“What are your plans today?”
Vanessa studies me over the rim of her mug.“That depends.”
“On?”
“How much you plan to monopolize my weekend.”
I consider that honestly before I answer with a shrug, “As much as you’ll let me.”
Her laugh hits me square in the chest.And there it is again; that terrifying ease.The thing that makes this feel less like rekindling something old, and more like building something entirely new.
Vanessa sets her coffee down before looping her arms around my neck.“Well.”Her mouth brushes against mine again.“Lucky for you, I was hoping you would.”
Vanessa agrees to spend the day with me.Just like that.Without a second of hesitation.No soft warning wrapped around the word yes.She simply smiles at me from the middle of her kitchen, barefoot in my shirt with coffee warming her hands, and agrees to give me the rest of her day.
I don’t trust how easily that settles inside me.Ease has never been my natural state.I understand structure.Schedules, with patterns and precise timing.I understand effort and discipline and the quiet security of knowing where everything belongs.This is different.
This is Vanessa standing in a patch of late-morning sunlight with her hair tangled from my hands and my mouth, smiling like the world hasn’t shifted under my feet.Like I haven’t already started rearranging myself around her again.
We take longer than necessary to leave her apartment.Part of that is because she insists on feeding the cat before we go, even though Vinny looks like he’s never missed a meal in his life.Part of it is because I can’t stop touching her.A hand at her hip while she rinses our mugs.My fingers brushing the back of her neck as she searches for her boots.One last kiss near the door that turns into three because she laughs against my mouth and tells me I’m going to make us late.
“For what?”I ask.
“For whatever you planned.”
“I didn’t plan anything.”
She pulls back enough to look me in the eye.I hold her stare for all of three seconds before she laughs with a tilt of her head.“Hayden.”
“Okay, I may have planned a little bit.”
“There’s the Hayden I know.”She flashes me a smile of pure adoration, and it stuns my heart enough to stop it for a beat.
By early afternoon, we’re walking into my building, the doorman nodding once as we pass through the lobby.Vanessa doesn’t comment on the height of the ceilings or the polished stone or the quiet efficiency of the staff.She does take it all in, though.I feel her attention moving over everything the same way I felt it inside my room at Gild.She’s not impressed by the grandeur, she’s more interested in what the space says about me.
The elevator ride up is quiet, but not uncomfortable.Her shoulder brushes mine once when the car rises, and I have to fight the instinct to pull her closer.I don’t, and that feels important.
When the doors open to my floor, she steps out first, gaze drifting down the hallway before landing on me.I unlock my door when we reach it.She steps inside when I push it open for her.The apartment is quiet when we enter.
“This feels very you.”
“Meaning?”I arch a brow in her direction.
“It’s just feels very controlled.”
Of course that’s the first word she chooses.Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the lake, the water gray-blue beneath the afternoon sky, roughened by wind.The furniture is clean-lined and dark, expensive without being loud.Nothing sits where it doesn’t belong.No clutter.No excess.
Vanessa wanders ahead of me, her fingers trailing lightly along the back of the sofa before she stops near the windows.The lake holds her attention first.I continue to watch her as she absorbs my space.
“You can see everything from here.”
“Most things.”
She glances over her shoulder, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.“That answer feels intentional.”
“It was.”
Her smile deepens, but she turns back toward the view.For a moment, I let myself imagine this as something normal.Her here.In my space.Her coat over the back of one of my chairs.Her books on my table.Her coffee mug next to mine in the morning.The image lands too hard, so I move before it can settle any deeper.
