Page 106 of When Sinners Dare

He drives through the traffic to a residential district on the edge of town. It’s quiet and peaceful but close enough not to feel isolated like Knox’s place. We turn off the road and up the long drive to see a white-painted house emerge from the trees surrounding it. There are neighbours, but it’s far enough away and set back so that we’ll have our privacy, and we can add our own improvements, too.

The agent walks down to greet us, but I want to do this alone.

“Thank you, would you mind if we went around ourselves first? If we have any questions, we can come back to you?”

He looks crestfallen, but he needn’t be. "Certainly. I’ll be… right out here.”

Kai nods, and I lead the way up the steps and through the main entrance. Inside, the rooms are spacious, with white walls and rich wood floors. The main room is dominated by a two-story high-arched window as a centrepiece, looking out towards the pool and the grassy backyard beyond. I continue showing him around, but I’m silent the whole time. He needs to see the home for what it is, and I don’t want my love for the place to influence him. If he knew this was where my heart is set on, he’d agree instantly. But I want him to choose this, and if he doesn’t love it, we keep looking.

The kitchen is open plan, and I happily walk right in, no doubt or fear freezing me on the spot. I stand behind the centre island and look around. There are no memories here, no bad thoughts, no visions of the blood spilt. I deserve a home where I can set foot in the kitchen without those thoughts.

My heart fills as I look across to the dining area and watch Kai. His lips tug into a smile, and he leans over to kiss my temple. “What’s the bedroom like?”

“Go find it.” I indicate the hardwood stairs leading upstairs. He leads this time, and I follow behind slowly, letting him get his fill.

It’s a small property when you consider the size of the family house at the moment, the one I’ve grown up in, but that’s not what we need. There’s plenty of space with multiple spare bedrooms. There’s a gym room and a home office space and, given how much time we’re home, I’m not sure how much more we need. We can seat twelve around the dining table that’s set for show purposes now, and I can’t picture being able to fill that regularly unless it's family. Maybe that’s something to aspire to? Friends. New friends, maybe. A new kind of life even. As new as it can be with our lines of work, anyway.

“I like the tub,” he calls from the en-suite.

“You suddenly like baths?”

He comes back to the bedroom where I’m waiting. “I’ve recently seen the advantages to them. And I’ll enjoy christening it with you.”

“You like it?” I beam.

“I think it’s great. It’s got everything we need. Nothing too flashy. Nothing over the top.”

I run towards him and jump, squealing as I do. He catches me easily and holds me against him. “You’re serious, right? It’s not just because I like it.” I look down at him and hope.

“It’s a great home. The fact that you love it is a bonus.”

I bend to kiss him. “I have such a good feeling about this place. Like it can be our sanctuary – your sanctuary. I want that for us. Somewhere we can be us and leave everything else behind. At the door, yes? We walk in and-”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you.” He lets me slip down his body until my feet hit the floor. “Shall we put the agent out of his misery?”

“No, he’ll make enough commission to keep him hanging for a while longer. I want to show you outside.”

“It’ll need modifying. Added-” Kai starts.

“Security, I know, you can be in charge of all that. And I can’t wait to decorate. The contractor on Apartment B could help, I’m sure.” I run my hand down the banister as we make our way through the rest of the downstairs and out to see the pool, deck area, and gardens.

I’ve lived at the Cortez mansion for so many years under my mother and brothers’ watchful and suffocating gaze. And now, looking around at what will be my first-ever home, I can finally breathe.

I snap a couple of pictures from the backyard and send one to Dante. He’s still not broken his silence, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying. He might need time or space, but I won’t cut him out of the family. No matter what’s transpired between us.

Kai snakes his arm around my waist as we look back at the house, breaking me of my musings. “Ready to go?”

“Have you seen enough?” I check.

“Yeah.”

“This is going to be our home.” I take his hand and squeeze it in mine. Emotion builds in my chest and stings my eyes, but instead of being from pain, or frustration, or sheer fucking fury, it’s from happiness. Maybe it’s time to start getting used to that feeling. “We should celebrate, don't you think? Do something to mark the occasion.”

“Nah. We can celebrate all we want when we’re moved in. This is for us, nobody else.”

“I’ll remind you of that tonight.” I arch a brow at him before pulling him back out the front to close the deal with the agent.

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