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She blinked at him, and he had his answer. Yes. She still said, “I mean, I choose the clothes first—sometimes. Sometimes a piece of jewelry I want to wear dictates what clothes I can wear, obviously.”
“Obviously,” he teased, though he had no idea how a ring or a bracelet couldn’t be worn with anything and everything. He knew Lauren always looked completely put together, and it probably was because she strategized from a single piece to a bigger whole.
“I’m not going to tell you about it if you’re going to make fun of me.”
“I’m not,” he said, quickly backpedaling. “I was kidding.”
Lauren folded her arms, and Blake kept driving. After a few more turns, they entered Whispering Waves, and he said, “I live in here. There are some cookie cutter houses that went up after a developer bought the surrounding land, but my house is one of the original ones.”
He wove around the curved road to the pale blue house. It had a darker blue door, and a black roof, and Blake did love the two-story design of it in this community of mostly single-story homes.
“Wow,” Lauren said, her previous ire with him suddenly gone. “It’s gorgeous. How old is it?” She got right out of the SUV, and Blake hastened to follow her.
“Oh, okay,” he said as he tried to catch up. “It was built in nineteen-thirteen,” he said. We have a lot of retired people here on the island, and they don’t want anything with two levels.”
“Hm.” Lauren stood on the front sidewalk and admired the house. He joined her and slid his hand into hers. She didn’t immediately squeeze, and he wondered if he was still in the doghouse for his strategizing comments. Most likely. Women like Lauren could put on a brave face and a fancy façade when they had to.
“I love old things,” she said. “Houses, papers, books, photos. They possess…charm, don’t you think?”
“I do,” he said quietly. “I got her for a great price, too. Maybe you’ll find something like this you can afford.”
She leaned into him, and Blake figured he might not be as sidelined as he’d thought. “I’m on a deadline, though.”
“You are? Why?” As far as he knew, Harrison wasn’t going to be moving back into his house. If Lauren moved out, he’d have to take care of it. Sell it. Something. In his ritzy gated community, they wouldn’t put up with anything less.
“My strategy hinges on the house,” she said.
Blake smiled at his front door. “All right, well, let’s go look at O’Hare Road then. I hope I’m wrong.” Ty didn’t usually show junk to clients, and Blake was pretty sure he’d met Lauren before.
Lauren turned back to the SUV. “It’s a beautiful house, Blake.”
“Thanks,” he said. “You know, you could look at Carter’s Cove. It’s island-y too. Very small-town vibe.” He looked at her across the hood of the car.
“I’ll think about it.” She got in and re-buckled, and Blake did the same.
“Do you want to come back here for dinner tonight?” Blake cast her a look out of the corner of his eye. Tommy was away at camp, and that meant Blake could have Lauren over if he chose.
“Do you cook?” she asked.
“I’m actually decent,” he said with a smile. “Not as good as Harrison or anything, but I can put together a meal.”
“I’d like to see that,” she said, smiling.
Blake let her put the address into his GPS, and the car navigated them to O’Hare Road. It was precisely what Blake had been expecting, but the house he pulled up to had obviously been remodeled. The lawn sat in patches of sod, and the whole house practically shone in the sunlight.
“It’s really bright,” Lauren said. “Have you ever seen a house that white?”
“Oh, I’m sure I have,” Blake said, because he didn’t want to ruffle her feathers further. Ty pulled up behind them, and he looked in the rearview mirror. “He’s here. Do you want to go in?”
“We’re here,” she said, and they got out of the vehicle. There weren’t any towering trees here as there were in Blake’s and other neighborhoods, and that made it feel twice as hot.
“Blake,” Ty said with a laugh. They shook hands, and then Ty pulled him into a one-armed hug. “What are you doing here?”
“Escorting the lovely Lauren around the island.” Blake tucked his hands into his pockets. “She doesn’t have a car, and I’ve been deemed the driver.”
“That is not true,” Lauren said. She wore a professional smile now, and Blake marveled at how quickly she could turn that on. In her line of work, she probably had a lot of experience hiding headaches, the hardships of real life, and anything else she didn’t want clients to see. “Blake and I are together.”
“Together?” Ty’s eyebrows went clear up into the stratosphere. “You do always have a pretty woman at your side.” He guffawed like that was just so funny, but one look at Lauren told Blake it wasn’t.
