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He assessed me in that shrewd way of his, like he was mentally cataloging people who might stop by as I opened the door the rest of the way to let him pass.
Finally, we shook hands like we always did.
“Beer?” I offered, lifting my glass.
“Just one,” he said, clapping me on the back.
He followed me into the kitchen, and I pointed to a few things along the way including the bathroom and my small home office since it was his first time here.
I headed to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of the IPA I was drinking. “Take a seat wherever. I’d give you a tour of the rest of the place, but Alice is asleep and I don’t want to risk waking her up.”
Sebastian waved me off. “I get it. The place is nice, not that I had any doubt. I just can’t believe you’re actually out of the city.”
I palmed my glass. “Right? Took me long enough.”
He smiled. “I’m sure Alice tells you that every day.”
“So how the hell did you get here so quickly? If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you were in a car outside just waiting for me to extend an invite.”
Sebastian chuckled. “The real reason is hardly that exciting. Faith’s visiting Luna next door. I was getting some work done at a coffee shop across the street.”
I nearly levitated out of my seat. “She's next door? With Luna?”
“Yes. I thought it was interesting when you texted me your new address the other day.” The statement was heavy with the words left unsaid.
Besides, distracting myself from the woman next door was the whole reason for this impromptu hangout to begin with. Now that I knew for sure she was home, it would be even harder to concentrate on my friend.
“Tell me,” he said.
I dragged my thumb across my bottom lip and suppressed a smile. “I moved in next door to Luna.”
It wasn’t the big bombshell I expected it to be, especially since Sebastian had already figured it out.
He shook his head as if I were the biggest idiot in the world. “In a city with this much housing, you decide it's important to buy the house directly next door to the one woman who bites your head off every time you're in the room with her?”
I shrugged. “It was a good deal.”
“Bullshit.”
Bullshit indeed. Still.
“I needed more space and happened to like the area when I stood watch over your girlfriend earlier this year.”
Sebastian raised a brow, clearly skeptical. He was like an older brother to Luna, so despite his friendship with me, I didn’t share everything with him.
Because the truth is, I knew exactly what I was doing when I found this place.
It was time to do what I had wanted to do since the woman reappeared in my life: make Luna Marks mine.
CHAPTER7
Beck
As soon as Sebastian left,I took a quick shower, pulled on my sweats, and slid under the covers of my Cal King.
I stared at the wall across from me. We’d officially been in the house a week. It had been twenty-four hours since I'd unceremoniously dropped Alice off with Luna.
The woman lived on the other side of that wall.