Page 35 of Wicching Hour (The Sea Wicche Chronicles #3)

THIRTY-FIVE

Home

I t was so beautiful, I teared up again. I’d been expecting a single dude’s apartment: white walls, beige carpet, and a huge flat-screen TV. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a Craftsman flat. The same deep, rich reddish-brown wood from downstairs was used on the floor, in a board-and-batten panel running a third of the way up the walls, and in the pillars and bookcases used to divide rooms.

The walls above the wood were a sunlit ocean blue in what looked like Venetian plaster. The ceiling was a far lighter hue than the wall color and was bisected by matching wooden beams to create a coffered ceiling.

The large first room had a stone fireplace that was open to the room beyond, with a wide casement opening to the right of the fireplace. I wandered into the second room, wanting to see it all. This room—that shared the fireplace—was smaller. Mission-style pendants hung from the ceiling in the center of the open space.

“Dining room?” I asked.

He nodded, appearing wary of my reaction, though I didn’t understand why. It was a freaking showplace. I looked through the adjoining doorway and saw the kitchen. The floors were the same gorgeous wood. The cabinets, though, looked like black walnut.

I went in, running my gloved hand over the island countertop. “Brushed stainless steel? I figured you’d do a butcherblock or granite. Something more earthy.”

Looking uncomfortable, he said, “Isn’t this better for baking and cleanup?”

“Well, sure, but since when do you bake?” It really was gorgeous, the soft brushed silver against the black cabinetry. He’d used that same sunlit ocean blue for the glass tile backsplash.

“Oh, honey,” Tyler murmured from the other room.

“This is harder than I thought it would be,” Declan said.

“I’m sorry!” I hugged him close. “I haven’t said it yet. It’s all beautiful! You’ve done amazing work here. This is, hands down, the warmest, most stunning bachelor pad known to man.”

“Oof,” I heard from the next room.

“What? Why am I being heckled?” I called out to Tyler and Jake.

“We’re going to go wait in the workshop,” Jake said.

“Declan, your home is gorgeous. What am I saying wrong?” I squeezed his hand. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you.” I put my hand on his cheek. “What am I missing?”

He shook his head and kissed me. “It’s not you. I’m the one who’s screwing this up.” He blew out a breath. “I put in these countertops so you could bake here. I chose the wall and tile colors so it would remind you of the ocean. I built this home for both of us.”

I stared at him, stunned. My heart may have stopped.

“Whether you move in or just stay over once in a while, I wanted it to be comfortable and welcoming for you.” Swallowing, he added, “What do you think?”

“Really? You want me in your home?” Heart now racing, insides turning to goo, I stared up into his handsome face. “Fair warning, I’m pretty annoying. I’m not even sure how I’d do living with someone.” I looked around the kitchen and what I could see of the dining room, trying to imagine us living here together.

“If,” I began, “after spending more time with me, you decide this was a horrible idea, tell me and I’ll go. Don’t resent me in silence. That would kill me.”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “I don’t anticipate that being an issue, but if it is, you’ll be the first to know.”

I nodded. “Okay. Good. We’ll work out the hows and whens later. Maybe we can keep essentials in both your place and mine so we can stay wherever it’s convenient that day.”

“Sure,” he said, “but it’s our place and yours.” He took my hand again. “Let me show you the rest.”

As we walked back through the dining room, I pointed up at the pendant lights. “How attached are you to those?”

He glanced up with a shrug. “They fit the style of the room, but I don’t love them.”

I nodded. “Cool. I have an idea for a light fixture that I think would work better.”

“You already have a ton of work to do. We have time. A new light can wait.”

My chest felt tight. We have time . He wanted time with me.

There was a guest bath off the living room. The plaster in there was a lighter green, like shallow water on a sunny day. There were two guest rooms with creamy walls and views of the forest behind Declan’s business.

My stomach dropped and I clutched his hand.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I can’t move in,” I told him. “Bracken and I just had this long conversation about being outcasts all our lives and how happy he is to now be with family who understands him. I told him I’d put an addition on the gallery, one very similar to his RV, so he’d have a stable home that was known and comfortable. I can’t leave him all by himself again.” I blinked back the tears. “I can’t do that to him.”

“Then we won’t,” Declan said simply. “We’ll figure out an arrangement that works for everyone. I mean, you’re not moving across country. I could throw Wilbur’s ball and hit the gallery from here. That’s your studio and your gallery. You’ll be there every day. No one’s being abandoned.”

Nodding, I wiped my face. “That’s true. Sorry. I don’t know why I’m leaking so much today.” There was too much going on and emotions were running too high, obviously.

“I want you to see our bedroom.” He pulled me into a huge room. The board-and-batten paneling in here mirrored the living room. On the outside wall were huge windows overlooking the ocean. The view was amazing.

“That strip of sand, seagrass, and rocks across the road is part of your property. It’s obviously too narrow to build anything, but I wanted to make sure no one could throw up a billboard and ruin our view. I asked Natsuki to look up the boundaries of your parcel of land.”

