Page 107 of The Husband Game

“Absolutely,” Charlie said with a smile. “The designs are of your house, after all. And you’ll have to sign off on all of them before we move forward anyway.”

Dustin shrugged. “Sure. Of course.”

But he didn’t know how to explain that ultimately, he didn’t care what Charlie did with the design of the house as much as he wanted more glimpses of Charlie. Of what made him glow the way he had when he’d talked about his new job.

Dustin wanted to see what new things Charlie had drawn so he could learn more about him.

After Dustin was done loading the dishwasher, he jogged downstairs to rejoin Charlie on the patio.

It was dark out now and for a moment, Dustin stood inside the house watching through the patio doors as Charlie worked.

He had a pencil clamped between his teeth and another in his hand. His head was bent over the large sketchbook and his hair fell in pretty little gold curls over his forehead as he sketched.

The way he glowed in the candlelight made Dustin’s heart race and his palm itch with the desire to touch him, but all he did was drink in the sight. Tonight, he’d take Charlie to bed, kiss him slow and sweet, then make him cry out with pleasure.

But he liked these moments too, where they talked about their day and their lives.

The cozy, ordinary parts of a life together.

When Dustin finally stepped outside, Charlie looked up, smiling around his pencil before he wrinkled up his nose.

He spat it out into his hand with a sheepish smile. “Whoops. Bad habit.”

“It’s cute.” Dustin slid into the chair next to him, rather than the one across the table he’d sat at earlier. “Show me what you’ve drawn?”

“Okay.” Charlie sat back and crossed his legs. He angled the pad of paper toward Dustin. “So, this is the view of the patio from the backyard. I’d like to add some string lights here.” He pointed upward to the underside of the deck that ran along the back of the house. “It’ll brighten up this space and make everything look kind of magical at night.”

“That sounds great.” It was kind of dim out here now and Dustin had to squint a little to see the sketchpad.

“I’ll add some potted plants and a few decorative items to make everything feel cohesive and finished but mostly it’s good already.” Charlie let out a little sigh. “I think there’s more that could be done with the backyard but you’d probably need to hire a landscape designer. That’s not my area of expertise.”

“Sure. Whatever you think is best.”

Charlie smiled. “But I also have ideas for this lower level of the house. You’re right, the space itself is amazing.”

Dustin shrugged. “It’s hard to go wrong with an indoor pool. Especially in Toronto.”

“True. And I don’t hate the flooring down here actually. The tiles around the pool are neutral enough and the wood flooring on the other side of the basement are fine. But I have no idea why half of the columns are rectangular and the others are circular. It looks very strange to me.”

“Huh, I’d never noticed that.”

“Well, it’s atrocious. We’re fixing that.”

“Yes, sir,” Dustin said and Charlie stuck out his tongue.

“You’d better get used to Bossy Charlie.”

“That’s no hardship.” Dustin brushed his fingers across Charlie’s arm. “I like Bossy Charlie.”

“Good, because he comes out a lot when I’m in charge of a design,” Charlie said with a laugh. “I mean, I know how to work with my usual clients more politely, but I’m very good at getting them to do what I want.”

“That I definitely believe,” Dustin said with a smile. “So, what else are we fixing?”

Charlie’s grin widened. “This space underneath the stairs is very strange. With the glass wall that divides the rec area from the pool, along with the fake rocks and stuff in that sunken area, it looks like a giant lizard terrarium.”

Dustin laughed. “Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking but I don’t plan to have any lizards, so do whatever you want there.”

Charlie flipped the notepad over. “So, this is what I’m thinking. We’ll rip out everything that’s currently here, and add in some real pebbles with slabs of cut rock interspersed to make a little stepstone path. I thought we’d include some live plants and maybe a small tree to make an indoor garden. Maybe a bench too, if I can find the right one.”

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