My heart did that weird thing again, even though I knew she wasn’t going to say,You, Will. I love you.“What’s that?”
“Movies.”
Fuck, but yeah. Okay. I can work with that. “Movies, huh?”
“Yes. Romance movies, specifically.”
I thought back to all those books in her room and nodded. “In that case, I have something to show you.”
“What is it?”
“Just come with me.”
Her eyes lit up immediately. “A secret?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
“I love secrets.”
“That’s slightly concerning.” I got up, motioning for her to follow me. “Right this way.”
“Where are we going?” She jumped off the couch with surprising enthusiasm for someone who’d just consumed half of China. “It is in your brother’s house, right? This isn’t some way to lure me out?”
“Nope.” I led her down the hallway and toward the back of the house, past my home office and down the stairs. “Watch your step.”
“What is it?” she asked. “A basement?”
“You’ll see.”
She let out a giggle. “This feels mysterious.”
“That’s the goal.” I pushed open a door at the end of the corridor and the lights flickered on automatically, revealing the in-home theater I’d had installed.
There was a large screen at the front of the room and tiered seating. The chairs were massive and ridiculously comfortable. I’d chosen them myself because I, too, loved movies. Not that I could tell her that it was yet another thing she had in common withme, not Jesse.
Eliza stopped in the doorway. “Oh my God.”
“There’s the reaction I was hoping for.” I grinned. “What do you think?”
“You have a movie theater.”
“Will has a movie theater,” I said, sighing internally. “I just have use of it, but yeah.”
“You’re saying that like it’s normal, but it’s not. You have a movie theater in your house. I live in a castle and we don’t have one of these.”
I laughed. “We try to stay humble.”
She walked slowly inside, looking around like she thought she might be dreaming. “This is amazing, Jesse. Truly.”
“You can pick any movie you’d like,” I said, sweeping a hand out toward the console. “If it’s on any major streaming service, we’ve got it.”
Her gaze snapped toward mine. “I get to pick?”
“Sure. You said you like romance and I’m not really an expert in the genre, so I can’t really help on that front.”
She practically floated over to the console, and five minutes later, we were settled into the back row of seats while a movie I vaguely recognized as one of the greatest romantic tragedies ever filmed started playing.
Eliza curled up beside me, tucking her legs underneath her. “This is incredible. We’re at the movies, but I’m in my pajamas and we didn’t have to go anywhere.”
