“You will like this one.” She tugs at my arm.
“After yesterday, Thunder, I’m not so sure I trust you with the word ‘surprise’.”
“I’ll make it up to you tonight.” She licks her lips.
I pull her to me, cup the back of her neck, and seize her lips. “Or we can go back to the room, and you can make it up to me now.”
She laughs, weaves her fingers through mine, and continues marching.
“This will be us soon,” she says, her gaze on a playground teeming with parents chasing small humans.
I pause, letting the picture sink in, grounding me in what matters. Right now. Here. Not in the past that I can’t change.
“I can’t wait,” I rasp.
Roxy grins at me. “You will love this surprise.”
We exit the park and cross the street. She leads me into a familiar building. “We viewed an apartment here, didn’t we?”
She pulls me into the lobby, smiling. We take the elevator while she keeps grinning. “Patience,” she drawls.
“You have the keys?” I frown when she unlocks the place.
“I borrowed it from the agent. I told her we would like to get a feel of it alone.”
“We would?” I follow her inside.
The sun brightens the open-concept living room. It looks even better than I remember. I can see us here.
Roxy moves with purpose. I trail behind her to the kitchen.
“I saw it when we came here first. How much you loved it.” She traces her fingers down the marble counter.
“You didn’t.”
“I didn’t like the circumstances back then. I was scared, cataloging cons instead of seeing pros.”
“So?”
“I think this is a perfect place for us.”
I look around, seeing it. Me. Her. Our child. “Let’s make an offer.”
“Already ahead of you.” She bitesher lip. “One of those situations when it’s easier to ask for forgiveness, not for permission.” She throws the words I used when we were working together back at me.
“Okay, but I’m paying,” I say.
“No, you’re not.”
“What?” I round the counter. Stepping between her legs, I plant my hands on the smooth surface, caging her. “Are you going to sell the Gullwing again?”
She swats at my chest. “Too soon for that joke.”
I kiss her forehead. “You will insist on sharing the cost of everything, won’t you?”
“Look at that, you’re trainable.” She wraps her arms around my neck. “My first-quarter profit share is coming soon.”
I kiss her. “I married well.”
