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My breath caught, and I felt my cheeks warm. My body reacted to him and this time, I indulged it. I had to blink a few times to clear my mind before trying again.
This time, I hit the nail on the head and let out a little squeak of triumph that had a deep, rumbling laughter falling from him. I dropped the hammer and turned to him, watching the way his eyes crinkled in the corners and his whole face lit up with it.
He was beautiful when he let himself be free.
As if he realized I was watching, his face started to shutter, but I reached out, desperate to keep it in place.
“No, don’t hide from me again.”
His face softened, but the smile didn’t fall completely.
“Why?” he asked.
Using the boards to distract myself while I spoke, I grabbed another nail and helped hammer the board in place, explaining about school and my father yanking it all away from me. Once I started, I again couldn’t stop until I told him more about William and him breaking in.
I didn’t realize there was a low rumble coming from him until I finished talking. It was a never-ending growl as he glared off in the distance like it could penetrate William from here.
“Even though all that happened, I’ve never felt safer than when you guys were with me.”
“Too bad I made you miserable at the same time,” he said with a sad smile. “I’ll never be able to say sorry enough.”
“I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t give you a chance to fix it, but Easton, you have to try. You have to be different.”
He swallowed hard and nodded before reaching into his toolbox and pulling out a stack of papers, handing them my way.
“What is this?” I asked, unfolding it and getting more confused at the sight of ‘Lockwood Historical Society’ written across the top.
“Well, I did some digging and found out that the woman who owned this place was really big in the town. She died suddenly in a tragic fall, and everything was abandoned. No one, out of respect for her, felt like taking it over. She had no family, so it stayed tied up in legal for a few years while they tried to find an heir for her things. Eventually, it fell into the city’s hands, and they didn’t know what to do with it. At that point, it had fallen into such disrepair I think they wrote it off.”
“Oh no, how do I get it from the city?” I breathed out, panic starting to rise, but he tapped the papers.
“This is an application to turn this site into an official historical building. If you can make your case for this place, they’d be willing to sell it to you, give you the permits, all in the name of bringing revenue to the city itself.”
“What? You did all this?” I guessed, shock racing through me.
“Did what?” Jordan asked, their footsteps trailing out from the living room. Apparently, my excited voice had brought them out.
“He found the owner.”
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
One Week Later
Tori
“What if I can’t do this?” I asked, looking Easton dead in the eyes as my panic started to take over.
At some point in the last week, things had changed between us. He was no longer a source of pain and anger, but an unrelenting force that grounded me. He was a mountain of a man, unmoving, and I needed to tap into that strength right about now.
“You can,” he said, not a hint of doubt in his voice. “This is your ticket to the life you want to make for yourself. If you want it, you have to work for it.” The words were blunt but exactly what I needed to hear. Even if he no longer thought I was a useless wealthy girl who threw her money around, he still demanded that I push myself.
“You’re right,” I said, starting to pace so my heels clicked as I shifted across the lobby floor, waiting for my meeting. We were early, unfortunately, wanting to make a good impression. Which meant we had to wait even longer in the lobby. The anticipation was going to drive me insane.
“Tori, baby, sit,” Warren pleaded, snatching me as I walked past him, forcing me to sit in the empty seat beside him. His hand stayed on my thigh, keeping me in place. The heat seeped through the skirt I was wearing and I closed my eyes and took several measured breaths. He leaned in, his lips brushing over my ear. “Maybe if you’re a good girl later, we’ll reward you.”
I shuddered at the promise in his voice.
