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“I never have company,” he said, shrugging. “I used the space to expand the living room instead, since I spend more time there.”
“That makes sense,” I decided. “Most of the time, I end up eating on the couch in front of the TV,” I admitted. “Oh, you have a deck. I’m jealous,” I told him as we passed by it.
He reached out, sliding open the door, and Boss led Tilly outside, the two of them racing around the fenced yard like the oldest of friends.
“Spend a lot of time out here,” Wells said. “Gotta have a good porch. They seem fine if you want to continue the tour,” he said.
So then we did.
He showed me the powder room on the lower level, then led me upstairs to the second level with its three bedrooms and two full baths, one of them nestled away in the primary bedroom.
His room… suited him.
It was painted a deep gray and there were heavy drapes on the window to keep the light out. My gaze lingered on the king-sized bed with its dark gray bedding, and I felt heat bloom through me as I suddenly imagined the two of us on top of it, limbs tangled up, hearts pounding…
“Mari?” Wells called, snapping me out of my fantasy that was steadily getting steamier by the second.
“Yeah?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t as flushed as I felt.
“Want to pick your room?” he asked, waving across the hall.
“Right. Of course,” I said, forcing a smile.
The first room had white walls and a white bed with light bedding on it.
The second had deep blue walls and a wooden bed with a blue quilt.
And, the selling factor, a TV.
“This one,” I said almost immediately.
“I knew it would be,” he said, nodding. “The white is too stark for you.”
“I mean, yes,” I said, inwardly glad that he seemed to know me that well already. “But, actually, it was the television that sold me,” I said, waving toward it. “New house. Strange noises. Trying to sleep…”
“Right. Of course. My mother always stays in the other room. Says that the TV makes an electric noise that makes it impossible for her to sleep.”
“I fall asleep with the TV on every night,” I told him, shrugging. “Well, not so much lately,” I admitted. “I, ah, I want to make sure Tilly and I hear everything.”
“Has it been hard?” he asked, leading me back out of the room, and into the hall.
“It’s… been an adjustment,” I told him. But, to his raised brow, submitted. “I don’t think I’ve gotten more than twenty minutes of sleep put together since I moved home.”
His face fell at that, but he shook his head.
“Hopefully you can sleep tonight,” he said, nodding out the window into the backyard. “I bet Matilda will,” he added, and I saw her running circles around a tuckered-out Boss who was halfheartedly lunging playfully at her from a seated position.
“I’m so glad she found a friend,” I said as we moved down the stairs.
“I have pizza,” he told me as we walked into the kitchen.
Thank God.
I was starving.
Over two slices, I explained to him about work. About Laurie leaving. The guy who was a bit creepy, even he objectively agreed, but ultimately not my attacker.
“It’s okay to be scared,” he told me after.
