Page 69 of Full House

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Babe?”

“I’m in here,” Victoria answered Nate, from deep in the closet.

She’d finished pulling a silk tank over her head when she spied Nate, leaning against the closet door jamb, arms and ankles crossed. God, he painted a pretty picture. Hair damp and finger combed back from his face. Sweat glistening on his skin. His damp t-shirt was wrinkled near the hem as if he’d scrubbed his face with it. She felt cheated, missing a view of those spectacular abs.

Her lips curled up. “How far did you go?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Couple of miles.” He nodded to her outfit. “Where are you off to?”

“I got an email from Simon. I need to do a voice-over for one of the scenes.”

“Only you?”

Victoria slid into a pair of sandals, shrugging. “Not sure. The email wasn’t copied to anyone, but he could have sent individual ones, I guess.”

Nate went to the dresser and picked up his phone. “I didn’t get anything.”

Victoria stepped out of the closet. “Maybe just me then.”

Throwing his phone back on the dresser, he said, “Give me five minutes to shower, and I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t need to bother. I can go by myself.”

Nate stepped over to her and placed his hands on her upper arms. “It’s not a bother. I want to go.”

In the three days since the package had arrived Nate had barely left her side, but she didn’t mind, and she wasn’t going to argue spending more time with him. “Okay.”

“Good.” He kissed her forehead.

She watched him disappear into the bathroom and went downstairs when she heard the water turn on. Walking through the rooms, so vast and large, she could see herself putting her stamp there. Pictures of her family and friends, intermingled with photos of her and Nate. The souvenirs she’d collected over the years chronicling her life. The purchases she and Nate would make to fill barren space.

She moved into the kitchen, grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge, opening one for herself and setting the other on the counter for Nate. She could see them living life there, expanding their family, growing old together.

She was so lost in thought, dreaming of her future, she didn’t hear Nate enter the kitchen until he spoke. “You look so serene, what puts that expression on your face?”

His thumb trailed down her cheek then across her lips that tipped up into a smile at his touch. “You.”

“Me?”

“Thoughts of you and me, together, growing old. Will you still love me when I’m wrinkled and gray?” she teased.

But she could tell he took the question seriously, his eyes warming and his features relaxing. “I think I’ll love you more, knowing that with each line and each gray hair, I was there to witness them. The memories we’ll have built together, overfilling my heart.”

His words covered her in warmth, filled her with love, hers for him and his for her. She pressed herself against him, hugging her arms around his body, his engulfing hers. Creating one unit with the proof of their love, nestled between.

“Hello?” Victoria’s voice echoed through the deserted soundstage. She didn’t detect any movement, nor did she receive an answering reply.

“Are you sure you weren’t to meet at the sound facility in the post-production building?” Nate asked.

She pulled out her phone to check the email. “I think this is where Simon said.”

She walked aimlessly forward, her face buried in her phone screen. She heard Nate’s footsteps echoing somewhere behind her. “It does say to meet here.” She raised her voice a little, feeling Nate was no longer near.

“Try giving him a call.”

Victoria nodded, scrolling through her contacts.

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