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“What are you doing?” Julian’s gruff voice breaks through the quiet.
“What does it look like?” I push the rubber band toward the top of the roll.
“Crushing the paper.” He doesn’t wait before grabbing it.
Paper brushes against the inside of my thighs before sliding over a spot that tingles. Okay, fine, I haven’t had sex in a while, but still…what the hell?
I take a long step back, although the heat in my lower belly remains as Julian’s gaze flickers between me and the roll of paper.
He shakes his head before removing the rubber band and spreading out the blueprint for both of us to see.
“How cool is this?” I lean over the table to get a better look at the blueprint, which dates back to the early twentiethcentury.
Julian checks out the illegible scribble near the bottom of the drawing. “These are original copies.”
“Gerald Baker.” I tap the architect’s name. “Do you recognize his name?”
Julian nods. “He signed off on a majority of the original houses here.”
“You mean the ones you tore down?”
His hands briefly clench.
“It still looks exactly the same.” I trace over the lines dividing the various rooms.
Julian removes the rubber band from a second roll before opening it up. “Hm.”
“What?”
“Looks like you’ll get to tear down that wall between the kitchen and dining room like you wanted after all.” He points at the structural paperwork.
I rub my hands together with a big, goofy smile. “Nothing gets me buzzing quite like finding out walls aren’t load-bearing.”
His gaze flickers from my eyes to my lips.
“What?”
“You looked…” He shakes his head. “Never mind.”
“Alrighty then.” I reach for the smallest roll, only to have Julian swipe it from my hand. Our fingers graze, and a tiny spark of recognition flares to life.
With an annoyingly blank face that gives away absolutely nothing, Julian carefully opens the final roll. This one is different from the others, with the yellowed paper looking thinenough to shred at the slightest wrong move.
“This is stunning.” Whoever drew the gazebo thought of every detail. From the roses carved into the fret spindles, to the intricate posts meant to support the roof, it’s a work of art. The artist behind the drawing created a vision, with a view of Lake Wisteria predating Town Square, Main Street, and all the mansions lining the beach.
I lean in closer to get a better look at the illegible scribble at the bottom of the page. A shadow catches my eye, and I flip the paper over.
“Oh my God.”
“What?” Julian’s hot breath hits my neck, making me shiver.
“It’s a letter.” I fight back a squeal.
I waffle between reading and not reading the paper addressed to someone else, but curiosity wins. “My darling, Francesca.Aw! Stop! He calls her ‘darling.’” The secret romantic in me is already buzzing with anticipation, and I’ve only read three words.
“Let me have that.” He steals the paper straight from my hands.
“Hey!”
