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“Touching you. I missed you.”

Hannah pulled away from him reluctantly and headed back into the bedroom. “So, when are you going to move your stuff in?”

“I roped a bunch of the guys into helping me out this weekend. Wanna join in? I’ve promised pizza and beer.”

Okay, so he was inviting her to hang with him and his friends this weekend. That was pretty sweet, even if it did mean manual labor.

“Would it be okay to bring Milo? Is your backyard fenced in?”

“Yeah, you can bring that devil dog.”

Hannah smacked Blake’s arm playfully. “He is sweet! Don’t call him that.”

“He is sweet to you because he loves you. He hates my guts.”

“Well, maybe you can keep giving him treats and change his way of thinking.”

Blake tucked her hair back with a grin. “Maybe I will.”

BLAKE STOOD IN the hallway, watching Hannah gaze around the house in awe. Despite his resolve to stop comparing moments with Hannah with his past with Jenny, he couldn’t help but think of her in this moment. They had never owned their own home, choosing to live on base since he was gone on tour and he wanted her to have a support system. Jenny had tried to turn their base house into a home, but it hadn’t been the same as if it had been theirs.

Jenny would have loved this, although she wouldn’t have cared about the tub.

He’d liked the way Hannah’s eyes had lit up when she’d seen it, and even though it was his house, he wanted her to like it.

For a guy who said he wanted to move slow, I sure am jumping into this with both feet.

Blake wasn’t going to feel guilty about being happy with Hannah, about wanting to share this with her. Every time something had reminded him of Jenny or he’d had a twinge of guilt over missing Hannah, he’d tried to remember that Jenny would want this for him. That it almost seemed sometimes as if Jenny had sent Hannah to him because he needed her.

Of course, when he’d talked to Dr. Stabler about the guilt he was still experiencing, she’d agreed that going slow was probably good. And he did want to do that, to take his time and be sure.

But he also couldn’t seem to get enough of Hannah.

“The only problem with this place is I don’t have enough furniture to fill it up.”

“Hmm, what’s your style?” she asked.

“Casual comfortable.”

“Do you mind used furniture?”

“As long as it isn’t falling apart, I’m okay with it.”

She gave him a look over her shoulder, and he grinned.

“What are you going to do with the other three rooms?”

“I’m not sure yet. Set up one as a guest room, maybe? A gym in the other. Not sure about the third ro

om.”

“It’s a nice-size house. Maybe after we get all of your stuff moved in, we could check out some of the thrift shops next weekend. I found some great stuff in really good condition when I moved into my place.”

Her enthusiasm was infectious, although Blake had a feeling Hannah was a power shopper. He usually only lasted a couple of hours before he was done.

“That sounds like fun,” he said.

“Liar, I can hear it in your voice. You think it sounds like a fate worse than death.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his lips, and he decided that he’d do anything to keep that smile on Hannah’s face. “I promise to make the whole experience painless and fun.”