Page 99 of Rewind It Back

Fuck. I want to kiss her again.

“What would you choose?” I ask and damn, my voice sounds raspy as hell.

“Well, it’s up to you. If cost isn’t an issue, the big difference is the open concept or the intentional rooms. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. It’s a matter of preference.”

“And if this were your house, what would you choose?”

Her eyes bounce to my lips before she readjusts, sitting up to create a bit of distance between us. “It’snotmy house.”

There’s this tone to her voice that’s final and decisive.

I don’t listen to it.

I slide my hand over her thigh because I miss having her close already. “Pretend it is. I need your opinion.”

She exhales, and it sounds heavy and tired and wary to imagine anything about my home being hers. “I like the idea of adding a few walls. Open concept is popular right now, but I don’t think it’s the right choice for everyone.”

“And why would that not be the right choice for you?”

“Other than trying to keep an open concept home clean? Because adding walls means each room could have its own moment and tell its own story. In an open concept, you need everything to flow perfectly from one space to the next since you can see it all at once. If your tastes change often, the way mine do, instead of updating one room, now you’re switching up the whole house.”

I huff a laugh, thinking about all the times I watched Hallie change her room while growing up.

“Walls it is,” I say definitively.

“I should clarify that adding walls will add not only to the cost but also to the project timeline.”

“Great. Add the walls.”

Her gaze narrows suspiciously. “All of them? Because we can take a few out if you don’t like them.”

“All of them.”

“Okay,” she drags out. “Why are you making this so easy?”

This projectshouldbe easy. She probably doesn’t remember this, but she once told me everything she envisioned for our future home, and I loved each and every idea she had.

“Is there anything else we need to go over?” I ask, stroking my thumb over the fabric of her leggings, my fingertips hooked over her inner thigh.

“Yes.” Hallie switches her laptop for a sample booklet from her bag. “This part doesn’t need to be a final decision type thing, but I do need to present an overall design concept to my boss.”

I move the plates from the coffee table, giving her room to lay out and open the booklet. It’s filled with collages of different aesthetics she created. There are pictures of furniture, color palettes, and different printed patterns. Wallpaper, maybe.

Again, I don’t really know what I’m looking at, but whatever it is, I like it.

“Is there a particular aesthetic that draws your eye?” she asks, both of us sitting forward off the couch.

“All of them.”

She laughs under her breath. “Well, that’s good. We can pick and choose for this too. If there’re certain things you like from each concept, we can combine them to make it your own.”

My eyes slowly trail to her again. “Which would you pick?”

She lifts a brow, silently telling me this is also about my preference, before her attention drops to my mouth, which is awfully close to her own.

“If it were your home, I mean.”

I watch that wariness settle in again, but she doesn’t hesitate, pointing to her favorite. It’s a mix of deep greens, creams, and natural wood tones with furniture that looks comfortable but cool. The type you’d actually sit on and not the fancy designer stuff that seems like it should be displayed in a museum.

---