Page 28 of The Lake House

She thinks Lily is adorable, and that she looks a lot like me… does that mean she finds me attractive?

I want to laugh at myself. Fuck, I know I’m reaching, but the more I stand outside of this store talking to her, the more I want to take her home, make love to her, and ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.

Yeah, I know that’s a bit much. But I could see that happening with her one day. She’s definitely the type of woman I’d want in my life, not only for me, but for Lily as well.

I see her checking the time on her watch, and I realize I need to say something else before she finds an excuse to cut this short and I miss my shot at asking her out.

But maybe I need to hold off. Maybe I should take things slow with her.

Maybe this is my cue not to ask her out just yet.

I’m not saying I won’t eventually, but I don’t want to mess this up if I have a shot at all with her. I need to take my time and take it slow.

She lets out a breath, but not before looking me up and down. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she wants me right now.

Instead of giving that another thought, she cuts in with her words. “Well, I should probably get going. I’m supposed to be heading out with Liv later.”

I so badly want to ask her where she’s going, what a beautiful woman like her is going to be up to for the rest of the night, but I’m not going to. If she wants to offer any other information, I’ll gladly listen, but I won’t push it or make her feel weird about all of this.

Before I can say goodbye to her, she speaks again.

“It was so good seeing you again, Declan. We should catch up sometime soon.”

Well, that just changed everything.

My eyes light up at her words, as I want nothing more than to see her and hopefully hang out with her soon.

“That sounds great. I’d love to.”

She smiles beautifully, and I can feel my heart beginning to melt.

“Great,” she responds.

Now, really not wanting to mess this up, I say, “I’ll see you around Giules.” Her lips pull into a grin and I watch her turn and get into her car. Satisfied with how our initial conversation went, I turn and make my way back home.

ChapterTwelve

GIULIANA

Ican’t deny the fact that I’m more than a little bit disappointed. I really thought he was going to ask me out.

The way his eyes were taking me in as we stood there really made me believe like there was more to him walking over and saying hello. I honestly thought he was going to say more, maybe see if I wanted to hang out, but when he didn’t, I had to let him know I had plans with Liv. I don’t know why I did that, but maybe it’s because I felt stupid for even thinking he wanted to ask me out in the first place.

I don’t know.

All Idoknow was that he looked damn good. So much so that I had to catch myself a few times from biting my lip.

And when he called me Giules, a name only my close friends really used, it made everything inside of me shiver. God damn.

I hope the way I asked him to catch up sometime soon didn’t come off as whorish, but I really want to spend some time with him and see how everything’s been for him. From what Liv told me, it appears he had it pretty rough with everything Claire put him through, which I still can’t believe.

What kind of demon is she?

I shake my head and watch Liv pour herself a glass of water. I haven’t told her about my encounter with Mr. Bell from earlier today. I know she’d have a field day with that. I’ll tell her, of course, but not just yet.

Right now, I’m just enjoying the cool breeze on this warm summer evening. We’re hanging out on her patio while Josie plays with her Barbie dolls and Dave grills some burgers and hot dogs. It smells divine and I’m starving.

Liv takes a seat on a chair across from me and lets out a soft sigh. “I’m exhausted.”

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