“Of course I want you with me all the time. But your dreams, your goals, are important. I’d never hold you back from achieving them.” He pressed his lips to the side of her head. “I’ve never been serious enough with anyone to talk about marriage or moving in together, but my last relationship lasted years, and we spent more than half that time living in different states. If you want this show, then my job as your partner is to support you in that dream.”
A lump formed in her throat. This man was so perfect, and she was nowhere near good enough to deserve him. But that didn’t stop her from wanting him anyway.
* * *
Aly’s eyesshone as she shook her head. “Every time you say something like, that you blow me away.”
He wished she could see herself the way he saw her. Because thinking that anyone worth her time wouldn’t feel like he did was outrageous.
She cleared her throat. “I love my work with the show. What I’ve learned about woodwork, masonry, design, and materials is amazing. And the access I have to programs and software, it’s…” She flushed and shook her head. “Sorry, I tend to word vomit about this stuff.”
With two fingers on her chin, he turned her head so he could stare into her gray eyes. “You light up when you’re passionate about something. I could listen all day. Don’t apologize for that. Ever.”
“I can get boring, trust me.”
She had the definition of boring confused with fascinating, but he wouldn’t harp on it. She’d learn in time.
“But what about you?” She sank her teeth into her lip as she waited.
“What about me?”
She dropped her chin again and focused on removing a speck of dust from her black leggings. “What do you want?”
You.
It was the first thing that had come to mind. It was simple lust, and it was so much more, all tied into a tight knot. He wanted to pin her down and bury himself inside her forever, but he also wanted her hopes, her dreams, her days, her nights. He wanted to be the reason she smiled, and he wanted his arms to be the ones she clung to when she needed support. He wanted a life with her.
“Family.” The word he uttered surprised him. Because he had so much fucking family, and they all drove him nuts. But more than anything, he wanted what he, Andy, and Aly had created over the last few weeks.
She swallowed, maybe as shocked as he was. “Like kids?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. He’d like more. Not ten, but one or two. As much as Andy could be a pain in the ass, he enjoyed almost every minute of time with him. “But it doesn’t have to be now. We have time.”
Aly picked up her sandwich. “Yeah, time.”
She was slipping into her own head, and he didn’t want her there. “Lily and I were talking, and she thought we should have a night out.”
Aly’s eyes shot to him, and her shoulders tightened.
“I thought you might like a night in better.”
She relaxed. “You know me.”
“I do. We thought maybe she could come over with Taran and Corey,” Will suggested.
Aly nodded, her attention fixed on the sandwich in her hand. “Sounds good,” she murmured.
But he wasn’t sure she meant it.
CHAPTER21
Aly droppedher laptop on the counter and let out a weary sigh. She had finished the floor in the master bath, so she was coated in dust and in desperate need of a shower. Even her hair felt like it had a layer of tile dust in it. Will had practice until eight, and Andy was staying at Beth and Marc’s for a sleepover, so she had plenty of time to get cleaned up.
She was halfway up the stairs when the chime of the doorbell sounded, startling her. Lily wasn’t supposed to be there until about the time Will got home, and she was never on time, let alone early. But maybe she’d decided to show up early since she hard-core wanted to quiz Aly about Will.
It was time to pay the piper. Aly smiled. Lily might not have been what she would have pictured in a best friend, but she was turning out to be exactly what Aly needed. The same could be said for Will. She wouldn’t have pictured herself with a gorgeous, fit control freak.
The second Aly pulled the door open, her smile fell. The stunning woman on the other side wasn’t her best friend.