Page 240 of Midnight Curfew

Damn straight.

We have a place there. I still have my room, and Anna-Katherine has hers. We crash there when we’re having a house party, block party, or spending all day at the beach and want to keep enjoying the family.

But for day-to-day? I can’t be restricted to just my bedroom for sex.

I lean in for another kiss. “I like our privacy,” I whisper.

His lips meet mine, his eyes softening when I pull back. “I’m glad you like it here.”

“Well, I didn’t say that.” I look around at all the white, only really loving his copy of On the Shortness of Life and my Seneca and Nero statue sitting together on the mantle. “It’s pretty sterile. You got anything against color?”

“You can do whatever the hell you want.”

“Oh, not me,” I say. “I thought I’d let Krisjen and Aracely have some fun with it.”

He seems to think, and it might’ve been a bad idea to suggest a woman I’ve slept with decorate our house, but he simply looks down at his sister. “Anna-Katherine.” He brushes her hair. “Let her loose.”

God knows what she’ll turn the place into. Wayne Manor? Winter Palace?

But I nod. “She’d like that.”

She’s becoming very busy these days. Helping at the school, lunching with Liv and Clay, helping Krisjen and Aracely stock the new library in the Bay, and she’s supposed to be taking a part-time job at the drive-in when it opens.

And now, decorating.

I pause for a moment, thinking of the one thing I do want in this house. “I want pictures of us,” I tell him.

“Like couples’ photos?”

I almost laugh, his face contorting in disbelief.

“No, just…” I don’t know what I’m trying to say.

I want good times and memories, things to look at and remind us on bad days of how good this feels. I want him and me and Anna-Katherine and my family and…

And I want…

“I want my fucking heart on the walls,” I tell him. “Okay?”

I want everyone to know that this is where I want to be, that lives are lived here, and I want…

More. I want to see him holding a kid.

Meeting his eyes, I’m too afraid to say it. “Do you know what I mean?”

He studies me, the silence stretching as he sees how serious I am.

“Children?” he murmurs.

I smile. “Not today but yes.” I search his eyes. “You?”

And immediately, he holds up three fingers.

My smile widens. I was thinking two, one from me and one from him, but he won’t have to talk me into anything. I’ll do whatever he wants.

Looking at him and thinking about him being a father makes him instantly hotter, as if it were possible, and my body warms.

He draws in air. “You smell good.”