He smirked. “So you don’t care how much it’s worth, then?”
What a tease. “Landon, darling.” I moved closer to him and pressed a light, lingering kiss against his neck, promising so much more. “Please tell me how much it’s worth.”
“About thirty thousand dollars.”
I froze in his personal space, looking into his eyes in shock.
“Thirty — thirty—”
“Thirty thousand dollars,” he said, looking pleased. “It depends on the auction, of course.”
I swallowed and gestured to the cluttered workbench. “What about these others?”
“They’re not all worth that much, but you have a tidy little fortune here.” He started pointing them out. “Beveling plane, nine thousand. Thomas Norris English jointer plane, twelve thousand. Nicholson molding plane, five thousand. That bronze pattern-maker plane is worth about twenty thousand dollars. There’s a cabinetmaker’s plane that’s from around Stanford’s time that’s worth about eighteen thousand now.”
“Holy clams on a carousel.”
“This is really an amazing collection…” Landon kept rattling off tool names. I tried to keep track of the values in my head. He kept saying “on a good day at auction,” but all told, if we had a good day at auction, these tools together could be worth more than two hundred thousand dollars.
Two … hundred … thousand …dollars.
I gripped his arms just to avoid falling down. And then I kissed him like I meant it. Because I did.
* * *
After a long dayde-Halloweening the house and thanking our friends again for all their talent and hard work, we ended up back in the foyer.
“It’s naked,” I said.
“You want to get naked?”
“What? No. I mean, yes, but that’s not what I said.” I waved my hand around. “The house is naked, and I have a lot of work to do.”
“Wehave a lot of work to do, if you’ll have me.”
I eyed him uncertainly. “But why, Landon?”
He smiled and moved closer, wrapping me in his arms. “Honey, I didn’t do all that work for a credit on my resume. I did it for you.”
“You did?” I whispered, looking into those dark, sparking eyes.
“I did.” He kissed me. “I can’t believe we’re here. I can’t believe I’m here with you. For months I’ve been waiting for you to notice me. To make a connection. But you were—”
He shut up, but I knew what he meant. “I was locked up behind my wall. I know. And I assumed the worst about you, over and over. I’m sorry.”
“As long as you think the best of me now.”
“I do.” I kissed him. “But you said you’re going to start a new company. Have you thought it through?”
“I’ve thought about a lot of things, but I want to run them by you. The downstairs here is perfect for an event space. We can reserve a couple of the rooms upstairs for changing rooms for events and the like. But there are more bedrooms. I could take one or two of them and use them as offices. And the master bedroom…”
He gave me a significant look.
“Go on,” I said, hoping he was going to say what he was going to say.
“It would be a great place for us to live. Together. I’ll pay you rent if you want.”
I laughed out loud, and he looked worried. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, but I’m not laughing at you. I’m not charging you rent. Not if you’re saying … saying you want to live with me.”
