Page 121 of Choosing Forever
“Anytime. Though maybe I’ll save some of these moments for when I’m not trying to impress you. I’m not interested in losing more points tonight.”
“What other points have you lost?”
I watch as she bends down and starts unzipping her boots. The sight of calves hasn’t really turned me on before, but maybe that’s because they weren’t hers, and when they were, I wasn’t paying this much attention to them. When Delaney was mine, all of her was. Now . . . I’m growing more fascinated by all of the parts of her that I never gave the proper attention to before.
“Not insisting on picking you up, for one. I’ve always picked you up.”
“I’m not sixteen anymore.”
“Oh, I’m aware of that,” I mutter.
She looks up from her second boot. “What does that mean?”
“Slow, Elle. We’re going slow, right?” I ask, pressing a hand to her back to stabilize her when she tugs off her boot and loses her balance.
“Delaney,” she corrects me briskly. “And what? Your answer wouldn’t follow my rules?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Okay.”
She stands, and I keep my hand on her back while guiding us through the entry and into the living room. The gold chain around her neck and cupping the base of her throat makes the one I’m wearing itch. I wait for her to say something about the house, but she stays quiet, her attention floating around the room.
“It’s pretty small. The house,” I say, needing to fill the silence with something. “I never meant to stay here forever. There aren’t enough rooms, especially now that Abbie’s started using the guest one for her jewellery making. I’d like a real dining room too. Especially now that my sister’s moving closer and we’re going to need somewhere in town for holidays. Our parents’ house is too small, and Poppy mentioned wanting kids soon?—”
“It’s beautiful, Darren. This is the house you used to draw in your sketchbook all the time, right?”
I furrow my brows, letting my hand fall when she moves further into the space. “It is. With a few changes. The one I used to draw wasn’t exactly affordable for me at the time. I barely got the mortgage for this place.”
She wanders to the wall of built-ins and examines the lack of books on the shelves. There are photos of Abbie on nearly every single one instead.
“I’ll get more books for them eventually,” I say.
Her teasing smile makes my stomach flip. “Maybe a few fake plants instead?”
“That’s probably a better idea.”
“I never took you for a magazine guy.”
The stacks she’s talking about are the ones Poppy forced me to keep. Each copy has an article featuring a piece of architecture that I was involved in creating. From this place to Brody and Anna’s house on Steele Ranch and a few other apartment buildings in Calgary that I built with the company I work for. I’ve had a successful career, but it’s never meant anything to me more than that.
Not when I’ve been celebrating my accomplishments alone.
“I’m not usually. But you know how my sister is. She buys five copies of every edition with my name in it and makes sure everyone has a copy,” I say.
Delaney chuckles softly, nodding. “Yeah, I know. She sent me clippings of every article in the mail once we started speaking more.”
“You’ve read them?”
“No,” she admits, turning back to the stack of magazines. The tips of her fingers run along the bottom edge of the first one. “I couldn’t get myself to.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“Can I read them now?”
I pause, frozen in place. “You don’t have to. They’re pretty useless.”
“They’re not useless, Darren. Your talent has been noticed in a very public way. That says a lot about how great you are at what you do.”
