Page 130 of Right Where I Want You
I gave her a quizzical look. Something was definitely brewing in that head of hers—something that simultaneously turned down her mouth and made her eyes sparkle. “You could,” I said. “Or we can skip a potential argument and try out those sex positions Justin needs us to test for the nextissue.”
“This won’t cause a fight.” She played with the neckline of my t-shirt and took a breath. “I know Aaron is eager to sell, but what if we bought your sisterout?”
“For what reason?” I asked. “To keep all the profit on the flip for ourselves? I’m guessing they’re not going to go forthat.”
“No, no,” she said. “Come with me.” She took my hand and led me upstairs to the master bedroom we’d completely redone. At the window, we overlooked the backyard where Bruno and Opal had moved to sprawl out in thegrass.
“After everything we’ve put into the house, the money would be nice to have,” Georgina said. “But you know what else is nice tohave?”
I rubbed my jaw, fairly certain I knew where the conversation was going. It wasn’t as if it hadn’t crossed my mind—I just didn’t know Georgina had been thinking the same. “A yard?” I guessed with extra-Boston-accent since it always made hersmile.
“And a laundry room.” Out the window, she scanned the lawn and the addition we’d made to the side of the house to gain square footage and an extra bedroom. “And a place for Justin to sleep that doesn’t fold up when heleaves.”
“Now you’re hurting your case,” I teased. In truth, I was glad Justin visited as frequently as he did. “If we tell him he has his own bedroom, I’m not entirely sure he won’t just movein.”
“He’d be soexcited.”
Shewas excited—I heard it in her voice. I turned to her. “Are you serious aboutthis?”
“I haven’t wanted to bring up staying,” she admitted. “I know how hellbent you are on selling, and maybe it’s the right thing to do. This place holds a lot of bad memories foryou.”
I glanced across the room to the spot my mother’s bed had been. Along with a priest, we’d surrounded her as she’d held my hand in one of hers and my sister’s in the other and closed her eyes for the last time. We had since reconfigured the room so it looked nothing like it had then. Even the bathroom had been remodeled. I thought of how Georgina and I had climbed into a tub on the sales floor to make sure it was deep enough for two, then recreated the NC-17 version of that scene a few nights after it’d been installed. I remembered, standing there at the window, lifting Georgina onto my shoulders so she could inspect crown molding. And then the way I’d gone barbarian on her, toting her around the room beating my chest until she’d bumped her head on the ceiling light and fallen giggling into myarms.
“There are good memories in here too,” I toldher.
“I know, and for the record, I can live anywhere, Sebastian. As long as it’s with you. The apartment is fine—I’m happy there. I just don’t want you to regret that we didn’t even consider keeping thehouse.”
I half-sat on the windowsill, putting us at the same height. “You want tostay?”
“I love it here.” She took a small plastic bag of gummy bears from her back pocket. It was unlikely she even realized she’d done it. She ate some, chewing as she paced. I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. I had my answer—she was in brainstorming-mode, and shewasserious aboutthis.
“I’ve learned so much about your childhood and your mom over the past several months,” she said. “And we’ve put our blood, sweat, and tears into making it perfect. We have the money to buy out your sister, but would she be okay withthat?”
I followed Georgina with my eyes. My life had done a one-eighty in the past year. Each day with her was a gift, an adventure, and a challenge. We bickered as much as we bantered, made love as often as we went head to head. She’d stitched up what I’d thought was a permanent hole in my heart from my mother’s death. It was a wound that would never truly heal, but now it ached less with Georginaaround.
“We can even add a sound booth for you,” she said, scribbling something on herpad.
Not only did she have healing powers, but she’d encouraged me too. My final piece inModern Man’s February issue had gotten me enough press to launch a successful men’s lifestyle podcast. We covered everything from sports to health to politics. I was now receiving regular invitations to athletic and entertainment events as a guest star or commentator. I even doled out the occasional piece of advice—which I always ran by Georginafirst.
I grabbed her hand, pulling her back in front of me. Running some of her soft, silky hair through my palm, my heart clenched. I loved her. I wanted to spend my life with her. I wanted to make her happy. “It’s a big commitment,” I said, cupping the side of her face and thumbing the corner of her mouth. “It’s not like Opal and me moving into your little apartment, cramping your style. There, we have a landlord, and if things go south, I can just move my boxes out. But getting a housetogether. . .”
She took my wrist, shifting her face to kiss my palm. “You can’t scare me away,Sebastian.”
“I’m just pointing out—after owning a place together, there’s really only one direction to go,” I said. “If I propose the idea of a proposal, is that the same as asking you to be the future Mrs.Quinn?”
She wrinkled her nose playfully. “You don’t have to worry about that, because my answer would beno.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. She wasn’t going to fight me on this, was she? Because I’d win, hands down. “We’ve talked about getting married. This can’t be news toyou.”
“I don’t want to be Mrs. Quinn,” she clarified. “But Georgina Quintanilla? Well, that has a nice ring to it, doesn’tit?”
In the same instant, a sense of possessiveness and a surge of love overwhelmed me. I hoped my mom was looking down on us now, proud of the strong, kind woman I’d chosen to be by my side. A woman worthy of being a Quintanilla. I brought Georgina closer to me, lifting her chin with my knuckle to tilt her mouth up to mine. “I can definitively say I’ve never wanted anything more. Well, except maybe what comes after thewedding.”
She smiled brilliantly. “Let’s start with the house. Then we can fillit.”
“Are you suggesting I knock youup?”
“At least twice,” she requested. “One Yankee and one RedSock.”
I rolled my eyes. “We don’t refer to our individual selves as a redsock.”
“It’s more complimentary than howIwould refer to a Sox fan.” She batted her lashes, trying to suppress a smile. Deep dimples formed in her cheeks. “Oh, and two kids means when we argue, we have one on eachside.”
“Two kids,” I repeated. Despite our joking, my voice was thick, love and longing coursing through me. A house full of family, dogs, and memories that spanned two generations. Fuck me, I hadn’t let myself dare to want more than I’d already found in Georgina. Hadn’t let myself think I could stay here, much less desire it. I’d thought the right thing to do was to let the house go and move on. But as Georgina filled my head with ideas, the way she’d filled my heart with love, and would fill my walls with colored-pencil measurements, I realized something special had happened over the past seven months without me evennoticing.
Georgina and I had comehome.
TheEnd