I have a hard time focusing on their conversation, and my gaze often lingers on Zander, distracting me from everything else. At this moment, in this office, he exudes a confidence, a power. While yesterday, in my home, he was my fiancé, vulnerable and totally in love with me.
I try to look past my doubts and fears. Him being here means I’m no longer alone. Since Kristy’s wedding, my dinners are mostly takeout, which I eat at my desk. I leave work later than usual because I don’t like going back to an empty house and eating alone. Clementine has some weird arrangement with her family where she has to be at Hawthorne Mansion every night.
Oh, how much I’ve hated it for the past month. After talking to Zander each night on the phone, I missed him more and more. But now, he’s here. We don’t have to pine for intimacy and curse the hundred miles between us.
Why the heck didn’t I think about it sooner?
I jump in my seat when Kristy taps my Bluetooth mouse.
“What?” I try to hide my embarrassment when Zander chuckles and Oscar smiles at me.
“Nothing. We’re off. You can gawk at your man all you want.” She gets up from the chair and hangs her bag over her shoulder.
“I’m not gawking at anyone.” I try to look anywhere but at the three faces staring back at me.
“If you say so.” Thankfully, Kristy bounces out of my office with Oscar before embarrassing me further.
“You know, you can gawk at me all you want.” Zander crosses his arms over his chest, tilting his head to the side like he’s posing for a photograph.
“I said I wasn’t.”
Biting his lip, he takes a step forward, but his cell phone rings, stopping him. He takes it out from the inner pocket of his jacket.
“Fuck. It’s a reminder for our dinner reservation at Giovanni’s. You make me forget everything, couch girl.”
“Wait. I’ve got something to show you.” I quickly open the file and turn my PC monitor toward him.
He stares at the numerous images sprawled on the screen. “Is this for our new place?”
I nod. “I’m making our dream house.”
“I don’t understand.” His gaze jumps rapidly from one picture to another before it glides my way. “You were so confused yesterday. What happened?”
“Um, there were too many options to choose from.” I peer away as he continues to look at me in bafflement. Instead, I point to the cottage, photographed under moonlight. “I’d like a house in the woods.”
“Okay.” He takes a seat next to me as I show him various samples of the idea. When I minimize the photographs, he asks in surprise, “You did all this today?”
“Uh-huh. I was very busy.”
“That, I can see.” He leans forward, and his warm breath tickles my neck. Taking the mouse from me, he starts the slideshow. All the pics I saved to the folder titled DREAM HOUSE start to flash on my big monitor.
Zander pulls me closer to him as our gazes are glued to the screen.
If that’s how my house will be, I can’t wait to live in it.
“Did you spend the whole day researching this, or were you also able to get some work done?”
I push my chair back, forcing him to straighten. “Is this a question from my fiancé or my boss?” I have no clue how to act sexy, but I try to stand in a seductive pose, putting one hand on my waist. Zander’s eyes follow my movements.
“I’m not your boss. Oscar is. I’m just a simple man smitten by your charms.” He places a kiss on my lips and caresses my hand, still resting on my waist. “But I’m curious. How did you go from being so hesitant to…all this in less than twenty-four hours?”
Maybe it was Kristy’s words about Zander’s love for me. The reassurance I needed. But now I feel good about this.
I shrug. “I don’t want to spend our lives in a house that we choose from some catalog. I want this to be our safe and happy place on Earth. Something we create for ourselves. I want to see the place grow and slowly fall in love with it. I want it to be…us.” When he says nothing, I ask, “Does it make sense?”
“It makes perfect sense, couch girl. But is this dream home a temporary place or…” He leaves the end of his sentence hanging, as if it’s nothing but wishful thinking. He keeps me in his arms, holding me close, noticing my every nuance.
How did I get so lucky to have such a patient man in my life?