I change into the pajamas I had set out and Xander pulls on a pair of sleep pants and heads into the room.

  I brush my hair and gather it back into a ponytail before flicking off the light and joining him.

  When I jump onto the bed, I see that he already has Netflix brought up on the TV. I love the fact that we can get Netflix on the hotel TV. Feeding my addiction, even thousands of miles away from home.

  Scandal begins to play, and I settle beneath the covers so we can watch.

  I burrow against Xander, still cold, and his body provides much-needed warmth.

  I start to drift off to sleep and I feel his lips brush against my forehead.

  “Sweet dreams,” he croons in a lulling tone.

  And I do dream, but they’re anything but sweet.

  “I had a nightmare,” Thea tells me, laying her towel down in the sand. She plops on it, stretching out her legs. She looks fucking amazing with her golden tanned skin and that little white bikini. It barely covers anything—which means several guys are staring.

  Fucking great.

  “A nightmare?” I repeat, sitting down on my towel beside her. I peer at her over the top of my sunglasses. “About what?”

  I try to recall if she was thrashing in her sleep or anything like that.

  “You were talking to my stomach.” She gestures to her stomach like I don’t know where it is. “And I was fat.”

  “Fat? You mean you were pregnant?” My brows furrow in confusion. “I’m missing the nightmare part here?”

  She glares at me like I’m stupid. “I was pregnant. That’s the nightmare. Can you imagine us with a baby?” She laughs like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard.

  I wince, feeling kind of hurt by that. “You don’t think we’d be good parents?” I know Thea has struggled with thoughts of motherhood in the past, and I get it, her parents weren’t exactly great so she didn’t grow up desiring a family like I did.

  She shrugs. “I don’t know,” she answers honestly. “I know some girls only dream of the day they get married and start popping out kids but that’s never been me. I do want a baby, one day, but not now.”

  “You’ll be a great mom one day,” I say honestly.

  Thea doesn’t see herself clearly. She thinks she has no heart to give, but she’s the warmest and kindest woman I know. Any child would be lucky to call her mom.

  “One day, far, far, far into the future,” she intones.

  I chuckle. “After your five-year plan?”

  “Exactly.” She nods, adjusting her sunglasses. She rolls over onto her stomach and props her head in her hands. “I’m only twenty-two. I want to live a little first.”

  I stare at her. “Let’s not live too much, okay?”

  She laughs and smacks my arm. “Not like that. I just mean, I want to enjoy this time. Being young and married. Doing things like this.” She shrugs and motions around us. “This is nice.”

  My lips crook into a grin. “So does this mean you can fit more vacations into that plan of yours?”

  She laughs and tosses sand at me like it’s a snowball. “Yeah, I think so. We need to take advantage of these kinds of things while we can. Not just while it’s only two of us, but also while we have the money and whatnot.”

  I laugh. “You think the money is going to disappear?”

  She smiles. “You know what I mean. You can’t play football forever, so we have to be smart with our money, which will mean less of this.”

  “I know what you mean.” I lean over and kiss her. “Let’s not stress about the future right now.” I point to our incredible view, the ocean and sweeping cliff side with homes. “We have to live in the moment while we can.”

  By some miracle, she doesn’t argue. Maybe, somehow, someway, I’m finally getting through that thick head of hers but it’s doubtful.

  We arrive back in the states and Thea immediately falls asleep in the car. I feel like falling asleep too, even though it’s three in the afternoon our time. It’s been a long hard day of traveling and we’re both exhausted. I want nothing more than to get home, shower, and fall into bed.

  It’s strange driving home to a home that hasn’t actually been our home yet.

  We haven’t slept here, not once, but this is about to be our home.

  The place I hope we’re going to grow old in.

