“Don’t call me that.” He snorts. I mutter, “Keep the plans open in case I think of something more.”
“Not sure there’s more you can think of. Unless maybe you want an amusement park added in,” he jokes, touching a finger to the paper. “Maybe here? Got enough land.”
“Fuck off.”
Nash reins in his laughter. “I’m just shitting you.”
I drop my hands on my hips, pushing my shoulders back. “You found a place yet?”
He cracks his neck. “I’m getting there.”
“Can’t stay in the hotel for the year.”
“I’ll figure it out.” He glances around. “House is big enough, you know?”
“Don’t even think about it.” I shake my head. “It’ll be awkward enough living with Lilah.”
“Come on.” Nash throws his hands wide. “I’m a great icebreaker.”
My mind shoots back to the kiss. Ice isn’t my concern. My concern is the look she gave me after. The hope for more that I’m not sure I can give to a woman like her. A woman who rides the wild of the breeze, her whims struck by the unpredictability of the wind.
I need reliability and predictability. I’d told her as much when I crushed that unexpected hope that flashed in her big, burned butter-colored eyes.
I hadn’t been able to get that look out of my head for the last week. Haven’t been able to get the taste of her off my tongue.
She’s haunted my nights in a way that had me wishing she’d have agreed to let there be more between us this next year.
I roll my shoulders back, banishing thoughts of her beneath me in my bed from my mind. “She’s moving in tomorrow.”
Nash snickers. “How’d her parents take the news?”
“Surprisingly well.”
“Really?”
“They’re—uh—liberal-ish. Hippy-ish.” I run my hand through my hair. “I think they’re happy she’s happy.”
“Is she happy?”
The thought that she isn’t stings in a way it shouldn’t. “I’ll do my best to make sure she’s happy while she’s mine.”
Nash shakes his head on an exhale of breath. “This is messed up.”
“It’s working. The town is more receptive to the idea of the resort.”
“And the estate?”
“We’ll begin with the resort. One thing at a time.”
Nash rolls the papers. “You got some local ideas for the crew?”
I nod. “Lilah’s brother works construction. He’s got some names. We’ll take a look and hire local first.”
“Got it.”
I swipe my phone from the counter, lighting the screen and seeing the time. Twelve-thirty. I’m to meet Lilah in half an hour for lunch.
I slide my phone into my pocket. “I’ve got to meet Lilah.”
