I grinned. “What do you think?”
“I like Jace even more right now.”
She’d been a big fan from the beginning, but even more so after she’d officially met him two weeks ago.
“Well, it’s a good thing, because I’m completely in love with him.”
“I’m so happy for you. Are your coworkers still giving you trouble?”
“They’re not the friendliest bunch, but I’m not letting them intimidate me.”
Of course, not being intimidated was not the same thing as being on civil terms, and that was what I strived for.
“You always amaze me.”
After finishing our ice-cream, we strolled further down the street, passing one of my favorite stores for interior decoration. The picture frames in the window display caught my attention.
“Can we go in there real quick? Jace is coming back tonight, and I want to surprise him.”
Jace had a lot of family photos pinned to a corkboard in his kitchen, but he’d mentioned once that he wanted to exchange it for something better. This would fit perfectly.
Franci smirked.
“What?” I asked.
“You’ve fallen hard for him.”
I smiled to myself as we headed inside the store.
***
Jace
“Looks like someone’s waiting for you,” the Uber driver remarked when he pulled in front of my house. Brooke was getting out of her car, waving at me. I climbed out quickly, eager to get to my girl.
First thing I did was kiss her hungrily, not particularly caring that we were out on the street for all my neighbors to see. She tasted like vanilla and pistachios.
“I missed you,” she whispered, and fuck if I’d ever get tired of hearing these words from her.
“Did you forget your key?” I asked. I’d made her a copy a few weeks ago.
“Oh, no, I just arrived.”
Taking her hand, I led her inside the house. A paper bag dangled in her hand. I assumed it was takeout, but once we were inside, she made a come-here motion with her finger, leading me into the kitchen.
“I got you something.”
She took out a huge photo frame. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was multiple smaller frames built into one, like a puzzle. She pointed with her thumb to my corkboard of pictures.
“Thought we could put your pics inside here.”
“Babe, I love this. Thanks.”
“Want to put them up now, before we order something to eat? Or you want to talk about the game first?”
“You really want to hear about the game?”
“Only if it helps you unwind.”