Pushing up the window where I was standing, I breathed in the ocean air. I wasn’t too far from it. Pointing down the road, away from the gallery, I said, “Do you see those daisies growing on the verge? That’s about where my land ends.”

I glanced over and realized I’d walked right past another stone fireplace, a smaller version of the one in the living room. “How did you do this so fast?”

He laughed. “I have a good crew, all of whom are suspiciously strong.”

Grinning at that, I kept exploring, opening a door and finding a large, walk-through closet that led to a huge master bath. “And I thought my shower was massive.” I stepped in, marveling at the blue, green, and indigo glass tiles. “Ha! You already have a hair trap on your drain.”

“I know my mate and her incredible hair.” He kissed the top of my head and then spun me around. “Well?”

“I love it. I love everything about it.”

“Except the dining room light fixture,” he qualified.

I grimaced. “They’re great lights. I just have an idea for something better.”

“Good,” he rumbled, wrapping his arms around me and picking me up off the floor. “I want you to put your touch on all of it. This is our home. It should reflect both of us.”

“Done and done.” I had a hard time keeping the excited bubbles from fixing a permanent grin on my face. “Tell me the truth,” I whispered, not wanting the wolves and bears in the building to hear. “Are you sure about this? I’m a lot. Ask anyone.”

He dropped his hands to my butt, pulling my legs around his waist, and then pressing me against the beautiful shower tiles. “Ursula, you may not be aware of this, but wolves mate for life. I have no control over how you feel about me, but I love you. I want to be with you and only you, so, yes, I’m sure.”

I pulled off a glove and ran my fingertips over his brow and down his nose. I brushed my thumb across his bottom lip and then kissed him until we’d both lost track of time and space. When we came up for air, I said, “I love you, Declan Quinn, and I take you.”

He kissed me again and my butt tingled.

I gasped. “How’d you do that?”

Laughing, he gave me another quick kiss and put me down. “Your phone is on vibrate.”

“Oh. Right. I knew that.” Feeling like an idiot—a ridiculously happy one—I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped the screen. “Hey, Hernández. What’s up?”

“Can I come see you? I have an idea and something I want you to touch to see if my idea is correct.”

“Oh, uh.” I walked out of the beautiful bathroom, through the roomy his-and-hers closet, bummed I had to think about murder instead of love and a shared home. “Yeah, I guess. I’m at Declan’s workshop right now, but I can be back at the gallery in a few.”

“Thank you and sorry to mess with your plans,” she said. “I should be there in about ten minutes. If you’re not back by then, I’ll wait on your deck.”

“Sounds good.” I disconnected and found Declan in the living room, talking with Jake.

Tyler walked out of one of the guest rooms. “We like forest views anyway.” He grinned when he saw me. “You two should be the first to sleep in your bedroom. We told Declan to put the blow-up mattress in one of the guest rooms for us. The bigger question,” he began, turning back to Declan, “is whether or not you have Wi-Fi here.”

Declan was smiling at nothing in particular, and I felt another squeeze of my heart. “Yeah,” he said. “The network is Quinn Woodcraft and the password is Ursula, the number four, and good. All one word and only Ursula is capitalized.”

And there went that squeeze again. “I have to get back.”

Declan nodded. “We heard. I have them loading up chairs in the back of the pickup. I’ll take you back, the men will follow. They’re going to run along opposite sides of the road and search for cameras.”

I got a little lightheaded at that. It hadn’t occurred to me that there were more. I’d thought the one camera I’d found was unusual for the stalker. He seemed to like to film me himself. I needed sleep. My brain wasn’t working properly and I had a sorcerer to deal with.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. I needed quiet and calm to get my head on straight. There was too much going on and no time to process it.

“What?” Declan asked, suddenly concerned.

I rubbed my forehead. “I’ve been so off lately. I’m slow on the uptake and I have a demon to best. I think Cal is getting in.” I thunked my head against Declan’s chest. “If I can’t rely on my own brain, my own magic, Cal wins and more people suffer and die.”

He wrapped his arms around me. “So you know what we’ll do?”

I looked up. “What?”

“It’s time for you to take another swim. The ocean will clear your head and mess with any spells aimed at you.”

I grinned. “You’re so smart.”

“I don’t have a demon trying to screw with my head,” he said.

“Or a detective pulling him away from what he was doing to find a serial killer,” Jake added.

“He also didn’t have a new living arrangement and relationship upgrade sprung on him,” Tyler said.

Declan rubbed my back. “And you’re used to working and living on your own, avoiding your mom and gran, saying hello to your ocean friends. Your life has changed a lot in a very short time. Being overwhelmed is a normal reaction.”

He glanced over my head at Tyler and Jake before returning his attention to me. “When we feel that way, we shift and go for a run. For you, it’s a swim. Let’s get out of here so I can toss you off the deck.”

Laughing, I nodded. “Deal.”