  We could’ve bought something smaller, but I had the money and that felt silly. I wanted our forever home, not a just right now home. We looked at condos in the city, and while some of those were larger they were all so cold and impersonal. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, but it didn’t feel like us. So we finally decided to get a home. We ended up getting a house in the suburbs on a bigger space of land. I also liked the fact that the house came with a gate. The media likes us for some strange reason. I think it’s because we’re young, and also because Thea commands any room she’s in. People can’t help but be drawn to her. Including me.

  But the house isn’t too big, which we both liked. It’s big enough for us to grow into, but not big enough to feel museum-like.

  It took us a couple of months of looking to finally find this one. I think our realtor was getting put out with us, but we knew what we wanted and nothing she showed us was it, until this.

  We reach the gates, and I push the button on the remote to open it. Thea’s still passed out asleep in the seat beside me, snoring lightly. She doesn’t think she snores, but she does. Luckily, they’re soft cute snores and not loud and obnoxious ones.

  The house is two-stories—well technically three, since there’s a basement—with lots of awnings and stonework. We were both drawn to the front porch. It’s small, but has enough space that Thea said she wanted to add some chairs and plants.

  I laugh as I pull up the driveway and to the garage. Above the garage, our friends have hung a WELCOME HOME sign. It makes me smile. Thea and I are lucky to have friends like ours—friends that are more like family.

  I push another button and open the garage door so I can park my truck inside. It’s a three-car garage so there’s plenty of room for Thea’s Mini Cooper, my truck, and my motorcycle.

  I turn the truck off and Thea continues to sleep peacefully. I set our luggage out before I wake her up.

  She sits up and blinks around, looking at the unfamiliar garage.

  “Where are we?” she asks, squinting her eyes at me as if I’m strange too.

  I laugh. “We’re home, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes widen in surprise. “Oh, right.”

  She slips out of the truck and I take her hand in mine, tugging her away from the garage door that leads inside.

  “What?” She blinks up at me, confusion filling her hazel eyes.

  “Let’s go in the front door this time.” I squeeze her hand in mine. “It’s our first real time coming home, I think we should do this right.”

  She smiles, her eyes still slightly sleepy. “Okay. Lead the way.”

  I grin and guide her out of the garage and onto the path that leads to the front door.

  Three steps lead up to the large dark wood front door and we take them slowly. We pause outside the door and just stare.

  I feel overcome by an emotion I can’t describe. I think maybe it’s pride—pride in myself that I’ve accomplished this.

  “This is our home, Thea.” I squeeze her hand in mine. It feels so small compared to mine.

  She jumps up and down in place. “Open it,” she squeals, like the door is a present we’re about to unwrap. I guess, in a way, it is.

  I dig in my pocket for the keys and locate the right one to open the door. I slip it inside and twist the doorknob.

  The door swings open with a slight squeak of the hinges.

  The floors are hardwood and shine like they’ve just been cleaned, which seems impossible with all the tracking that’s probably been done with the movers. It makes me wonder if Nova didn’t clean the place for us.

  Thea lets go of my hand and gives me a coy look. “Race ya,” she exclaims, taking off for the stairs to our right.

  I tear off up the steps after her. Since I’m tall I’m able to skip a few steps so I catch up to her easily. I bump her hip with mine to slow her down and she laughs uproariously.

  “That wasn’t nice!”

  “You don’t play fair—so neither do I,” I tell her, reaching the top of the stairs.

  We fight to get down the hallway to our room, pushing and shoving like a bunch of little kids, both of us unable to stop laughing.

  We push open the doors to our room and race to the bed. I grab her around the waist before she can pass me.

  “Xander!” She squirms in my arms before I toss her on the bed. I jump over her and kiss her, silencing her giggles.

  She places her hands on my shoulders and tries to push me away. “That wasn’t nice.”

  I grin. “You fucking love it and you know it.”

  She smiles back and stops pushing on my shoulders, instead pulling me closer. She brushes her nose against mine. “You think you know me, huh?”

  I nod, my hair brushing her forehead. “Oh, I know you.”

  “What’s my favorite color?”

