She pulls me close for a hug. We’re nearly the same height, so when we’re nose to nose, I can plant another kiss on her lips. “No,” she whispers against my mouth. “Not until we’ve gone through the lists of pros and cons.”
I slip my hands into the back pockets of her jeans and give her ass a playful squeeze. “One condition,” I say. “We pick up where we left off sometime soon.”
“Like, very soon,” she promises.
She pulls away from me about as reluctantly as I let her go. She smiles at me, her hair mussed and her cheeks flushed as she heads to the bedroom.
“Look who’s awake,” she says to Juniper.
The hotel suite is starting to get dark, so I keep myself busy while Eden gets Juniper up by turning on the lights and grabbing a glass of water. I hear Eden call out that she’s changing a diaper and will be right out, so I pour her a glass of water too and then go back to the listing sheets.
Eden and I spend the next couple of hours playing with Juniper and talking through the list of houses we looked at. There is a clear winner in both of our minds, and of course, it is the very first house we saw.
“So, you think you’re going to make an offer?” I ask. I’m putting all the listing sheets into a stack while Juniper smashes a plastic cooking pot against the coffee table. I raise my voice a bit to call over the racket. “No more looking?”
Eden’s in the kitchenette prepping some dinner for Juniper. “No,” she says, meeting my eyes across the suite. “I think I’m going to trust my gut this time.”
I’ve never been a man to believe in things likethe onebefore, but I do believe in trusting my gut. And right now, my gut’s telling me if there was ever aonefor me, I’ve just found her.
* * *
Three weeks later,it’s done.
Eden made an offer on the house, Robert accepted it, and the house passed all the inspections with flying colors.
Eden got approved for the mortgage, and since she was anxious to get out of the hotel, she was able to negotiate for a quick closing.
During that time, work was intense.
We had not one, but two unusually serious structure fires. For a small department like ours, one serious fire per quarter is not uncommon, but two in under a month put a strain on the team. Our captain suffered a twisted ankle at the first fire, so there was some shuffling of schedules while the cap healed up.
Eden and I didn’t manage to fit in a proper date night, but we’ve had plenty of dates in, if you call dinner and heavy make-out sessions on the shitty hotel couch dates. By the time the week of the closing rolled around, Ma’s friends were taking charge like a well-oiled machine.
“Vito, are you up yet?”
I hear Ma’s voice and a noise like she’s banging on my door with the heel of a stiletto shoe.
“Ma, fuck.” It’s not even eight in the morning if my phone’s to be believed. Way too early for this shit. “What is it?”
“Can I come in?”
“Ma.” I toss aside the covers and stride to the door in my pajama pants. There’s a reason I don’t sleep naked anymore, and her name is Lucia Bianchi.
I throw open the bedroom door and see the abominable noisemaker Ma was banging against my door. An industrial-sized tape roller that’s as big as my mom’s head.
“Where the hell did you get this, and why are you banging it on my door?”
Despite the early hour, Ma’s fully dressed and made up to the nines. I grab her hand and stare at the glittery-looking hearts attached to her fingertips. “Did you get your nails done this early?”
Ma yanks her hand back and fake slaps me with it. “I got these done two days ago, Vito. I swear I could have little penises put onto my nails, and it would take you and your father a week to notice.”
I blast a laugh through my lips and smooth my hair back. “I think Pops would notice dicks on your hands, Ma, but thanks for the visual. I just got a preview of my future nightmares.”
I turn from Ma and grab a T-shirt from the floor. Ma shakes her head and snorts.
“Son, what did I tell you about leaving clothes on the floor? Are you going to do that at Eden’s house?”
My jaw falls open, and I turn to stare at my mother. “Uh, excuse me?”
