He leaned closer, earnestness making him look more boyish. “That is, if you want a roommate?”
Maybe it was the pain medication. Maybe it was fatigue. Or even a combination of both. But the happiness that bubbled up inside of me at the thought of seeing his handsome face first thing every morning and last thing every night threatened to float me right off the bed again, like my high down in the ER. A smile so broad, I swear it touched my ears, spread over my face.
I quashed it, though, trying to look serious for a second. “I don’t know. Do you snore? That blasted puppy of Ozzie and Claire’s snored, and it about drove me crazy.” Which was the truth. Between her whines and her snores, I got very little sleep while she was at my house.
Luke laughed. A deep, down to his soul, belly laugh. “I’ll wear the nose strips if I do.”
A smirk broke free of my serious mask. “Well, if you’re willing to compromise… I guess a roommate sounds okay.” I sent him a heated look. “So long as there are benefits to this arrangement.”
He bent forward, hovering over me, mere millimeters from my lips. “You can count on that.”
Raising my right hand, I skimmed my fingers over his face and smiled. “Good.”
Epilogue: Mina
Three months later…
“You still haveyour eyes closed, right?”
I huffed, gripping Luke’s wrists to hold myself steady as he held his hands in front of my face while ushering me through the grass from the parking lot near the marina. “Yes.” My foot struck a rock and I stumbled.
“Whoa, there.” He quickly removed a hand from my grasp and wrapped it around my waist to steady me.
I chuckled, but kept my eyes closed. He’d been like a little kid in the truck when we got here and he asked me to close my eyes. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. “This is ridiculous. Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. But perhaps it would be better if I just carried you.”
The next thing I knew, my feet left the ground as he tightened his arm, lifting me into his side.
I let out a little squeal and hugged his neck.
“Hold on. We’re almost there.”
Clutching tight, I held on through the walk through the grass. I thought soon enough I would hear the thud of his shoes on the dock, but it never happened. When I felt the elevation change, I realized we were walking away from the water.
Where on earth were we going? The marina office? But that didn’t make sense, either. To get to it, we had to walk on a concrete path. We’d never left the grass.
A minute later, he set me down.
“Okay. You can open your eyes.”
I blinked.
A frown settled over my face as I stared up at the façade of the Myers Mansion. “What are we doing here? And why didn’t you just come up the driveway?” My frown deepened as I cast a quick glance toward the empty, circular blacktop drive in front of the house. We were standing on the southeast corner of the building.
“So, I’ve been a little sneaky. You know those times I had Kado fill in for me at the café?”
I nodded.
“I’ve been going to see Walter.”
“Walter?” My eyebrows descended into a vee. “Why?”
Luke gestured to the house.
Still not understanding, I glanced at the imposing building, then back at him. “What?”
“Lana and I were talking. She mentioned how she had some clients looking for an event space on the water for their wedding. There are a few in Juneau, but they book out over a year in advance. I was driving around town later that day and happened to glance out at the water and just caught a glimpse of this house.” Again, he gestured to the building. “It sparked an idea. What if we turned the Myers Mansion into a destination wedding location?”
