She smiled and swiped at her cheeks. “Damn straight. I don’t know if you know this, but Denise Quigley is still talking about that birthday party.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I heard you and Harps whispering about it last night.”
“Hey, Denise Quigley knows the truth. Harper Huxley had the best party in town.”
I shook my head as she walked around the island to check out all the details. She’d seen a lot of the finished work, but with everything moved in, it felt more like a home.
“I love this green range so much. The brass hardware just gives it such a vintage vibe. It just all looks so good put together.”
“You’ve got a really good eye. I think you could easily flip homes for a living if you weren’t busy planning weddings,” I said.
“Coming from Charlie Huxley, that’s quite a compliment. I know how particular you are about your finishes.” She paused at the built-in banquette. “Oh my gosh. You put the cushions on. How good does this look?”
“Gorgeous,” I said, but I was looking at her. Not the banquette. I’d seen enough of that already.
She took her time going through the space, admiring the built-ins in the family room. Taking in the sconces and light fixtures. She was thrilled with the way the guest room had come together with the shiplap on the walls and the curtain panels she’d picked for the space. She paused in the laundry room and squealed when she saw the light fixture that had been moved in there, along with the custom cabinets I’d built and painted a sage green for her. She reminded me how much she loved the wainscotting in the bathroom, because it looked perfect with the vintage vanity she’d found, which we’d added a sink to.
Her home could easily be featured in a magazine. It was detailed and stylish and very unique.
She’d poured her heart into every inch of the design, and it showed.
I’d been the dick who was annoyed by all the changes, but in the end, she’d been spot on with everything.
“All right, the last thing to see is my bedroom.” She winked, which made me laugh.
I wrapped my arms around her, putting her back to my chest as we walked toward the door.
“Open it.”
She pushed the door open, and she laughed. “What in the world is this?”
“The balloon fairy must have come to welcome you to the neighborhood.”
“Charlie,” she said, pushing out of my embrace and kicking a few balloons as she laughed some more. “This has to be three hundred balloons in here.”
“It’s two hundred and ninety-eight,” I said dryly. “Two popped on the drive over.”
“When did you do this?”
“I stayed up until three a.m. blowing these damn things up. And you had sexted me some dirty message before you went to bed, so I got stuck doing these with a bad case of blue balls. And you weren’t kidding about the scars on the fingers. Tying this many balloons is a huge painin the ass.” I held out my hands to show her my blisters. “I’ve built custom wall systems that left my hands in less pain than these damn balloons.”
She ran her fingers over my hands, soothing in every way. “Balloons are no joke. That fairy must have thick skin, huh?”
“I had to hide them from you and Harper, so I loaded them into the truck in the middle of the night.”
“With a bad case of blue balls.” She had a goofy smile on her face.
“I’ll live. It’s worth it to see you smile like this. I wanted you to know that the fairy showed up for you too.”
“You’re full of surprises, Charles.” She sighed. “And I think we should rectify this whole blue balls situation.”
Before I could respond, she dropped to her knees right there in the middle of a pile of a couple hundred green and peach balloons.
“You don’t need to rectify anything.” My voice was already gruff at the sight of her down on her knees. “I’m fine.”
But she was already undoing my belt and unzipping my jeans while looking up at me with this heated gaze like she wanted this as much as I did.
She had my briefs down in a matter of seconds, and my dick sprang free, already rock hard.
