Page 78 of The Double Play

I grab her hand and pull her to me. “I don’t want lines. I want us to be tangled up like the yarn you crochet with.” I kiss her temple.

“My yarn is actually very organized–” I give her a look and she laughs. “Okay, okay, I get what you’re saying.” She toys with a button on my henley. “All tangled up, huh?”

There’s a new heat in her eyes that sets me ablaze.

“If we were alone, I’d give you an example,” I say.

She bites her lip and I have to stifle a groan. “We’ll have to make time for that soon.”

“Yes, we will.”

I kiss her just hard enough that it’s a promise of what’s to come. When I pull back and see her pupils dilated and her lips parted, I know I’m not the only one feeling on fire right now.

“Time to play restaurant!” June shouts as she comes barreling in the room.

Hazel laughs. “Later.”

I squeeze her hips. “Later.”

“Are you really not going to tell me where we’re going?” Hazel asks, curiosity shining in her green eyes.

“You’ll see when we get there,” I say as I turn the key on the side-by-side I use to get around the property. It rumbles to life beneath us.

Earlier, Hazel went and picked up Raven from a friend’s house. We all had cookies that the girls made together, and now Raven is watching June. Really, they’re watching a movie together, but Raven is ‘in charge’ while we’re gone. Since we’re not even leaving my property, I’m not too nervous about leaving them alone.

June and Raven were both as curious as Hazel, but I wanted Hazel to hear my plan and see what her future home could be without any little spies listening in. So, we’re letting them stay behind while I take Hazel to my parents’ house.

I pull out of the garage and turn to go through the backyard toward the trail that leads to the house I had built for my parents. After earlier today, I’m less anxious about this part, but the nerves are still there. It’s one thing to say we’re all in, it’s another to be it. There’s still a part of me worried I’ll go too far and scare Hazel away, but I have to risk it. Jason is always going on and on about some phrase his old coach used to say:Worth the risk.I know loving Hazel is worth the risk, so I’m going to put aside my fears and commit.

The setting sun paints the trail in hues of gold. Beside me, Hazel’s hair flies around her. She pushes it away with a huge smile that my lips match. I find myself smiling more easily around her. And when she and June are in the same room? I could be mistaken for someone like Jason or Shaw with how wide I grin.

I take a bend a bit faster than usual so that Hazel slides into me. Her laughter floats on the wind. I take one hand off the wheel and wrap my arm around her to hold her close. The drive goes by too fast for my liking. I park in front of a modest brick home with pale yellow shutters and a matching door. I’d forgotten they were that color. Seeing that detail settles the debate in my mind completely.

“Is this your parents’ house?” Hazel asks once I cut the engine.

“For now, yes.”

She turns to look at me, confusion knitting her brows together. I step down off the side-by-side and gesture for her to follow me to the porch. I unlock the front door and hold it open for her to walk in.

“Emmett, what’s going on? Are your parents okay?”

I shut the door behind us. My mom hasn’t been here in weeks, but the house still smells like the cinnamon candles she likes to burn. It’s strange to think that she and my dad won’t live here for the next few months, and not only that, but Hazel and Raven could instead.

“My parents are great. They’re having the time of their lives. I believe they’re gallivanting around Scotland right now.”

I got an email with a photo of my dad in a kilt the other day. Not what I expected nor wanted to see, but it was nice to see him smiling.

“So why are we in their house?”

“What do you think of it?” I ask instead of answering.

She shoots me an exasperated look. “It’s adorable. I love the yellow shutters and the flower beds out front. Nowwhy are we here?”

“How would you feel about living here?”

She opens her mouth, then shuts it again. “Why are you asking me that?”

I reach out and take her hand. “My parents aren’t going to need this place for a few months. I talked to my mom, and she gave me the go-ahead to offer it to you and Raven.” Hazel’s eyes widen. “Don’t say it’s too much. It’s really for me.”

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