced me with a kiss. “We’ll figure all of that out. But this place, what you created…it’s more than I could have ever wished for.”
“Does that mean you want to live here with me?”
“Try and stop me,” Kinsley said, stealing another kiss from my lips. “We need to christen every one of these rooms. When there’s furniture, I mean.”
That snapped my mind back into focus. I pulled back and took her hand. “There’s something else you need to see.”
