Eating Her Heart Out

“I thought you might like to see my newest project.”

Katie bounced a little in her seat, and I smiled at her adorable enthusiasm. “Yes!” Then she went quiet, and I glanced her way to see her watching me thoughtfully and chewing on her lip.

“Stop abusing your lips, baby. I’m the only one who gets to do that.”

Katie rolled her eyes, but they crinkled at the corners, dancing with amusement as she did what I asked.

“Tell me,” I coaxed when she didn’t come right out and say what was on her mind.

“What if Jesse is there?”

I frowned for a moment, a spark of irritation flaring at the reminder that she’d requested we keep our relationship quiet for the moment. However, I pushed it away because her reasons had not been without merit, and I’d already agreed to it.

“This one is personal,” I explained. “I bought it on my own and have different plans for it.”

“Different?”

I didn’t answer because we’d reached our destination. The driveway and garage were in the back, but I wanted Katie to get the full effect first, so I pulled up to the curb in front of the house and shut off the car. I jumped out and rounded the trunk to open her door and help her out. She gasped as she looked up at the picturesque, eighteenth-century, colonial-style home, surrounded by a large yard with several old trees. In the warmer months, it was all green and lush. A stone walkway split the grassy area and led up to the three-story house. It was rectangular with high-peaked roofs and was painted white with black shutters. A deep red door was located in the center, and there were four tall windows reflected perfectly on either side. The porch was boxed in by six pillars, and above it was three more rectangular windows, then an arched set on the top floor. Each side had a dormer window and a large end chimney done in brick.

“This is gorgeous, Sawyer,” she breathed. “I don’t know what it looked like when you bought the place, but it’s amazing now. I can’t imagine you’ll have any trouble selling this house to some lucky family.”

The wistful note in her tone made me smile, and I curled my arm around her shoulders, bringing her in close so I could kiss the top of her head.

“You like it, huh?”

She was quiet for a moment, then she glanced up at me through her lashes with pink blooming on her cheeks. “It’s exactly the kind of house I always dreamed of raising my family in.”

I knew that already but chose to save that information for later. “Let me show you around the inside, then I’ll tell you about my plans for the place. I’ll show you the before pictures from each room, and I was hoping you might have some ideas on how we should decorate.”

Katie’s smile turned bright, and she bounced on her toes excitedly. “Fun!”

She grabbed my hand and practically dragged me up the walkway. I laughed and quickly unlocked the door, then stood back to allow her to enter first. As she walked into the entry and gazed around, her eyes were wide and round. “I feel like I just stepped into the past.”

After shutting the door behind us, I wrapped my arms around her from behind and rested my chin on the top of her head. “The previous owners hadn’t lived here in decades, never updated anything, and they’d let it fall into disrepair. However, it looked much worse than it actually was, so I managed to snatch the house for around a hundred grand less than it was worth.”

“Holy cow. That’s incredible.”

It had been a huge stroke of luck that I’d even stumbled across the home and had it independently inspected. The owners had gotten to the point where they just wanted it gone, so I’d even managed to wrangle a few repairs out of them before closing. The house had ended up being a fucking steal, but I would have paid the price multiple times over just to make one of my woman’s dreams come true.

I threaded our fingers together and did as I’d said, taking her through the house room by room. We looked at the photos and talked about what was left to be done before the project was completed.

“Will you have the house staged before you sell it?” Katie asked as she wandered through a small room connected to the master bedroom.

“Perhaps. I was hoping you’d be willing to help with the interior design.”

She tossed me a smile and nodded before wandering over to one of the windows that looked out over the backyard—complete with a playset that was similar to one she’d pinned on one of her Pinterest boards.

“I’d love to.”

I followed her and put my hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face me. “There’s just one thing.”