Page 63 of Wait With Me
“What’s your deal lately? You’re not into me anymore? Someone better come along to help you with your research?”Dean maybe?
“Miles, you’re acting crazy. I was actually going to ask you if you’d show me your place tonight.”
“Tonight?” I ask, pressing a hand against the brick and trying to calm myself down in some small way.
“Yeah, after work, maybe. I want to see your house, specifically your garage. You know…research. Get our hands dirty.” She waggles her brows suggestively.
I nod, my jaw tight. “Fine.”
“Well, don’t look so thrilled,” she balks.
I blink slowly, knowing she doesn’t deserve this. Those two douchebags set me off, and her timing was just too close on the heels of that bullshit. “Sorry…I’m good with this.”
“Good!” she states and gives my arm a shake. With that simple touch of her hand on me, my mood lightens as she adds, “But I have to say there’s something seriously hot about seeing you in a mood…I hope that works to our advantage later.”
She winks, and already, I can think of about five different places I want to lose myself inside her at my house. I feel this strange desire to claim her further. I pin her with a serious look and reply, “Babe…having you in my house gives us all sorts of advantages.”
Her eyes alight with anticipation as she replies. “I can’t wait. Now, go take your anger out on some poor car and pick me up back here after you’re done.”
I nod and watch her skirt sway in the wind as she strides back toward the employee entrance of the comfort center.
Icould have picked his house out by a mile. Pun intended. With my arms wrapped tightly around his waist, Miles pulls down a short gravel lane that’s tucked away from the main highway that runs through Jamestown. When a rusty, shabby chic ranch nestled right in some beautiful foothills comes into view, I know it’s his place. It just screams, Miles: masculine, rustic, and a little overgrown.
The outside is stained cedar plank siding, and it has two tuck-under garages beneath a huge wraparound porch. He has a couple of Adirondack chairs positioned by his front door, and I can so easily picture him sipping a cup of coffee and gazing at the creek that runs through his property.
He stops his motorcycle in front of the garage and kicks out the kickstand before cutting the motor.
“Oh my God, Miles!” I exclaim, shaking his shoulders a little to show him my enthusiasm.
“What?” he asks, pulling down his aviators and looking over his shoulder at me. His mood seems slightly better than earlier, but I have a feeling I know what will turn him around completely.
“Your place is stunning!” I exclaim, gazing at his face in the setting sun. The golden colors really making his blue eyes pop.
“Eh.” He shrugs and climbs off the bike, turning around to take the helmet from me.
I comb my hair out with my fingers, my eyes wide in disbelief. “Are you kidding? It’s gorgeous!”
He props the helmet under his arm and looks out toward the creek. “I couldn’t find anything in Boulder, at least nothing I could afford that gave me a little land and some privacy. I really hate neighbors.”
I laugh and look around to see he’s completely secluded here. His own private little sanctuary plunked onto a stretch of the wilderness a mere twenty minutes from Boulder. “Well, this is perfect. Something like this would easily cost two million in Boulder.”
“No shit,” he replies instantly and rubs the back of his neck. “As I said, it’s a work in progress, but it’s mine.”
I smile brightly and throw my leg off the bike. “Show me the inside!” I have to stop myself from jumping up and down like a doofus.
He chuckles softly. “Okay, but then we’re getting dirty in the garage.”
“Okay,” I chide and let him drag me upstairs and through his front door.
He’s in a hurry to get back down to the garage, but as I take in the space through his rushed tour, I can see that Miles has vision. Most people probably wouldn’t have looked twice at this property, but he’s already turned it into something really unique and special.
He first points at where a big wall was knocked out last summer that originally separated the dining room from the living room. Since it was a load-bearing wall, he put in knotty wood support beams stained a deep espresso color that contrasts nicely with the white shiplap on two of the living room walls. The desired effect is a rustic, shabby chic farmhouse feel that oozes charm and natural light.
His furniture is minimal. Masculine. A leather couch and loveseat face a giant big screen TV. His kitchen is his current work in progress, but the new slate countertops were just installed last week, and now, he’s refinishing the cabinetry. The cupboard doors are all removed and apparently down in his garage awaiting their next coat of varnish.
He shows me to his bedroom, and it has a giant bed screaming practical comfort. But when he walks me around the corner to his master bath, it’s clear where all his money has been going.
A huge two-headed waterfall shower occupies one whole wall of the bathroom with a perfectly clear glass door to showcase his incredible tilework. I may have sprouted a lady boner when he told me he did the work himself. He also removed the wall that separated the bathroom from the spare bedroom so he could turn that space into an attached walk-in closet.
