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“Yes.” She finally gave in. “I’ll tell you. But I won’t do that.” A small spark of her old fire flashed in her eyes before dying down again. “I’m tired of being broken,” she whispered so faintly I nearly missed it.
“You’re not broken, Lu. Just cracked a little. But I’m not going to let you fall apart,” I vowed and kissed her one more time. “Now put on your seat belt.”
“I don’t even want to see this house.”
“We’ve put them off long enough, sweetness. They all want us to see it, and there’s no harm in just going to look at it.” I caught her hand and entwined our fingers before resting our joined hands on the shifter. “That doesn’t mean we have to buy it.”
She grimaced. “Yeah, I guess so. It just feels like they’re bullying us with it.”
I braked for a red light and turned to face her. “Let’s not look at it like that. Turn all of that off. When we get there, I want you to take it seriously. Look at all the things you do like and all the things you don’t. It will make it easier for when we are ready to buy a house.”
Lucy gave me a small smile. “Okay, babe. I’ll try.”
I dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Love me?”
She leaned her head back, staring up at me with love shining out of her brown eyes. The tightness from earlier eased almost completely at that sight. “Always.”
Nearly an hour later, we were walking through the two-story house that was only five homes down from Liam and Gabriella. That put us only a few blocks from my own parents and just a few miles from Lucy’s. The location was pretty perfect if we wanted to be close to our families. It would mean I would see Trinity more, and the twins could ride their bikes over anytime they wanted.
The house was a Cape Cod style with five bedrooms, vaulted ceilings, and a gourmet kitchen. The agent had opened every window in the house, so we could hear the waves from every room. The house sat right on the beach but there were a few mountains in the background, so the view from every room was pretty spectacular. There was an outdoor kitchen, as well as a pool and a cabana that had its own bathroom with a spa-like bathtub.
I fell in love with the house, and I could see Lucy liked it too, but she was too stubborn to give in and admit it. Grinning, I asked the agent to give us a little time to ourselves, and I took Lucy upstairs to the master bedroom.
“What are we doing?” she grumbled.
Still holding her hand, I closed the door and then pulled her across the room to the sliding French doors that opened up onto the balcony. The waves were whitecapped below us, and I could hear kids laughing in the distance as they built a sandcastle with their parents. It took me a minute to place the deep laugh I heard, and I realized it was Liam playing with Asher and Piper.
“Harris,” Lucy complained. “What are we doing?”
“Shh,” I commanded and pulled her in front of me as we stood on the balcony. “Close your eyes.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Just do it, woman.”
After glaring up at me, she slowly closed her eyes. “There. Now what?”
“Take a deep breath and hold it in.” Reluctantly, she did it. “Now, let it out.”
She did, and I felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. “Keep your eyes closed, Lu. Listen to the waves. Imagine our bed just a few feet away and falling asleep to the sound of those waves hitting the beach. Imagine waking up to that sound.” I touched my lips to her ear. “Making love to that sound.”
She melted back into me. “You have my full attention.”
Laughing low, I kissed the side of her head. “Okay. Now, you hear that laughter in the distance?” She nodded. “That’s Asher and Piper. But… What if that was our kids down there laughing, Lu? What if we could have what Gabriella and Liam are experiencing right this minute?”
“That sounds like a pretty great dream, actually.”
“I really like this house,” I told her quietly. “More than I ever thought I would. And the price isn’t unmanageable. We can afford it easily enough. The kids will go to the same schools we did growing up, and we’ll be close enough to our families that the kids will always have someone to play with.”
I could feel her giving in, so I shut up and just let her listen to the waves.
“Fine,” she said with a drawn-out sigh. “Let’s go talk to the agent, then.”
I turned her in my arms and lifted her until she was sitting on the banister of the balcony. Lowering my head, I teased her with a soft kiss. “You are my favorite person on the planet. You know that, right?”
She smirked up at me. “I’m just happy to be in your top five, babe.”
“You will always be my number one, Lucy. Always.”
