Sara broke away, wiping at her smeared lipstick, and saying, “In here, baby.” She reached up and rubbed the lipstick from his mouth, a teasing twinkle to her eyes, like they were sharing a joke. “Ezreal’s showing me his office.” She stepped back into the living room, and he followed.
“I have to go potty,” the little girl said and her mother glanced at him.
“That door off the kitchen.” He pointed to it, and Sara took Janna’s hand.
“Can I race with you?” Ezreal knelt beside Brand, but his thoughts were on Sara.
This must be what it was like to be in love. The whole thing was out of his range of experience. He’d honestly believed that he would spend the rest of his life alone. All he knew was that even when he wasn’t actively thinking about her, she was at the corner of his mind. He woke up each morning wondering how she’d slept. During meetings, he had to force himself not to send her texts. At the end of the day, he couldn’t wait to drive out to her house or call her if he couldn’t.
Ezreal might be inexperienced, but he wasn’t uninformed. He understood that whatever was happening between them was in the first flush, that the high wouldn’t last. But he thought it had the potential to grow into something deeper, something like what Rafe’s parents had. That was what Ezreal wanted, a relationship that would last. He didn’t want the kind his mother had called amatch-love, one that flared up like a match but burned out quickly.
“My turn. My turn,” Janna cried as she skipped out of the bathroom.
Ezreal rose and went to take Sara’s hand. They stood for a minute and watched the children play.
“Do you want to finish the tour?” he asked.
“Yes.” She shot him a sidelong glance, a smile teasing the corner of her mouth.
“I have one more bedroom on this floor. That’s my guest room and where my parents stay when they visit, though they’ve only been a couple of times. Usually I have to go back to see them. But on this floor is also my track room.”
“Your track room?” She looked at him quizzically.
“It’s for my collection,” he whispered.
“I want to see it.”
“We need to be subtle because it’s the one room I won’t let the little kids come into.”
“Anadultcollection?” Her voice had turned wary, a crease appearing between her brows.
“It’s nothing sinister, just an irresistible temptation for little kids.” Ezreal pulled out his key fob and waved it in front of the door. He glanced back at the children before opening it.
“Oh my word,” Sara breathed. “This is incredible, so complicated.”
“Some people build these with trains. I like to build racetracks. This one took me six months to get running right. Little kids can trash it pretty fast, as I found out the hard way.”
“Nik?”
“Exactly.”
“Do you own every Matchbox™ car that was ever made?” Her expression was impressed rather than condescending that a grown man would have a collection of cars meant for little kids.
“Not for lack of trying. My grandfather collected stamps. I decided to collect cars. It’s my only hobby, and I started when I was a little kid.”
“Since the children are with us,” Sara said, peering at the complex array of tracks, “I won’t ask you to show me how it works this time.”
This time.She must be thinking there might be a time when Ezreal could show it to her when it was just the two of them. Just the two of them. The thought sent a nervous thrill through him. With that happy thought, Ezreal indicated they should leave.
“I have some collector models that are expensive. They don’t come up for sale very often. There’s a small fortune in that room.” He closed the door and made sure it was locked.
“What’s up there?” Sara pointed to the loft.
“There’s a family room and a bunch of bedrooms.”
“Show it to me and tell me why you built it this way.”
“Okay.” He took her hand and they climbed the stairs to the loft. “It’s big enough to accommodate a large family gathering, especially since people can overflow into the main room below.” They looked over the log railing to where the children were racing cars on the track. “When my brother and sister visited with their kids, we needed the room. It’s also where the guys and I set up for game night.”
