Page 67 of The Long Game

"Do you ever go to the beach house to get away? To recharge? The hours you're working are grueling,’ he says, concern in his eyes.

"I haven’t been there since my eighteenth birthday. It’s been a while."

"You mean to tell me that the last time you were there was when we were there alone together?" he asks, confusion coating his expression.

He can’t believe I haven’t been back since, and either have I. It used to be my favorite place on earth but life just got busy with school and my internship. And it wasn’t like Luca, or my parents had time with their schedules either.

I nod, remembering what happened the last day at the beach house together: Just Tucker and me.

How things ended.

Some days I wish we had ended things differently. Or that we hadn’t ended things at all. But then I remember that long distance for the last nine years never would have worked.

"Maybe that’s why I’m here. To bring you back to your roots."

Chapter Nineteen

Tucker

I’m falling deeper for this woman with every second she goes on about this house.

Talking about architecture has always made Lexi light up in a way I’ve never seen on anyone else. Not even me when I used to talk about my NFL dreams as a young kid. It makes her so genuinely happy and paying an arm and leg for this place was worth every goddamn penny to see that smile on her face as she talks about freaking fireplaces, of all things.

"In your designs, did you want to change anything on this floor?" I ask.

I’m still following behind her as she looks back and forth at every design aspect, walking slowing through the house and using her arms in broad strokes to explain her design ideas. As if whipping her arms around will help me better visualize taking out an entire wall in the kitchen. Nope, I don’t see it but I don’t need to, because I trust her, and because if all goes planned, this will be her house to design however she wants.

"I always thought that having a family room would be a nice feature. Especially for a young family. If I had bought this house, I would split the den into two equal parts. The back piece would have an entry through the kitchen, and it would be used as a playroom for the kids. Convenient for a family to cook and play together in the evenings. I could keep an eye out on the kids when I made dinner..."

She stops and pulls back like she thinks she’s overstepping imagining herself here. How wrong she is to think any other woman but her would be having children in this house.

"… but that’s specific to what I envision. Most people would prefer to have the large den."

"For a young family, it seems like that would make sense. A place where things can be a little messy and crazy. Let’s keep that design."

I reassure her that her vision is what I want. I want all of her.

"Let’s see… what else. Umm, there’s an unfinished basement that I designed as a media room for movie nights or Monday night football, and a private gym with a separate entrance to the outside for safety and for physical therapists or trainers to come in."

"No laundry in the basement? Isn’t that where most people have it?"

"In the basement of a four-story house? I’m guessing you don’t do your own laundry." She laughs.

"True, I pay a service."

"Well, I’d put the laundry on the second floor. There are still bedrooms on the third story, per Mrs. McKinny when I asked her once. Walking back and forth one story is more manageable."

As she talks about the domestic daily operations of this house, I can’t help but picture Lexi with a laundry basket on her hip with two little kids and a dog chasing her, all the while yelling at me to not put my socks on the floor. I’d give anything to fastforward past all of this and get us there as quickly as possible, but my gut instincts of how to handle Lexi have been wrong every time. I need to keep with my game plan, even if it kills me a little.

"Ok, what else is up on the second story?"

"Let’s go look," she beams, as if she’s about to open the big present on Christmas morning.

"Wanna race up the stairs?" She wiggles her eyes brows at me playfully.

She’s giving me the fun-loving, playful Lexi of our youth. The Lexi I haven’t seen in so long. The Lexi I knew I’d never be able to live without at the tender age of seventeen but let go of anyway. She positions herself at the end of the stairs, her right foot on the bottom of the first stair, her rose gold Adidas making me smile at the thought of how long it’s been since a woman has worn anything but ankle-breaking heels on a first date with me.

I know Lexi has those, too. I’ve seen them and had fantasies of fucking her while she pierces my skin with her stilettos against my ass. But she took me at my word and knew better than to think I was bluffing.

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