I shake my head at her. “With a client. She’ll be back in a few hours though.”
Hannah nods as she takes a seat at the kitchen table with me.
“I guess what you said just made me think. I wanted to take that check and cash it, honestly. But I needed to get out of that situation I was in. Letting Brad think I had no money was better than letting him take what you gave me.”
“Brad is your boyfriend?” I ask, raising a brow.
“No. Brad’s my… situation.Wasmy situation. He stole from me. And then when I tried to confront him about it, that didn’t go so well.” Hannah raises her arm, the one with the bandage on it and I can feel the rage simmering under my skin.
“He hit you?”
She shakes her head back and forth. “He didn’t hit me. Just grabbed my arm tight enough to leave a bruise. I only covered it so people wouldn’t ask questions, but I guess that backfired.”
Shaking my head back and forth, my fingers pinch the bridge of my nose. “You’re not going back there. Do you hear me?”
She nods her head up and down before she stands up. “Oh, by the way”—she stops halfway down the hall and turns back—“sounds like you gave my sister the ride of her life this morning. Good. She needs to loosen up a little.” Hannah cracks a smile and I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen one. “You’re not so bad, golden boy.”
“Neither are you, Wednesday.”
“Meg, this is perfect. You nailed everything, thank you so much. I owe you.” My eyes can’t even focus on everything I’m seeing. It’s all overwhelming, but in the best fucking way. Meg is the interior designer who basically took one look at Mia’s Pinterest board and said copy-paste.
The colors are bright and airy, the equipment is all brand new and spread out. Nothing is cluttered together. The mirrorson the wall were able to be salvaged so all we had to do was give them a good cleaning. Four televisions are installed above the windows in front of cardio machines and rowing machines. There’s a small refrigerator next to the front desk with water, energy drinks and caffeinated drinks. The only room we didn’t touch is the one in the back. It’s Mia’s office and I wanted her to be able to hand pick everything in there. It’s where she’ll spend most of her time planning, and I know that she’ll have a specific vision for that.
“Her taste is very chic. This was a fun project, thank you for bringing me on board for it.”
“Anything you want. Please. If you want two tickets for the game Sunday, they’re yours,” I offer, eagerly.
“You know what? That would be great, thank you.”
I shake her hand as she leaves and I take one last look around before closing the door behind me. It’s almost seven and I told Mia I’d be there by then. I did see a missed call from her and a couple of texts, but I want to respond to her in person. I take the five-minute walk to Mia’s and cut it in half, practically running the whole way there, dying to see her.
When I knock on her door and she answers, the sight of her would send any man straight into an early grave. Her long brown hair is in big loose curls and the navy blue dress she has on sends all the blood to my dick the second I see her.
“On second thought, let’s just stay here,” I say, all but drooling as I walk in and she kisses my cheek.
She doesn’t reply to my comment, she simply stares at me, eyes glossy like she wants to cry, or maybe has been.
“The Post-it notes,” she whispers. “You wrote down everything you love about me and plastered them all over my apartment?” She takes my hands into hers.
“I wanted you to see something amazing about yourself everywhere you looked, Mia. You’re inspiring.” I lift my hand to caress her cheek.
“When I walked in here an hour ago, I didn’t even know what to make of it at first. I think I cried before I even read them all.” Her laughter bellows from her chest and all I want to do for the rest of my life is be the reason behind it.
“I went through a lot of fucking Post-its.” I chuckle. “Don’t bother looking for any within a five-mile radius, they’re sold out now.”
She brings her forehead to my chest with another laugh, shaking her head.
“You’re really… good, Nate. Just down to your core. You’re good.”
Shrugging, I put my hands in my pockets as she turns to put her shoes on.
“I have one more thing before dinner that I want to show you,” I say. A nervous feeling is inching up my throat. Mia has always told me she didn’t want my help when it came to buying a building. She’s always told me that she wanted to do things on her own. But knowing how much she loved the building and how torn she was about not getting it because she helped her dad, I instantly knew that I didn’t care if she got mad at me for it. Because I know that she deserves this.
“Something that’ll top hundreds of Post-it notes? We’ll see about that,” she says as she steps out in front of me.
Okay, Post-it notes all over my apartment is easily the most romantic thing a man has ever done for me. As if Nate needed to do more things that would make me fall for him even harder. I walked into a true smorgasbord of words, quotes, song lyrics and simple drawings that took me by complete surprise. He did leave one in my closet that was more of a question. “Can we buy you a pair of cowgirl boots so the image of you in them isn’t tied to my sister?” I laughed out loud when I read that one.
Earlier today, I had the best sex I’ve ever had. Hands down. It was the most passionate and fulfilling. I never knew it could be like that. Where it feels amazing physically, but also emotionally. Like everything about the moments we shared were connected on a deeper level. It was an intimacy I never thought I’d experience.
