Page 50 of Never Been Worse

“Ava and Jules know about this?”

“Well, yeah, I couldn’t do it all myself. But they were sworn to secrecy,” he tells me.

“Hm,” I add, looking around, wondering how on earth my friends didn’t spill this secret to me, not even the tiniesthint.

“This is a desk, obviously. You can sketch here. Markers, pens, the whole nine. Ava says these are the markers you like?” He looks at me nervously, questioning it before I nod.

“Yeah, they are,” I whisper before he continues to show me things. Sewing machines, thread, pins, and behind one of the cabinets, a dress form—everything I would ever need is here, as he shows me with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

“This all feels very…the Beast showing Belle the library,” I say with a giggle I can’t fight, suddenly giddy and brimming with new ideas.

“Does that make me a beast?”

“No, it makes you a handsome prince.”

“I thought he was a beast?” he asks, confused.

I stop my perusing and stare at him aghast. “Have you never seenBeauty and the Beast?”

“I have no sisters, and I’ve been in a rock band since I was fifteen. No, I have not seenBeauty and the Beast,” he says bluntly.

“I think that’s a crime,” I say under my breath but continue moving through the room, opening and closing random drawers and checking out what he’s gifted me.

He laughs then moves to the art desk. “I figured this could be your inspiration center.” He points to a giant cork board on the wall. “You can pin pictures and stuff here—the articles I read say that’s very important, having your inspiration front and center.”

The thought of Wes Holden reading articles about designers finding inspirations fills me with unexpected warmth as I inspect what he’s set up. On the brown speckled cork, a few photos are pinned: one of Ava, Jules, and me from the wedding, a few photos of gowns I’ve designed in the past, and a shot of a beach that looks suspiciously like the one we went to on our honeymoon.

“There’s something missing,” I say, turning to look at him.

“I don’t…” he starts, his brows coming together.

“You’re not on the board, Wes.”

He shrugs, gaze drifting to his hand and picking at a nail instead of looking at me.

“I didn’t want to insert myself into your space,” he says, as a faint blush blooms across his cheeks. “I didn’t want to be presumptive. I wanted you to have a place that was all yours. Real.”

I lick my lips and take a single step closer to him, feeling my heart pounding in my chest.

I’ve come to realize that even though I’m scared, even though he might just be caught up in the excitement of this, I made a vow to myself to be morespontaneous. And right now, I want to be spontaneous with Wes.

“What if I want you to be in my space?” I whisper, moving to him and putting a hand to his heated cheek.

This is more than anyone has ever done for me, and it’s not about the money, though it’s clear he spent a lot of it to get all of this done. It’s about the thought. The way he pointed to every aspect of this room and explained why he put it there, why he thought I’d like it, the research he put into this project, this gift,as if he knewmebefore I even deigned togivehim me.

He pulls me in close, pushing hair behind my shoulders the way he seems to love doing. “You want me in your space, little wife?” I don’t hesitate to answer for once in my life.

“I think I do.” It seems like we’ve switched positions, answering quickly and with my gut rather than my head and Wes overthinking each question, hesitating before he asks his next one.

“What is this, Harper?”

“I don’t know, but I want more of it,” I admit in a whisper.

“What does that mean to you?”

“It means…I don’t know,” I shrug, then elaborate. “It means I like being with you. I like when you kiss me, and I like having your hands on me, and I want more of that. I want to see where that can go.” I’m not so deluded not to know there is something, a spark of some kind between Wes and me, but it terrifies me. It came on so quick, so fierce, and only because we were thrown into this thing.

Because of that, I’m so very hesitant to trust it.

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