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Falling asleep to Faith’s voice often gave me erotic dreams like this. They were so real I hated to wake up. Hated seeing the bed empty beside me. Hated showering alone. Hated being without Faith.
After cleaning up, I stripped the mattress and replaced the linens, then I crawled in and tried to go back to sleep.
4
Rush
“Hello, Rush.”
Faith’s warm voice washed over me, and I looked up to see her standing at my table, smiling sweetly.
“Hey there, blue eyes,” I greeted her with a grin. “Fancy meeting you here.” It was probably a stupid move, but after nine months of waiting, I’d reached the point when I needed to talk to Faith at least once a day or I would lose my fucking mind. So I started frequenting the coffee shop she loved. She was there nearly every day. My only saving grace was that it was near the firehouse, so I had a plausible excuse.
Faith giggled, and her deep blue orbs sparkled. I hoped our daughters had her eyes…then again, maybe not. If our girls looked half as beautiful as Faith, I’d have to lock them in a tower until their golden years.
Her smile turned almost shy, and she blushed before saying, “I hoped…um, it’s always nice to see you.”
Fucking hell. I wanted to yank her onto my lap and kiss the hell out of her. But I swallowed the desire and kept my expression pleasant. “I enjoy seeing you too, Faith.” I noticed no one had called to her, and she hadn’t glanced around as though waiting for someone. “Meeting anyone today?”
She shook her head. “No. My sister was supposed to meet me, but the twins are teething, so she wanted to be home with them. So I came for my fix alone.” Her eyes were glued to my face when she made her comment, and I wondered—and hoped—that she was referring to me rather than coffee.
I knew I should end the conversation. Say a nice goodbye and kindly dismiss her. Keep my distance. We only had two months left.
Instead, I pushed out the seat next to me and gestured for her to sit. “Lucky me. I could use your advice.”
Faith’s mouth formed a little O, and her eyes went wide. “My advice?”
I laughed at how cute she looked at that moment. “Didn’t you tell me once that you wanted to go into interior design?”
Her nose scrunched up as she thought, and I prayed she wouldn’t realize I was completely bluffing. “Did I?”
“I’m pretty sure…”
Her shoulders bounced as her lips tilted up and she chuckled. “I must have, or how else would you know that?”
Time to change the subject. “How about I grab us a couple of drinks, then I can pick your brain about something?”
I stood but halted when she put a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to—”
My free hand itched to lay on top of hers, but that kind of skin-on-skin contact was just begging for trouble. “I know. But I want to.” Before she could say anything else, I walked to the front counter and ordered us both a drink and a scone.
When I returned with our food, she gave me an odd look as I set it in front of her. “Wow. Since you didn’t ask what I wanted, I figured you’d get me some kind of frou-frou coffee. I can’t believe you guessed my favorite drink.”
“I’m observant,” I explained. Not untrue, but I’d actually learned about it from the dossier I had on her.
Her cheeks turned pink, and she took a sip of her drink before murmuring, “I didn’t realize you noticed me.”
“I notice everything about you,” I admitted.
The pink darkened to crimson, but her eyes twinkled again.
“Anyway, I’m buying a new house, and I thought it might be good to get a designer’s impression on it before making a final decision.” The portfolio on the house was in a folder I’d already set on the table, so I pushed it across to her.
“I don’t have much experience,” she said softly, but her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Thank fuck,” I muttered, too low for her to hear it. Then I raised my voice to a normal decibel. “You have just what I’m looking for.”
That sweet blush covered her cheeks again, and I restrained the desire to brush a finger over the pretty color. Instead, I reached over and opened the folder.
Faith’s expression said it all. But I was happy to hear her whisper, “Wow.”
“Do you like it?”
She shook her head, and I frowned. Had I read her wrong? No. Faith was like an open book.
“Like isn’t a strong enough word,” she said as she flipped to the next page. She read something, then smiled. “Actually, it’s not far from my sister’s house.” Not a coincidence. Grace and Faith were extremely close.
Relief trickled through me, along with a smug satisfaction. I’d known the minute I saw this house that it was meant for Faith. But I wanted to be sure, so I waited for the right opportunity and got lucky today.
