She looks around again, before turning back to me. “Now, I think maybe perfection is overrated, and I want a comfortable couch I can sink into to do something other than work.”
I understand how big of a deal it is for her to admit this, and I tread lightly when what I really want to do is beg her to move in with me and never leave.
“I have a really comfortable couch. You can share it with me.”
“I think I’d like that,” she says, before wandering down the hall into the kitchen. I trail after her and hear her laugh the second before I step through the kitchen door.
She’s grinning when she looks at me. “You really do have a soda fountain.”
“Would I lie about something as important as morning caffeine?”
“I just didn’t think soda fountains were a thing that people had in their kitchens.”
I reach over her head and pull a glass out of the cabinet, filling it with ice from the fridge dispenser and handing it to her. “Check out the left side of the fountain.”
She takes the glass and presses it against the dispenser, filling it with soda. When she tastes it, she laughs again, and the sound fills the room in the very best way. I want to make her laugh a million times a day for the rest of our lives.
“It’s Diet Pepsi.”
“Sure is.”
“You filled the second tap with Diet Pepsi. Wait, how did you fill the second tap with Diet Pepsi when we just got back?”
I hop up to sit on the counter, enjoying watching her in my space. “I’m contracted with a concierge company that can do personal assistant type stuff. They sent someone to get the house ready and hired the people to come add your drink.”
“Oh, I’ve had clients with those. They always seem so handy.”
I shrug. “They can be. I like doing things for myself, so I’ve never needed an assistant the way some guys do. But during the season when I’m crazy busy and traveling a lot, it helps to have someone to call to be here when a plumber needs to get in or to stock my fridge when I’ve been away.”
“Or add Diet Pepsi to your soda fountain.”
I smile at her. “Or that. Or to track down a six-month supply of peppermint Hershey Kisses in February. Check that drawer.” I point to a drawer next to the fridge, and when she opens it, she gasps. It’s full of what I know is twenty bags of peppermint Hershey Kisses.
“We ate most of the ones we brought on the trip, so I thought we needed a re-stock.”
She looks at me in astonishment. “You are a wonderful man.”
“You got me addicted to them too. It was the least I could do after eating half of your stash.”
“What about your candy?”
I smirk at her. “Open the drawer below.”
She does, and she stares at the vast array of gummy candy filling the drawer. “I think this is my favorite place.”
“I’m counting on it being exactly that, Juliette.”
“I love your kitchen. I can’t cook for shit, but it’s the kind of kitchen I would want to cook in, if I could cook.”
“Well, lucky for you I can cook, so you can sit your gorgeous ass on this counter and watch me cook for you right in this kitchen anytime you want.”
“It’s a deal. I’m impressed with your fancy espresso machine, too. I’ve never even seen you drink coffee.”
“I don’t, but you do. I bought it for you.”
“When?”
“When what?”
