Page 23 of The Arianna Arrangement

“Ugh. Five is so freaking early.” But he was right. We’d have to be back by dinner because there was no way my father would give us a pass when we were technically on his time. I was honestly a little surprised that he was going to let us go at all.

Tucker chuckled. “Yeah. I just hope we find something this time.”

We’d looked at houses before leaving Crestwood to come here, but none of them felt right to us. “What, you don’t want to be a newlywed living with your parents?”

“God no. I want to be able to appreciate my wife and not have to worry about Leyla walking in or my mother hearing us.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Leyla had come close to walking in on us before, but we’d never been brave enough to try something when Ashley was home. She seemed to have super hearing. Probably had to with how mischievous her kids were. Or, well, one of her kids.

We approached the firepit that sat at the part of the trail that looped back up towards the house. I’d brought out a cooler with my supplies earlier, not wanting to risk the chocolate melting in the heat.

Tucker noticed it and his eyebrows lifted. “Did you set this up?”

I smiled and pulled him over to the two seater cushioned seat. “I know that one of your favorite things to do in the summer is make smores with Percy and Silver, and since we’re spending the summer here, you’re missing out on that, so I thought I’d bring the smores to New York.”

When I turned the knob on the firepit, it roared to life. I pulled out all of the supplies and sat them on the table beside me before handing Tucker a roasting stick and the bag of marshmallows.

His smile grew. “I see you remembered the most important part.”

I rolled my eyes. “Duh. Smores are so much better with cinnamon graham crackers.” It was a tradition in his Aunt Sterling’s family and one he’d grown to love.

As we stuck our marshmallows over the fire, he leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips. “Thank you for this. I needed it. I love you, Ari.”

“Love you too, Tuck.”

Ashley and Leyla pulled up to the first house right behind us. Leyla stumbled out of the car in pajama pants, a messy bun, a shirt that I’m pretty sure she stole from a guy, and big sunglasses. “This is too damn early to be up on summer break.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to come.”

She scoffed. “Of course I did. My bestie needed me, so here I am.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Ley.”

“See?” Leyla stuck her tongue out at Tucker.

“Good morning, Givenchy family!” The realtor walked out of the house in front of us. It already had a leg up on the others we’d looked at. The property was gated, which was something Zephyr had said was a requirement. It also had a beautiful circle drive and if I remembered correctly, a five car garage that you couldn’t see from the front.

“Good morning. Thanks for seeing us today.” Ashley reached out and shook her hand. “I’m excited to see the ones you’ve picked out. This one is lovely.”

It really was. This home was a Tudor style with a turret that was covered in vines.

The agent led us to the front door, already starting her pitch. “While the exterior has old world charm, the interior has been updated.”

We walked into the home that had what looked like white marble floors, but it had a sparkle to it that you didn’t usually see in marble. There was a double grand staircase that had black iron railings. Topping that all off was a huge sparkly chandelier.

“This is beautiful.” I could imagine this being my home.

The agent smiled and led us to the left, where there was a formal living room with a large fireplace and a huge bay window letting in a lot of natural light. “The flooring is the same throughout the home and was recently updated.”

We continued the tour, seeing a kitchen that would be a chef’s dream but would definitely be wasted on me. I wasn’t very good at cooking, though I wanted to change that. While it would be nice to have someone cook for us, one day I wanted to be able to cook for my kids, much like Ashley did.

The master suite was on the first level, which was nice. The soaker tub was to die for, and the his and her walk in closets were a dream come true. Honestly, I could probably have lived in that closet.

Tucker put an arm around my waist and pulled me in close as he pressed a kiss to my temple. “You like it?”

“I love it.”

Every room we walked into made me more and more sure that this was the house I wanted. There were five bedrooms upstairs and Leyla laid claim to one, saying that until we had enough kids to fill the place up, that room would be hers for whenever she wanted to crash here.