Page 115 of His to Cherish
I was on summer break and getting antsy for more work. I took a summer job working with Kate at the bakery, but hadn’t been able to get my mind off Aidan all morning, so I decided to bring him a treat at his current job site.
He was becoming a habit I wasn’t willing to kick.
I handed him a pink bag from Kate’s Kakes and took a sip of my iced mocha drink. “I thought you might be hungry.”
His eyes lingered on the bag before slowly raking down my body, pausing on my legs before coming back to my eyes. A glimmer of interest flared in his gaze and my breath caught. This man disarmed me in every way possible, but especially when he was looking at me like he wanted to taste every inch of my skin.
“Hungry, yes. I most definitely am.”
The look on his face told me he wasn’t talking about the food.
I lifted the bag. “I was talking about a cupcake.”
“Me, too.” He winked. “Get your head out of the gutter.”
Rolling my eyes, I looked around the dirt-covered lot I was standing in and its giant hole in the ground.
“Show me around?” I asked, trying to calm my fluttering pulse.
“Of course.” He took my hand and began walking me down the street to the model home at the entrance to the new neighborhood.
My jaw dropped when I saw the massive but beautiful home with a rock front. It had several steep peaks and gables, a three-car garage, and an incredible, professionally landscaped front yard.
Aidan’s company had been contracted to build a new development of these gorgeous, dream-style homes that I could only imagine owning in my most vivid and far-reaching dreams. Each house sat on over an acre of land just outside the city limits.
He’d been working on this project since before we had met, and while he’d talked about the headaches it was causing, it was one of the largest building contracts he’d been given. He was working hard to ensure every home was perfectly built.
He almost lived at the site day in and day out, making sure all his crews—from the basement digging, to cement pouring, to framing, insulation, and finishing—were on track for meeting their deadlines. With the warm summer weather, they were busy today. The sounds of drills and electric nail guns and music blaring while the crews worked echoed in the air, almost making it difficult to talk.
“This home is incredible,” I told Aidan once we reached the front door.
“It’s basically become my office.” He opened the door, stomping the dirt off on the wooden front porch before he let me in first. “Want a tour?”
I grinned as I brushed against him to walk through. His body stiffened and my gaze lingered on the pulse beating in his throat as I passed him. “Of course.”
As he closed the door behind me, the air thickened with whatever it was that seemed to constantly flow between us. It was alwaysthere.Palpable and warm and arousing.
I flinched as his warm hand landed on the small of my back and he gently prodded me toward the kitchen, where he took the bag from Kate’s Kakes from me and placed it on the counter.
I gasped as we hit the large but warm and inviting space. It was elegant and majestic, but made for families at the same time. A see-through, double-sided fireplace set the kitchen and eating area away from a small sitting area. All around, floor-to-ceiling windows provided large amounts of sunlight, heating the house and giving a beautiful view of the outside landscape.
“Come on,” Aidan said, now holding my hand and tugging me toward him. I followed him reluctantly, saddened to leave this space that somehow called to me. I could almost see the family that would be there, the rambunctious kids running and sliding in their socks over the weathered and darkened wood floor, homework scattered across the large island. The cabinets were a dark cherry, and the granite countertops begged for me to rub my hands all over them. Or cook a holiday dinner and invite everyone I knew.
“You’re amazing,” I said as we headed back to the entryway where the wood floor turned to marble and the doorways were wide and arched. Everything was open, flowing from one room to the next, but all the rooms had their own “emotion” to them. From the dark woodwork in the built-ins in the office to the white wainscoting in the formal dining room, the rooms alternated between masculine and feminine, but all of it screamedhomeandcomfort.
My eyes burned as we passed the bedrooms, two with their own private baths and the last two connected with a bathroom between them. It was decorated in pinks and purples, clearly made for a girl, and I couldn’t help but think of the kids that I would never have.
“You okay?” Aidan asked when a choked sound escaped my throat.
My lips pressed into a thin line and I nodded as he led me toward the master bedroom. “This place is stunning.”
I tried to change the subject, and I didn’t know if he caught the glistening in my eyes or not, but he allowed it and continued guiding me toward a small balcony in the master bedroom. I ignored the king-size bed that sat in the middle of the room with walls painted a dark blue, almost navy color but more green. It was unusual, like the Caribbean Sea at sunset, maybe, and it was startling in a good way against the white trim woodwork and vaulted ceiling.
“This is the best part of this house.” He pushed back sheer curtains and opened the French doors. Turning around, he held out his hand. “Come out here with me.”
My feet moved slowly, trudging over the thick caramel carpet until my palm was in his. He pulled me toward him with a sad smile on his face and kept tugging me until my forehead was pressed against his chest and our entwined hands were wrapped around my lower back.
“I didn’t think those rooms would be hard for you to see,” he murmured into my hair.
