Page 27 of Wildest Dreams

A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth as I slowly rise to my feet. He follows my lead while slipping his wallet back into his shorts.

“Um, I don’t really have plans this afternoon, except for putting my bedding on and settling in,” I tell him. I gesture toward one of the couches in the living room and explain, “I’ve been sleeping on the couch so I’m pretty excited to finally have a bed again.”

Tanner glances at the couch, frowning.

“Wasn’t it too small?”

I point toward the size of my body and he drops his chin, smiling. “Right.”

“So anyway,” I continue, swiping the floor with the toe of my trainer. “I was thinking… if it’s still raining or if you wanted to hang out… you could totally stay here for a little while, if you want to? Like, I’ll probably watch some football or–”

“Yes,” he says immediately. “I mean, yeah, I’d like that. That sounds really great.”

“The football part, you mean?” I say with a teasing smile.

He pokes his tongue in his cheek. “Uh, sure. Football. Yeah.”

I breathe out a laugh, trying not to get all shy.

“Okay, great,” I giggle, gently biting into my lower lip. “I’ll just grab my laptop. We can watch it on my bed.”

I hear a choking sound behind me as I pad into the living room to grab my Macbook.

“Your bed?” he asks, and I glance back at him over my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I say, likeduh.“I’ve beenlivingon this couch. I don’t plan on leaving that bed for, like, one whole week.”

“A week,” he pants, his tanned biceps straining.

I grin up at him and then point to the bedding on the couch.

“Wanna help?” I ask, and then I stifle a giggle when he launches into action.

“Yeah,” he rasps. “Put me to work.”

Chapter 8

Aisling

Present day

Warm rays of sunlight streak in through the large A-frame balcony window, and I squint against the brightness as I blink myself awake.

It’s early – like, before six a.m. early – and the only sounds in the summer air are the gently lapping waves, and a few birds calling before they flit into the forest.

I push myself up onto my elbows as dust motes sparkle in front of my eyes, and I glance down to my left so that I can take a peek at my roommates. Plural. Because when Hunter walked us back last night and then accidentally learned that there was no lock on our front door he started quietly grumbling until Fallon told him that he could bunk with us.

So now six-foot-four Hunter Wilde is currently lying on his back in an unzipped lilac sleeping bag, his calves on the hardwood flooring because he’s about a million inches too tall for it. Fallon is draped gently over his chest as his palms protectively hold her head, and her pink cheek rests softly against his steadily beating heart.

I focus back on the dust motes as I wiggle my thighs out of my sleeping bag.

Picking up my phone and my travel bottle I flick the lid to check that there’s still some water inside of it and then I pad over to the large balcony doors, quietly making my way outside.

Summer morning sunlight bursts over the Larch Peak mountains on my left, the glowing rays warming my bare legs as I walk toward the balcony railing. Before I step up to the ledge I suddenly remember yesterday morning with the porch railing – as in, I touched it with my pinkie finger and the whole thing collapsed – so I quickly back up a couple of steps, eyeing the balcony lumber warily. I’ll have to give it a wobble at some point to check that it actually is secure, but I decide to wait until my helpers in the bedroom are on-hand and conscious, just in case.

But that reminds me. I set the bottle by my feet and unlock my phone, tapping open the Notes app. Yesterday morning Fallon and I picked up some basic essentials from town, but to get this project underway there’s a bunch of other stuff that I’ll be needing.

I quickly type outrenovation supplieson a blank page,start a new paragraph, and then begin to type out every item that I can possibly think of – going methodically in my head, room by room.

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