Page 70 of Forged in Steele

She had no problem leading him to the back of the house that opened to the garage. She’d admired the mudroom on their way in.

“Ta-da.” She swept out a hand in the room.

“Great,” he said.

“It was easy to remember,” she said. “Living with five other women in a house without a mudroom or even front closet makes this room a dream come true. All we have are hooks by the front door, and that does nothing for the many pairs of shoes that go through our house in a day.”

He laughed. “Sounds like you have a challenge there.”

“We just can’t afford to be lazy and leave our shoes out or no one will get through the door.”

“I’d like to see this house someday.” He locked gazes with her, almost like issuing a challenge.

Emotions swirled in her belly, and she took a moment before answering. She had to come up with something to make light of how she was feeling. “Play your cards right, and I’ll show it to you without even charging for admission.”

He didn’t laugh, but his expression lightened. “You want a room like this in your forever house, then.”

She let out a squeaky breath. “Especially if I had kids.”

He glanced at her. “I never asked if you wanted to have children? I mean you, Bristol, not Christine.”

“We never talked about that back in the day, did we?”

“We were young.”

“Not too young, though.” She didn’t add that she’d thought about having his child, but was never brave enough to bring it up with him. Talking about kids implied a future that they hadn’t discussed either. Turned out they didn’t have a reason to.

“I’d have to find the right guy first and be settled at the company before having kids. How about you?”

“I’d like the chance to raise kids opposite of how my siblings and I were raised.” His words were crisp and filled with conviction. “Like you, it would have to be with the right person.”

Her mind drifted to imagining their children again.Stop.“Since I haven’t come to grips with getting married, I don’t spend a lot of time talking about it, but I’ve always liked kids and assumed I would have them.”

He kept watching her. “We need to decide how many we want for our make-believe family in case we’re asked.”

“Three, I think,” she answered without giving it any thought. “We both have two siblings so that can make it easier to remember if we’re stressed.”

He took a breath, then smiled. “Lead me to the bedrooms to be sure we have enough rooms for our make-believe family.”

He stepped back, and she marched past, accidentally brushing his shoulder. Their kiss came to mind, and she didn’t dismiss the thought. She embraced the tumultuous feelings. She wouldn’t mind pausing to kiss him again. Shocking, to be sure.

Just exactly how deep were her feelings for this man?Have I ever stopped loving him?Could it be the real reason she’d never found anyone she wanted to get serious with?

She shook her head, hoping the newfound thoughts would exit her brain. They didn’t. Just the opposite. Each step she took to the second floor, traits she still liked and respected about him came to mind. As if God was extolling Jared’s good qualities to erase the fact that he’d bailed on her.

Was Jared God approved? God recommended? She could see her family liking him, and him fitting in just fine.

Leave it alone.Why trust God all of a sudden? Could that be the whole point of bringing them together?

Upstairs, she willed her mind to the task. She had to. She couldn’t risk blowing the undercover operation. She memorized the location and approximate sizes of the four bedrooms. Piper had taken care of making the house look lived in. She’d furnished every room and added food and dishes in the kitchen and clothing in their closets and toiletries in the master bath.

Bristol looked at Jared who’d opened the medicine cabinet. “How in the world did Piper get this done so fast? It seems like we really do live here.”

“She’s super at her job for one, but I wonder if she’s in the nesting phase of her pregnancy and that made it easier.”

“Could be.”

The oven timer beeped in a shrill tone from below.

---