Page 67 of Unmasking Love
He crowds my space and gives me a kiss below my ear. “Yes, Harper,” he whispers, “I’ll be your boyfriend.”
My entire body warms as my smile spreads and my heart takes flight.
“When can I see you again, Girlfriend?” He asks.
“What are your plans for the rest of the night?” I ask with a little tilt of my head. With the way Aiden just hovered behind me, yeah, I could spend the night with him.
“You.”
“I’m your plans?”
“Harper, I just took advantage of the fact you threw your napkin at me to get close to you, smell your hair, and graze your thigh. Yeah, you’re my plans tonight.”
I bite my lip to keep my smile from getting out of control.
“Plus I need dessert and I don’t eat sugar.”
Oh heavens.
He pays the bill and as we walk towards the door he orders a car. He has me enter my address as the destination. I spend the ride to my house worried about what dishes I might have left out, where my laundry is piled, and how much makeup is on the counter in my bathroom.
“What does your day look like tomorrow?” He asks as we drive towards my house.
I pull up my calendar. That’s a little weird. There aren’t any showings on my calendar. Maybe the Christmas slow season is starting at Halloween now too. “I’m free tomorrow. There’s admin work to do but I don’t have any meetings.”
"Do you want to head in and pack a bag? I’ve got morning skate at 9 but then we can hang out until I leave for the arena at 3 or so.” Aiden says as we pull up in front of my house.
"Oh, sure." I really like the sound of this and the worry about an empty schedule evaporates with the promise of a day with Aiden. "Want to come in and wait?"
"Sure."
Aiden tells the rideshare not to wait and I hop out of the car. After only a step up my sidewalk Aiden is at my side with his hand on my back. He leansdown and whispers in my ear, "Next time let me open the door for you."
"Okay," I agree, already compliant to his requests. I know I've gone above and beyond to try and please boyfriends in the past but I would do literally anything Aiden asked me to.
I unlock the door to the duplex and the offer of staying with Aiden makes the renovation all the more real. The space seems more hopeful and more run down.
I got the plans made when I first moved in. Only Wes and my contractor, Sean, have seen them. Sean is great, he does work on the homes I sell to clients, and he’s always asking when we’re going to do my house.
But I never made my own project the priority.
I accidentally let a little sigh slip out as I unlock the door and Aiden catches it.
"What's on your mind, Harper? That sounded loaded?"
"It's nothing."
"No, c'mon, tell me." Aiden urges as he closes the door behind him and follows me up the stairs. I stop and turn to him. He's a step below me so we're seeing eye-to-eye and I get lost for a minute in the blue that shines in his.
"I'll show you," I say and I step past him down the stairs. With shaking fingers I find the key to the first floor unit. Aiden steps up behind me. Warmth radiates off of him which is good, because this place will be cold when we get inside.
I watch as Aiden looks around the space and takes it all in. The layout is pretty similar to my apartment upstairs but more of the original features of the home are still intact.
Detailed baseboards, a picture rail around the room with coved ceilings that extend another few feet. Each space has a large carved piece in the center of the room where a chandelier was hung.
“The house was built in 1895 so it's not the oldest home in the neighborhood but it predates electricity. My guess is they hung candelabras in the front room here." I point to the ceiling. "And then later changed it to a light fixture."
“I love this kind of stuff.”