  I snort. “Thea, I’m pretty sure all the lemurs in the world know your favorite color. It’s pink.”

  She laughs, squirming beneath me. “What the hell? Why lemurs?”

  I shrug. “It was the first thing that popped in my head.”

  I have no real good defense. I know it was random. But that’s us.

  I sit up and look around the room. All the furniture is in place, but boxes with our clothes and stuff litter the space, and I’m sure the whole house. Our bed is made, though, and I can’t thank Nova enough for doing that. I sure as hell know it wasn’t Jace. He doesn’t make his own bed.

  But this is nice, especially since we’re both exhausted from the trip. Even now I can tell Thea is fighting not to fall back to sleep. I lean over and kiss her forehead.

  “I’ll go bring our stuff in. You get a shower or go to bed, whatever you want.”

  She nods, and that’s how I know she really is exhausted. Normally Thea would insist on helping me, and I would then insist that she didn’t.

  I hop off the bed and jog down the steps and out the front door—which we stupidly left wide open. I close it and lock up and choose to come in through the garage this time.

  I set our bags inside the mudroom and shut the garage door. It whirs as it goes down.

  The kitchen counters are covered in boxes and more boxes sit on the floor. I know it’s going to take forever to put all this stuff away and I’m not looking forward to it.

  I carry our suitcases to the laundry room and set them inside. I would start our clothes to wash, but Thea is very particular about her clothes and prefers to do it herself.

  I head upstairs and laugh when I enter the room. Thea’s already passed out asleep, her arms and legs stretched out across the bed, hogging the whole damn thing.

  I shake my head. As much as I want to shower, a nap sounds pretty good right about now.

  I move Thea so she’s lying with her head on a pillow, and then I cover her with the blanket that was draped across the bottom of the bed. I pull my phone from my pocket and send a text to Jace—letting him know we’re in, and asking if it’s not too much trouble if they can bring Prue home in the morning. He texts back almost immediately and says it isn’t a problem.

  I yawn, looking enviously at Thea as she sleeps. I strip off my shirt and pants, leaving me in my boxers, and climb beneath the sheets. Thea stirs in her sleep, seeking me. I smile, pleased that even in her sleep she wants me.

  Her hair tickles my nose when she gets fixed against me, but I don’t mind. I like being close to her.

  I know we have an endless list of things to do in order to get the house ready, but for now, it’s going to have to wait.

  I sleep through the whole afternoon and night. Sunlight is just beginning to filter in through the open windows when I wake up. Xander sleeps peacefully beside me, his arms wrapped around me. Somehow, I’ve ended up against him with my leg thrown over top of his above the covers. I smile when I notice he covered me with the blanket—I’d kicked it off at some point, though.

  I slip from the bed and stretch my arms above my head.

  I need a shower. Desperately.

  The problem is all our shit is in boxes.

  “Fuck my life,” I mutter.

  Thankfully, I was meticulous in my labeling of the boxes so it doesn’t take me long to locate the one with our shampoos and body washes. I carry the box into the bathroom and set it on the counter so I can unload it. I go ahead and put all the contents of the box away—one down, a million to go.

  I break down the box and set it in the room.

  I need something clean to change into, so I start opening the boxes with all our clothes. I settle on a pair of jean shorts and a tank top with lots of straps. I figure we’re going to be working today, so I’ll probably get hot.

  Xander still hasn’t stirred in the bed, so I leave him to sleep while I shower.

  I find the box with our towels and washcloths first and unpack them, setting one of each out, before putting the others away.

  Once I shower and my hair and body are clean I feel almost human.

  I dry off and brush my hair, gathering it up into a damp messy bun.

  Xander pads into the bathroom, rubbing his eyes. His hair sticks up around his head and he stifles a yawn.

  “Morning,” he says, bending to kiss me.

  “Ew, your breath stinks,” I groan.

  He grabs my waist and pulls me closer. “So does yours,” he intones, and plants a loud kiss on my lips, which I dramatically wipe off with the back of my hand.

