Page 70 of The Long Game

She smiles as she takes a swig of her beer.

"I feel like I should turn this down since my workload is huge, but I can’t really pass up the opportunity to design my favorite home in all of Chicago. Gah! Tucker, why do you do this to me?"She smiles throwing a wadded-up napkin at me. Which I catch… for obvious reasons.

I knew she wouldn’t be able to pass up the opportunity to design this house. That’s exactly why I knew paying over the value of the home was worth it.

"You love what I do to you," I say. Her cheeks and the top of her chest redden at my remark. "The job’s yours. I’ll pay whatever your fee is, and I’ll drive home Monday mornings after game tapes from the night before with the team. I’ll be here Monday night when you get off work to look at samples and designs over dinner.

"Don’t you have practices on Wednesdays? You’re going to drive back and forth? That doesn’t leave much time to rest your body between games and practice."

"It’s only a couple more months. And if I need to, I can get a driving service to take me back and forth."

"Where will you stay when you’re here if Mr. McKinny is still going to be living in the house?"

"Your parents are giving me my old room back. Tom said your mom hadn’t moved a single thing out of it. It’s the same as I left it when I left for college."

"You're staying with my parents?"

It’s apparent, she doesn’t like the idea.

"Unless you’re going to let me stay at your place."

I lean into the kitchen island, gripping it tight at the thought. I hold her gaze.

"Oh. No, I’m sure you’d be more comfortable in your old room."

She looks away and I go for my last piece, polishing off the box.

"Tomorrow, I have preparations and the wake, so I won’t see you. Then Saturday will be a long day for the funeral, and I have to drive back to Indianapolis for our home game on Sunday. I have appointments all next week on my days off with the doctorand physical therapist. I won’t be back for a couple weeks. But I was hoping when I am, we could have our first meeting on the property. Dinner on Monday?"

"Ok." She still seems hesitant about everything.

"Great. Is there anything you need from me before I leave town?"

"If you want to move this fast, we’ll need to get a construction company on the schedule. Most of the contractors I like working with book out months in advance – sometimes years."

"Contract with whomever you like the best that can meet our timeline."

"And I’ll need to get my team to come in and measure the entire house so I can get it set up in my CAD system."

"Give me a date and time and I’ll let Carl know you’ll have people coming in. Anything else?"

I can see she has a question on her mind, but she doesn’t share it.

"No."

We finish the walk through of the entire house before we leave. Lexi shows me more features of this hundred-year-old home, and we discover things neither of us knew about it.

I drop her off at home and walk her to her door even though she says it isn’t necessary.

I want to get a tour of her house too, mostly of what it looks like under the covers of her bed but she isn’t offering and I know the timing will be off for her, still. So, I lean in and kiss her on the cheek. She steps into me at the same time as my lips caress her cheekbone.

I pull back after the kiss, pleasantly surprised to find, she hasn’t regressed from me in the least.

I want to up the stakes and go back in for a real kiss but I don’t want to ruin my progress. I’ve gained yardage tonight; I can feel it. I don’t want to fumble the ball this close to the end zone.

It’s not a great start… but it’s a start, and after everything that’s happened between us over the last nine years, a start is all I need.

Chapter Nineteen

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