Page 32 of Teased By My Roommate

EPILOGUE ONE

HAWK ~ SEVEN MONTHS LATER

As we walked up the stairs to our apartment, Lila asked, "Are you okay? You've been a bit quiet."

"Yeah, baby. I'm fine."

I kissed the top of her head then unlocked the door. "Just a busy day," I said. "Oh – and the realtor called. She has a bunch of listings for us to go over to start thinking about what sort of house we'd like."

"Amazing." Lila's perky smile flooded my chest with the familiar warm glow. My sweet girl always filled me with joy, but two weeks ago, when she said she was ready for us to buy a house, she made me the happiest man in the world.

Now, I was about to seriously push my luck. Lila had her own ideas about traditions, and what was proper. She loved some traditions, and didn't think much of others. So it was tricky to gauge what her reaction would be to this.

"You said that we're going out for dinner Friday night, right?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm going to need you to wear that dark blue dress, please."

Leading Lila to the living room, I sat down on the couch and pulled her close beside me.

"If we're going out for a fancy dinner Friday, can we just order pizza tonight?" she asked.

"Sure. But first I wanted to get your opinion on something."

She gave a heavy sigh, rolling her eyes. "Thank goodness. Out with it. You've been weird tonight."

Damn. She’d picked up on how nervous I was.

Lila stroked my cheek, smiling sweetly. "Let me guess. Do you want to wait a bit longer to buy a house? I'm fine with that, if you want to take some more time…"

"Oh my God – no." I clutched her hand, kissing the back of it. "No, baby. I want to buy a house with you the second you choose the right one."

"You're sure?" Her eyebrows raised in that sassy way that said she wasn't one hundred percent sure I was telling the truth.

"Absolutely. I've known you're the woman for me from the first time you stared at my—"

As always, her hand clapped across my mouth. "Are you ever going to stop mentioning that?"

She giggled at my muffled, "Nope. Never."

I took her hand and slipped it down my chest, pressing against my t-shirt so that she felt a crinkle of plastic. "What's that?"

"I'll show you in a minute."

Dragging her hand down my chest suggestively, I took a detour at the top of my jeans, bringing her fingers to a small box in my pocket.

Standing up, I pulled it out and snapped it open quickly before she might think it was a ring.

Lila gasped, her fingers trailing along the earrings. The one carat round indigo sapphires were encircled with tiny white diamonds.

"It was tricky to find stones dark enough that almost match your eyes," I said. "I wanted to get you something special, but not so fancy you couldn't wear them every day if you wanted to."

"They are stunning," she breathed. Her fingers were trembling, which made me think I'd better hurry and get to my main point.

"Your eyes are the most beautiful thing in this world," I said softly. "I've drawn so many women for tattoos over the years, and my dream women have always looked like you."

Lila put the earrings on, giving me her adorably shy smile. "That's really sweet, Hawk."

"I'd get a portrait of you tattooed on me, if it wasn’t such bad luck," I said.

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