  “You’re gross.”

  He winks. “You love me.”

  I shake my head while he goes to pee.

  “Where’d you put our suitcases? I didn’t see them in our room.”

  “They’re in the laundry room. Don’t worry, I didn’t put anything in the washer.”

  He knows me too well.

  “I’ll go start them.”

  “I’m going to shower,” he tells me while he washes his hands. “Then I’ll go pick us up some breakfast. So let me know what you want.”

  My stomach rumbles at the thought of food. “Will you judge me if I say I want McDonald’s?”

  He laughs. “You and McDonald’s. I’ll get you whatever you want, you know that.”

  “I want a sausage McGriddle and an Oreo McFlurry.”

  His brows furrow. “A McFlurry? For breakfast?”

  “That’s what I want.” I frown.

  He shrugs. “Okay.”

  “Thank you.”

  I flounce from the bathroom and downstairs to start the laundry.

  Once the laundry is running I decide to start unpacking more boxes. I start with the kitchen, figuring that room will take the longest.

  I’m thankful Jace and Nova were here for the movers and delivery people—since most of our furniture is brand new. It’s obvious they directed them on where to place the furniture. Otherwise it would’ve just been placed haphazardly. As it is, everything is pretty much in place. There are a few things I’ll probably ask Xander to rearrange but better a few things than everything.

  I’m putting the forks, knives, and spoons away in the drawer organizer when Xander comes down freshly showered and changed.

  “Still want a McGriddle and a McFlurry?” he asks, laying his hands on the island counter and leaning across to me.

  I nod. “Yeah, that’s what I want.”

  “All right, I’ll be back soon. Jace and Nova are going to come by at some point today to drop Prue off so if they show up while I’m gone don’t freak out—since they can come right in.”

  He leans across the counter and kisses me before he leaves.

  “Don’t forget my McFlurry,” I call after him, and I hear him laugh before the door to the garage closes.

  I finish organizing the utensils, and then start putting away the pots and pans.

  By the time Xander gets back with our food I’ve made quite a dent in unpacking everything for the kitchen. I can tell Xander is impressed when he takes in all the empty boxes.

  Xander sets the bag of food on our new kitchen table, along with my McFlurry.

  I rub my hand along the table before sitting down. “We owe Jace and Nova big for this.”

  Xander nods in agreement.

  If it weren’t for them, none of our furniture would be here. Most everything—except for our bedroom set—is brand new. Since we were living in the rental with my brother, most things weren’t ours.

  “I can’t imagine if we’d gotten back and had no furniture.” I laugh at the thought.

  He pulls the food out of the bag and hands me my sandwich.

  “I’ll go grocery shopping today so that we actually have food in the house.”

  I unwrap my sandwich and hold it up. “This is real food.” I take a huge bite, driving home my point.

  He shakes his head. “Maybe to you, but not to me.”

  “Well—” I cover my mouth with my hand “—since I hate grocery shopping I’m willing to let you handle that while I continue to unpack.”

  He chuckles. “Now it sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.”

  I smirk. “Never.”

  “I’ll help for an hour or two before I head to the store,” he says, wadding up the wrapper from his sandwich and throwing it in the paper bag. “We should be able to put a dent in the unpacking in that time.”

  “It helps that we don’t have much yet—like little knick-knacks.”

  He grins. “I’m sure you’re excited to change that fact.”

  “Oh, you know it. Any excuse to shop.” I don’t even try to defend myself anymore. I’m aware I have a serious addiction to shopping. I still have rooms to shop for in the house—like the dining room and formal living room. We were more concerned about the family room and kitchen, as far as getting anything new.

  I finish my sandwich and grab my McFlurry.

  “Mmm,” I say, swirling my tongue around the spoon. “It’s as good as I remembered.”

  Xander busts out laughing. “As good as you remembered?” he repeats, wadding up the trash. “It’s only been like a week since you had one. Two, max.”

 

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