“Yeah?” He isn’t going to say it, so I will. I slide off his lap and open the curtain. Outside, I look at him suffering in the confined space and smirk. “Christian?”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna make out on the ferris wheel?” I ask. I take a few steps back, hoping he’ll follow.
His tiny smile transforms into a grin as he slides out of thebooth with our llama. “Lana Aurora Gomez,” he gasps mockingly. “Are you trying to scandalize me?”
I laugh, my hands fisting his t-shirt and pulling him forward. “Maybe,” I say, smiling against his lips.
“Scandalize me, baby.”
“My pleasure.”
CHAPTER 22
Christian
My alarm on the nightstand goes off absurdly loudly at eight o’clock in the morning.
Last night was night three of our carnival weekend, and we are exhausted. My stomach isn’t what it used to be.
I dressed in a simple suit today—navy pants and white button down, rolling up the sleeves a bit. No jacket. I slip on my Christian Loubotin loafers, grab my things, grab my gym bag packed with a change of clothes, and head out to my McLaren.
Finally, I drive to the address Mrs. Johnson texted me just before I began to get ready for our ten o’clock appointment. I draw closer and closer toward the town’s lake, passing dream houses I’ve seen Lana looking at on her phone before. Or at least they are similar to the ones we’ve spoken about when we think about our future in bed.
I’m not particularly attached to the car. I know a McLaren 720S Convertible isn’t ideal for a family—we’d need a safe SUV to protect the entire family. I once told Lana I’d get her a Range Rover, but I think I’ll get one for the both of us.Spacious ones for the car seats and for the four of us to all fit comfortably.
Driving into Lana’s driveway to see her car there and knowing she’s inside is already a saccharine moment—every day. It makes me overly emotional to know that I will be going home to her for the rest of my life.
But with this house, it’ll be different because we’ll have two family cars in our driveway and two little girls running around inside, wrecking havoc and making a mess I will be honored to clean.
And in the evenings, we’ll go out back and watch the sunset. We’ll chase and try to catch fireflies as a family, and at night, we’ll tuck the girls in with kisses on their foreheads. After the girls are tucked away in their rooms, I can take my wife to bed and kiss her until we’re both dizzy. Make love to her and hold her to sleep.
Then we get to do it all over again. Every day.
I slow as the GPS informs me I am arriving at my destination. Mrs. Johnson standing in her pencil skirt and purple blouse, holding an iPad, and waiting outside of one of the most remarkably stunning lake houses I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure it could be considered a mansion, but I won’t tell Lana that. She’ll throw it at me.
I get out of the car with a smile already plastered on my face as I make my way to Mrs. Johnson.
It’s gorgeous and modern. The garage and front door are a soft brown, there’s a balcony just off the side on the second floor, which I hope is part of the master bedroom, and the front porch is also off to the side and big enough for furniture. The windows are long and wide. The house itself is white with touches of light brown bricks as accents, aside from the large chimney that is made out of them entirely.
“Hi, Mrs. Johnson,” I say, giving her a hug. “I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.”
“I got here just a moment before you did.”
“How have you been?”
“I’ve been well,” she says, smiling. She tosses her long braids over her shoulder and holds her iPad close to her chest. “So, a lake house, huh?”
I nod, grinning. “I’m just…scouting them out.”
“Is it a surprise or are you planning to tell her at all?” Mrs. Johnson arches a brow—the same way she always did when I was a kid, running around town and needing to be put in my place.
“Depends,” I muse, shrugging. “I just need to find the right one first.”
“Well, I’ve got about four houses for us today if that’s alright with you,” she says. “But, from everything you’ve told me, I think this house isthe one.”
“I trust you,” I say, with a smirk and wink combo. “If anyone is going to find her the perfect house, it’s going to be you.”
